Twentythree

Great deals on butt floss to be had this holiday season.

Earlier this month, Mr. Sato took a chance on a lucky bag of factory outlet underwear he bought online and made out rather well in the end. It was a really exciting purchase that made him the envy of the office. So much so that his fellow writer Go Hatori was inspired to try his hand at a random underwear lucky bag of his own.

He hopped on Amazon Japan in search of an underwear-themed lucky bag and came across a vendor by the name of G-Station. They offered bags with his choice of one, three, or five pairs of randomly selected boxers, briefs, thongs, or jock straps, so he decided to go for a modest three-pack for 990 yen (US$7).

It’s a heck of a price, but there is a catch in that these are also outlet goods and have either small tears, loose threads, or marks on them. That was hardly a deal-breaker for Go, though, since he didn’t expect anyone to see his underwear anyway, but he must have forgotten what he did for a living.

Sometime after placing his order, a package arrived. Even though it was just three pairs of underwear, it was still much smaller than he expected but what they lacked in size they more than made up for in pizzazz.

Taking out the three pairs and laying them on the table, Go still wasn’t quite sure what to make of them.

He decided to go through them one by one, starting with the one that got its own resealable bag.

The label said they were pink bikini briefs, but upon opening them, pink seemed to be in the minority of the color scheme. Maybe that was why they were outlet?

He tried them on, but with some under-underwear to keep things tasteful.

Go thought they were pretty good; the vibrant colors kept things thrilling but they still covered enough real estate to stay on the conservative side of things.

The same, however, could not be said for the next pair of underwear, and we use the term “pair” very loosely here. At first, Go understandably thought it was some kind of handmade face mask.

But there was no mistake that these straps were meant to go around an entirely different set of cheeks.

Putting them on, Go was a little surprised at how well they covered his frontal crotch area.

Still, the backside was so wide open that he doubted he had the confidence to wear these ever again.

The final pair was what really piqued our writer’s interest. They resembled the kind of shorts that K-1 fighters wore with slits along the legs to facilitate kicking.

But when Go lifted up the front, he realized these were no martial arts shorts at all.

Rather, these flaps were intended to cover up a similar marble bag to the one he had just tried on.

It was an improvement though, since he could still feel the thrill of a g-string while keeping his modesty intact.

Go imagined bringing a special someone home and making a dramatic reveal with these beauties.

▼ Business up front

▼ Party in the back

It was Go’s first time ever wearing underwear quite like this so he still wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Still, it was certainly surprising and these were some items he never would have bought for himself had they not been randomly selected and the defects G-Station mentioned were hardly even noticeable. The excitement of all this alone made it well worth the price for anyone interested in taking a little walk on the wild side.

Related: Amazon Japan / G-Station Underwear Lucky Bags
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You never know what you’re going to get in a Starbucks fukubukuro.

To celebrate the New Year, companies around Japan sell fukubukuro lucky bags, and one of the most sought after is the one from Starbucks, which can only be purchased by lottery winners, making it extremely hard to get.

This year, out of our 19 team members who applied to purchase the bag, only three were successful, which gives you an idea of how slim the chances are of winning. As each bag contains an assortment of items that can differ from customer to customer, we were curious to find out what they contained, so all three of our lucky bag recipients happily shared their haul.

After seeing what our reporter K. Masami received in her Starbucks fukubukuro, it was time to delve into bag number two, which belonged to Egawa Tasuku.

As expected, there were a few items that were identical across bags, starting with the soft white tote bag with its deliciously minty green interior.

▼ The bag comes with a side pocket for carrying a tumbler or other type of drink bottle.

▼ Another common item was the Multi Case, which was big enough to fit an 11-inch iPad.

The other common items were the bag of Pike Place Roast ground coffee beans and the seven drink tickets, which are each redeemable for any drink of any size, up to a value of 671 yen for dine-in, or 658 yen for takeout.

Where the bag differs is in the goods, as Egawa’s Stainless Steel Bottle was marked “B”, compared to Masami’s “A”.

Though the design on the bottle looked the same, the difference was in the structure of the lids, with Egawa’s being a screw-top type with a tighter seal.

▼ The body of the bottle, however, was the same.

While Masami received a Christmas-themed Stainless To Go Cup Tumbler as her second drinkware item, Egawa received a blue heat-resistant glass mug.

And whereas Masami received a couple of cafe plates, Egawa scored himself a picnic mat.

Measuring a metre (3.3 feet) across in length and width, the mat was a reasonable size, comfortable enough for one person to sit on. If you’re like Egawa and too self-conscious to sit on a Starbucks mat during a picnic for one outdoors, though, it can be used  as a lap blanket, rug or small tablecloth indoors.

So in the end, this was another great Starbucks haul, and Egawa was happy with everything he received for the grand price of 8,000 yen (US$55.87). Stay tuned tomorrow to find out what our final Starbucks lucky bag contains!

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The value for money was incredible! 

Here at SoraNews24 it’s a point of pride that we buy as many New Year’s Lucky Bags as possible every year. I mean, there’s always the fact that we want to bring you the best and most entertaining Japan news out there, but we actually do want the hordes of potentially limited-edition and unique stuff that retailers and restaurants put in their bags. Plus, we also enjoy the thrill of finding out what’s inside, since, in most cases, the bag (or box’s) content is shrouded in mystery.

There’s also the rush of victory and the dopamine hit we get from being one of the few people to get one of the rarer ones, which are sold by lottery only. One of those was the box from the Pokémon official store, the Pokémon Center’s Pika Pika Box 2024. Unfortunately, though seven of our reporters entered the lottery, not a single one of us won. That makes it hot competition for the much sought-after Starbucks Lucky Bag as the hardest-to-get lucky bag of 2024.

Thankfully, a reader was kind enough to share what they got in their Pokémon Center Pika Pika Box 2024, so let’s take a look!

The Pika Pika Box 2024 was sold to the lucky lotto winners for just 4,400 yen (US$31.23). Advertisements reported only that the box would contain one of three face cushions designed to look like one of the Paldea starter Pokémon from the latest games. Whatever else it contained was a total mystery.

We were especially curious about what was in the boxes since the chance to buy one eluded us not once but seven times. That’s why our Japanese-language reporter and Pokémon fan P.K. Sanjun was delighted to receive a DM on social media from a fan who offered to reveal the contents of their box. SoraNews24 Reader, thank you for your generosity!!

As it turns out, the box contained such an incredible number and quality of goods that P.K. was utterly shocked.

・A Sprigatito Fluffy Face Cushion
・A Psyduck plushie
・A Meowscarada plushie
・A Larry plushie
・A Quaxley plushie
・A Greninja figure
・A collection of acrylic memo stands
・Meowscarada stickers
・2 keychains
・A zipper charm
・Sticky notes
・A Yamper hair tie
・2 handkerchiefs
・A clear folder
・A Pikachu apron
・An acrylic stand featuring Bellibolt and Iono

Of course, each lucky bag contains different items, but to have 18 different items packed into one box for just 4,400 yen was a ridiculous deal! That means you’re paying just 245 yen per item! That’s insane!! Considering how generally expensive products are at the Pokémon Center–P.K. normally spends tens of thousands of yen on the shop’s official Pokémon merchandise when he visits–18 products for 4,400 yen is an incredible value!

Even at a glance, you can tell they’re not all cheap or low-quality items either.

When P.K. investigated further, by inquiring with a Pokémon fanatic, he learned that the Quaxley plushie runs for about 5,500 yen, since it’s a “life-size” toy.

Plus, the Greninja figure retails for 5,000 yen. So even if the box only contained one of those items, its value would already have surpassed its cost.

Looking at it from a more measured standpoint, P.K. had the distinct sense that many of these items were inventory left over at the end of the year, but even so, the sheer number of items, plus the presence of two high-value items, makes it one of the best and most competitive lucky bags, as it has been every year.

The winner of the box, by the way, also agreed that it was an excellent value, so we must conclude that the Pika Pika Box 2024 has an overall high level of satisfaction. It’s too bad we didn’t manage to get our hands on one this year, but at least we managed to get the Mister Donut Pokémon lucky bag. Maybe next year luck will be doubly on our side!

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Characters © 2023 Pokémon. ©1995-2023 Nintendo/Creatures Inc./GAME FREAK inc.
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Only available to lottery winners, this “phantom” box is filled with special goods. 

Whenever something in Japan is so hard to get it’s rarely seen, it’s dubbed a “phantom” item. That’s the case with the Starbucks fukubukuro lucky bag, because unlike many other fukubukuro, you have to win a lottery to purchase it.

This year, all 19 members of our team put in an application for the lottery, and only three were successful. One of the lucky winners was K. Masami, our resident Starbucks expert who spent the year taste-testing every new Frappuccino release, so she was over the moon when she learned she would be able to purchase one for 8,000 yen (US$56.35).

▼ She was even happier when the bag arrived in a box on her doorstep.

▼ After plucking the items out of the bag, her haul turned out to be better than expected.

The Starbucks fukubukuro contain random items so you never know what you might get, but Masami was thrilled with everything she received.

▼ The first item to catch her eye was the Tote Bag, which was a high-quality product made with thick fabric.

▼ Next up was a Multi Case, which looked big enough to carry an iPad.

Then there was a couple of cafe plates. This was something Masami had never seen before, but they looked like a great way to enjoy a drink and a slice of cake.

Masami’s favourite items, though, were the tumblers, and she was surprised to receive not one but two of them.

▼ A Stainless To Go Cup Tumbler with a holiday motif…

▼…and a Stainless Steel Bottle that had “Starbucks Lucky Bag 2024 A” printed on the back, suggesting it was exclusive to the chain’s lucky bags.

▼ The spout was wide and looked easy to clean, so Masami will be using this every day.

▼ Rounding off the collection was a bag of Pike Place Roast ground coffee beans…

▼…and a set of seven drink tickets.

Each ticket can be used towards a drink or standard coffee beans up to a value of 671 yen in the case of dine-in, or 658 yen for takeout. That amounts to a total of up to 4,697 yen, which means everything else in the bag cost 3,303 yen.

This was great value for money, especially as stainless steel tumblers alone can cost around 4,000 yen each, so it turned out to be a fantastic start to the year for our Starbucks lover.

Now Masami is keener than ever to try all the new beverages the green mermaid serves up in the coming months!

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