Happy Bags (2006-01-02)
In satisfying Japanese people's craze for shopping and love for a good bargain, many stores have special sales in the New Year. They put out what is known as Happy Bags (Fukubukuro) to lure buyers. The bags are sealed and sold at a fixed price. Customers are not told what the contents are but are guaranteed a big discount.
Department stores usually sell Happy Bags on the second day of the
New Year and some very eager people would start queuing as early as TWO days before the
store opens. Talk about serious bargain hunters here. These
people have to endure harsh element while they are lining up and then
battle fellow crazy shoppers once the doors open for a bag (or two, or
three, or fifty) that they don't even know what's inside.
Sometimes it is a skirt they don't need, usually it is a shirt whose
color they don't like, and most often it is a coat that doesn't
fit. You might get all these items in a single Happy Bag for 50
bucks, a good bargain it might sound, but nothing like spending 30
dollars on a sweater that you truly love and fits. To pay for a
bargain just for the sake of scoring
a bargain is a mentality I'll never understand.
So many shops have Happy Bags for sale that I see them in shoe stores, jewelry stores, and even supermarkets. For someone who wears size 8 clothes, size 6 shoes and doesn't drink coffee, is it still a bargain to hoard Happy Bags that gave her a size 4 shirt, a pair of large sandles in a color she hates and a bottle of instant Nestle Cafe from a supermarket? You tell me.
Back to top
