Starbucks Japan announces its lucky bag for 2017 – feel free to start lining up now

In order to figure out what might be in the bag this year, we have to look to the past to see the future!

As the holiday season rolls around, many excited shoppers in Japan are looking forward to shopping on New Year’s day. As RocketNews24 has shown in the past, these fukubukuro or lucky bags generally give you a ton of value for the price of not knowing what you are going to buy beforehand. The lucky bag at Starbucks has proven year after year to be a great bargain netting customers around 10,000 yen (US$85) of items for only 6,000 yen ($51). What makes the Starbucks bag a cut above the rest is that the bag itself is a chase item as well. Instead of just a cheap plastic or opaque paper bag, Starbucks places all the merchandise in a lovely tote bag that lets everyone know where you like to get your coffee.

Starbucks Japan

What can we expect to see this time around? Let’s take a trip down memory lane first.

▼ 2013 lucky bag / 5,000 yen

The first year we started purchasing the Starbucks lucky bag was back in 2013 where the bag itself was only made of felt. Still plenty of room inside to hold some great items, including:

1 card redeemable for any drink
2 bags of coffee (250 grams [8.8 ounces])
1 pack of instant ice coffee (10 sticks)
2 Starbucks tumblers
3 logo cup rubber bands
1 ceramic one-cup coffee dripper with mug

▼ 2014 lucky bag 5,000 yen

This year featured a much better bag, but fairly similar items inside.

2 cards redeemable for any drink
2 bags of coffee (250 grams)
2 packs of instant coffee (12 sticks)
1 siren logo tumbler
2 siren logo coasters
2 Starbucks coffee mugs

▼ 2015 lucky bag / 3,500 yen

This year, our resident food writer decided to take a step back and went for the 3,000 yen bag. The bag itself was a lovely quilted bag, so chalk that up as an improvement over last year. Items included this year:

1 card redeemable for any drink
1 bag of coffee (250 grams)
1 Starbucks Via Coffee Essence assortment set
1 Starbucks stainless steel bottle (330 milliliters [11.2 ounces])
1 greeting card

▼ 2016 lucky bags / 3,500 and 6,000 yen

Last year, we went all out for our readers and purchased both bags. We had to wait in line all night to get them, but they were totally worth it! The 3,500 yen bag came in a medium canvas tote bag with the following items:

4 cards redeemable for any drink up to 610 yen
1 bag of coffee (250 grams)
1 Starbucks tumbler
1 Notebook with embossed logo

A pretty unique haul, but the 6,000 yen large canvas tote bag was arguably better featuring:

4 cards redeemable for any drink up to 610 yen
2 bags of coffee (250 grams)
1 pack of instant coffee (12 sticks)
1 Starbucks steel tumbler (480 milliliters)
2 glass Starbucks mugs

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So now that we’ve moved through the memory palace, what Sherlockian deductions can we make? Well over the four years, it’s pretty clear that you are going to get some coffee and you are going to get at least one tumbler. Chances are also very high that you will get some free beverage cards that you can use for yourself, or give out to your friends. Curiously, though there has always been a cheaper and more expensive version of the lucky bag, according to the advertisement there might only be the 6,000 yen bag this year. This means there will likely be more people lining up to snag one of these, and since Starbucks branches  in Tokyo always sell out very quickly make sure you line up really early if you want to get your hands on one of the coffee chain’s lucky bags. 

Featured image: Starbucks Japan
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