Let’s go open a Lego Japan lucky bag…o

Lots of assembly required.

Did you know that the name “Lego” is derived from a Danish phrase meaning “play well”? If not, you can cross off “learn something new” from your New Year’s resolution list early and thank us later.

In addition to resolutions, another New Year’s tradition in Japan are fukubukuro lucky bags, which are large bags or boxes that contain an assortment of goods from a brand or store. Often, the contents are known in advance but sometimes they are not, and in most cases the bags are considerably cheaper than the sum of their parts.

This holiday season, our online shopping correspondent Masanuki Sunakoma tore himself away from e-commerce to line up for a coveted Lego lucky bag at his local shopping mall.

On this day, five types of bags with unknown contents were sold; two differently priced versions of a “Hero” bag, two differently priced versions of a “Friends” bag, and an “Adult” bag of Lego products, which sounds much less scandalous in Japanese.

Lego is a hot-selling item in general and these bags were no different, with people having lined up well before the mall opened. It seems most were after the big-ticket items and by the time Masanuki got to the front, only the cheaper Hero and Friends bags were left.

That was fine for our reporter though. He didn’t really have the courage to put down 30,000 yen (US$190) on a mystery bag of Lego and happily bought a Hero bag for 5,999 yen ($38).

He hurried home to open up his bag and see how lucky he was. First out of the bag was Mateo’s Off-Road Car from the Dreamzzz series. This set tells the story of using a cool slime car to find a magical hourglass and retails for 1,370 yen ($9).

Next up was the Police Speedboat and Crooks’ Hideout set from the City collection. It told a high-octane story of police trying to bust a crime syndicate operating out of City Port as the cops rush into danger of having fish dumped on their heads. It sells for 4,280 yen ($27) and would soon be discontinued, potentially raising its value significantly in the future.

The final one was the Ice Cream Parlor set from the City collection. It didn’t seem to fit the “Hero” theme at first, but upon further reflection, ice cream vendors really are the unsung heroes of our nation. It was also the largest and cutest one, making it a welcome addition to the bag.

Ice Cream Parlor retails at 4,980 yen ($32) and was also nearing the end of its run. So, Masanuki’s lucky bag haul totaled over 10,000 yen in goods, making it a highly cost-effective bag.

But what fun is buying a Lego fukubukuro if you don’t play with it? So, our reporter cracked open Mateo’s Off-Road Car and tried putting it together.

Masanuki was rather rusty with Lego but the instructions were incredibly easy to follow.

Mateo also comes equipped with a blob gun that actually shoots out little Lego discs.

Caution is required though, because they come out pretty strongly and it’s easy to lose the discs.

He also enjoyed putting on the stickers, which reminded him of toys he used to play with as a kid.

Assembly took him about 15 minutes and he felt it was easy enough for anyone to accomplish without trouble.

It seemed like a great winter vacation lucky bag that kids and even adults can get some joy from. The sets were fun and allows everyone to give their creativity some exercise. Even the prices were in the range of New Year’s otoshidama gifts of cash.

All in all, even the lower-priced Lego lucky bags are well worth a purchase as long as you don’t mind dealing with the lines.

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Second-hand video game fukubukuro lucky bags reveal nostalgic surprises

An ordinary trip turns into a jackpot of retro games.

It started off like any other innocuous shopping trip for our Japanese-language reporter Takuya Inaba. While browsing the wares at the second-hand store Guruguru Daiteikoku, he was getting excited over the jam-packed collection of games, trading cards, toys, and more.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a sign. A sign that nearly gave him whiplash as he swung his head around for another look. A sign that limited the people who can buy the product to only those who won’t get mad no matter what and would treat it as a joke.

▼ “Only people who won’t get angry and can take a joke can purchase. No complaints and no returns.”

This incident occurred in the video game section. So, it could be reasoned that the product was related to video games. There was just one problem. Since these were lucky bags, Takuya was unable to see what was inside. However, upon seeing the hoard of bags available, he was intrigued. He couldn’t help himself and walked closer. By the time he had come to his senses, he was back at home having bought six different bags. Not all too surprising for someone who claims he would rather go without food than games.

Taking a closer look at his first purchase, he found it contained five Nintendo DS games for the price of just 550 yen (US$3.50). The bag was titled with the kanji meaning “to brave”. It also often gets used in the word for “adventure”. So, would the bag be filled with thrilling adventures to embark upon?

Opening it up and, sure enough, RPG classics like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy jumped out at him. Takuya was honestly surprised as he had expected the bag to be filled with terrible games that no one had ever heard of.

Here’s what he found in the first bag:

1. ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat
2. Luminous Arc
3. Final Fantasy IV
4. Dragon Quest IX
5. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2

The second bag had eight games for the Wii. This one was priced at 1,100 yen, and came with the kanji for “single” or “alone”. Would they all be single player games?

Shockingly, there were several multiplayer games like Mario Kart Wii and Wii Sports Resort. So, what was the reason behind that kanji? While it certainly does have those meanings, it can also mean “unique” or “distinctive”, and all of the games within the bag either introduced something novel, leveraged the Wii’s unique hardware capabilities, or stood out in its genre.

The games included in the second bag were:

1. Little King’s Story
2. Super Mario Galaxy
3. No More Heroes
4. Mario Kart Wii
5. SimAnimals
6. Karaoke Joysound
7. Wii Sports Resort
8. Wii Play

Takuya was so far thrilled with both the games he received and the value for money. Eager for more excitement, he turned his gaze to the next bag of five PS2 games for 550 yen. This one had the character for “face”. Face? That kind of sounds disturbing…

Upon revealing the contents, he was very enthused. If you’re a fan of Japanese games then you are sure to be familiar with such famous works like Onimusha and Dynasty Warriors. The “face” from the bag is sure to allude to iconic historical figures or protagonists and how they are the representation, or “face”, of their respective stories.

This collection of games included:

1. Onimusha
2. Code of the Samurai
3. Yoshitsune Eiyuden: The Story of Hero Yoshitsune
4. Tsugunai: Atonement
5. Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires

Fourth out of the six bags was the “fear” bag. Containing three PS3 games and priced at 550 yen, there was little mystery as to what type of game Takuya would find within.

As expected, the legendary Resident Evil made an appearance. Alongside the horror game series giant was the zombie-fighting cheerleader game Lollipop Chainsaw.

The horror haul was:

1. Lollipop Chainsaw
2. Resident Evil 5
3. Resident Evil 6

Next up was the bag titled “11”, with 11 games for the PS2 at 550 yen. If you’re not a Japanese gamer, then the number 11 may not strike you as a noteworthy number. However, there is an incredibly famous series of soccer games in Japan that goes by the name Winning Eleven. In English-speaking countries it goes by Pro Evolution Soccer.

To no surprise, there were a total of five of the series in the bag. Although, what did surprise Takuya was that there were only 10 games instead of the 11 advertised. It was a little disappointing but he decided to let it slide.

The list of soccer games includes:

1. Pro Evolution Soccer 2010
2. Winning Eleven 8: Liveware Evolution
3. J-League Let’s Make a Soccer Team! ‘04
4. Pro Evolution Soccer 5
5. Pro Evolution Soccer 4
6. Captain Tsubasa
7. Pro Evolution Soccer 3
8. Fifa Street
9. Let’s Make a Soccer Team!
10. J-League Let’s Make a Soccer Team! 5

The final bag is here and the end of the excitement draws near. With six PSP games, again for 550 yen, and the kanji for “hunt”, any gamer worth their salt would know what lies inside this bag.

Yes! They’re all Monster Hunter games for the PSP, including some spin-offs! Upon seeing this collection, Takuya recalled fond memories of his school days, obsessively playing Monster Hunter on the PSP with friends.

Rounding off the purchases, the last games were:

1. Monster Hunter Freedom
2. Monster Hunter Freedom 2
3. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
4. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
5. Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Felyne Village G
6. Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Felyne Village

Looking over his vastly increased retro games collection, Takuya couldn’t help but feel that he may have gotten a little carried away, but the mystery bags were truly irresistible for a game enthusiast.

In total, he spent 3,850 yen at Guruguru Daiteikoku. When he checked what the games were selling for online, he found out that they were valued at a whopping 17,127 yen (US$108.72), over four times as much as he paid.

Takuya is also happy to report that the games he bought all came with a manual.

There were also no problems with the disks.

And his 15-year-old data from Monster Hunter Freedom is right where he left it.

If you’re as nostalgic for retro gaming as Takuya, there were still many bags available at the Hachioji store he went to earlier this week, so consider picking up a bag or two…or six.

Store information
Guruguru Daiteikoku Hachioji-ten / ぐるぐる大帝国八王子店
Address: Tokyo-to, Hachioji-shi, Shimoyugi 2-3-12
東京都八王子市下柚木2-3-12
Open 24 hours
Website

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Animate Akihabara releases a lucky bag for the first time in years, and it’s amazing

Giant store draws huge crowd of anime and manga fans in Tokyo’s otaku neighbourhood.

If you’re an anime fan on the hunt for fukubukuro (lucky bargain bags sold in Japan at New Year), Akihabara is the place to go. With an abundance of stores specialising in anime, manga and video game-related goods, this Tokyo neighbourhood is holy ground for otaku, and one of the stores that draws the most crowds is Animate, Japan’s biggest anime specialty merchandise retailer.

In spite of its popularity, or perhaps because of it, Animate hasn’t released a lucky bag in years, so when our reporter and self-confessed otaku Seiji Nakazawa was in the area at 9:30 a.m. on 2 January, he was surprised to see a huge crowd of people outside the store.

At this time of year, customers usually line up when a store is selling fukubukuro, so he stepped closer to check it out and sure enough, there was a sign at the front of the queue informing everyone that lucky bags were being sold on 2 and 3 January, at two price points — 3,000 yen (US$19.08) and 5,000 yen.

Excited by this unexpected discovery, Seiji grabbed one of the numbered tickets and took his place at the back of the queue.

As the line snaked closer to the store entrance, he was able to see the lucky bags, and by his estimation the more expensive one was roughly 1.5 times larger than the smaller one, so he decided to splurge on the 5,000 yen bag.

▼ Returning to the office triumphant, Seiji posed with his fukubukuro…

▼ …before excitedly unleashing its contents onto the nearest desk.

▼ At first glance, the bag didn’t seem to contain a lot in return for 5,000 yen.

▼ However, looking closer revealed…

▼ …Seiji was now the proud owner of a “Roomwear Set” from Japanese anime series Lycoris Recoil!

This set added most of the bulk to the fukubukuro, and with the recommended retail price being 11,000 yen, it was already worth more than the cost of the bag.

▼ Thrilled with his new loungewear, there were even more surprises in the bag, which he shared with us below.

▼ Hasunosora Girls’ High School Idol Club Noble Art Collection (12 types in one box) valued at 9,240 yen

▼ Black Butler — Boarding School Edition Name Badge Collection (seven packs in one box), valued at 4,620 yen

▼ Oblivion Battery Frost Bottle Taro Yamada, valued at 1,650 yen

▼ Uma Musume Pretty Derby Acrylic Figure Collection (one pack), valued at 770 yen

▼ Aopella badge (715 yen), Blue Lock badge (440 yen), Jujutsu Kaisen die-cut trading sticker (330 yen)

▼ Katamari Damacy Ichigo bath set (4,950 yen)

▼ Love Live! Sunshine!!, Love Live! Superstar!! stickers (385 yen)

After tallying up the value of everything he received, Seiji’s jaw dropped as the total came to 34,540 yen. That was almost seven times more than the 5,000 yen he spent on the bag, making it one of the best value-for-money fukubukuro he’s ever purchased.

While the contents may vary from bag to bag, Seiji was happy with everything he received, and Animate is now firmly on his list of places to visit for future fukubukuro, along with this store at Nakano Broadway, Tokyo’s other otaku neighbourhood.

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