Skip to Content

Apple lovers in Japan camp out for 'Lucky Bag' sale

by Rick Martin Jan 1st 2011 at 10:15PM


Retailers in Japan have a New Year shopping tradition of selling "lucky bags," which contain an assortment of items whose value typically exceeds the price you pay for the bag. To the delight of many Apple fanboys here in Tokyo, "lucky bags" are also sold at the Apple store. But at 30,000 yen (about $370), they don't come cheap.

Even at that price, demand is sky-high, and only the most dedicated of Apple fans can get them. Shoppers typically start lining up the day before the lucky bags go on sale, because every year at least a couple of people hit the jackpot and get a MacBook in their bag. From those who braved the cold overnight, here's a summary of what most are saying they found in their respective bags. I haven't seen any reports of MacBooks yet:
This is all according to early reports from an assortment of shoppers. Check out Guttyo Blog's picture of the bag plus contents all spread out on a table (above).

Japanese language blog AppBank posted a video of his unboxing, or rather, "unbagging." The contents were pretty much the same (see below), but with an iPod Nano instead of an iPod touch. By my calculations, retail price for all this gear if one were to buy it separately would be at least 40,000 yen (almost $500).


Just to show how dedicated Japanese Apple fans are to acquiring these Lucky Bags, here's a video of the line-up at 2:25am, with people bundled up on a cold night to wait for the doors to open in the morning (h/t onebutton):




And here they are again just before the store opens - likely a little cold and tired, but far more excited. You can see the doors opening at about the 42:30 mark of this video. A local TV station is on the spot to capture the moment, although I suspect that they might have some editing to do due to an unexpected finger gesture from a clearly enthusiastic fan!



View Tags

Related Stories

Categories

Apple

Retailers in Japan have a New Year shopping tradition of selling "lucky bags," which contain an assortment of items whose value typically...
 

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum Comment Moderation Enabled. Your comment will appear after it is cleared by an editor.

14 Comments

Filter by:
Seong-Hoon Lee

Excuse me, but 40,000 yen? That's ridiculous. When I read Japanese Apple-fan websites, it is at least ¥69,880.
source- http://blog.guttyo.jp/?p=688

January 02 2011 at 9:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Loramarthalas

Not Tokyo... Osaka. The store clearly says 'Shinsaibashi' on the door. That's downtown Osaka. I've been to that store, it is amazing.

January 02 2011 at 5:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
glad

no Apple related sales here in the UK!!

January 02 2011 at 12:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Roberto

And risk the chance to get a bag full of accessories one does not need or want? I thought that Japan was full of economically responsible citizens.

January 02 2011 at 9:34 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Andrea

I was at the Shinsaibashi, Osaka store this morning! There weren't any macbooks in the bundle. A select few (I don't remember how many, I was exhausted) received an iPad. I wasn't lucky enough to find a note telling me I won an iPad in my bag, but I did get the iPod Nano pack- which is what I wanted. Also, I should add, the people who got the iPod Touch bags didn't get the wrist strap. They got a case for the iPod Touch instead.

Furthermore, those last two videos are of Shinsaibashi in Osaka, not Tokyo.

January 02 2011 at 4:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Andrea's comment
Andrea

Oh! And you can see me at 53:30 into the last video. I'm the foreign girl with the yellow blanket and the pink bag.

January 02 2011 at 5:04 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mark

"42:30 mark of this video" Jeeze. Nothing like a line, let alone capturing it and sharing it in full length. Zzzzzzzz.

This is a nice concept but had I purchased one of these bags I would have thrown away $370 as I didn't need any of that stuff.

Let's do something like this in America. Why can't we have a cool tradition like this instead of Apple just price gouging us every day of the year? Because let's face it: black Friday sales at the Apple store blow chunks.

January 02 2011 at 4:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
umijin

I didn't waste my time this year on this. Twice I've gone and been told I wasn't there early enough to even get a lucky back. Being given a crappy sale brochure instead really isn't enough.

January 02 2011 at 12:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
huebs

Did the dog in the background come in the bundle too?

January 02 2011 at 12:12 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jude

I bought the Lucky Bag last year and received a 15" MacBook Pro. Also included: iPod touch 8gb, Beats by Dre headphones, and an Apple TV. I really just wanted the backpack because I was diggin' the colourway.

January 01 2011 at 11:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Jude's comment
Fred

How much was the lucky bag?

January 02 2011 at 5:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jude

around $300.

January 05 2011 at 1:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
wplate

That headline is a euphemism, right?

January 01 2011 at 10:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to wplate's comment
Bryan

Hmm, actually I saw it more as a veiled reference to a certain Coldplay song. I wonder...

January 02 2011 at 9:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Buy an ad here

Tweets

© 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.