For those who don’t know, lucky bags are a special new year’s tradition in Japan. Typically, bags contain a number of overstock or leftover items from the previous year. Items are heavily discounted and are new unless otherwise specified. In recent years many stores provide a list of the items in the bag, you just don’t know what kind or version your going to get. For clothing stores, the sizes of all the contents are usually on the bag. You may not like the contents of the bag, but at least they’ll be in your size. Some stores even let you look inside ahead of time, so you know exactly what your getting. I would describe our Lucky Bag Haul 2022 as very practical. The bags we got were all things that we could and would use.

Orihica Lucky Bag

Our first bag was from Orihica a suit shop in the basement of Tokyo Station. We happened to be walking by and a friend we were with mentioned that he really liked there shirts. We stopped by and saw they were selling lucky bags. The lucky bag consisted of four button down dress shirts at a price of ¥11,000 with tax included. Each of the bags has a label with the size of all the shirts inside.

The dress shirts main selling points are that they are stretchy and resistant to wrinkling when washed. The staff at the store was very kind and let me try on a sample shirt which fit pretty well. I really liked the feeling of the shirts material. Typically you are not allowed to look inside the lucky bag as there is supposed to be a sense of surprise. However the bags were loosely secured and the store staff allowed us to peak inside. The shirts were all pretty neutral with subtle patterns on them.

All of the shirts retailed for about ¥4,300 each or ¥17,200 in total. At a combined price of ¥11,000 with tax included, the Orihica Lucky Bag was a pretty good value. At the time of writing, I have worn each of the shirts a couple of times each. I appreciate the long length of the shirts, which don’t come untucked when I’m moving around. The feel of the material is great and the muted patterns add a little flair to a typical solid colored shirt. In the future I look forward to picking up a couple more shirts in different colors.

Lululun Lucky Bag

Our second bag we got was from LuLuLun. Interestingly enough we saw and bought it at a Don Quixote in Tokyo. LuLuLun has a lot of facial care products. They are popular for their single use facial masks. We’ve used there standard products in the past as well as their special Tochigi strawberry masks.

In the past we’ve tried their balance masks and really liked them. We’ll now have a chance to try there moist masks as well. In addition the lucky bag came with a couple of their one night moisturizing masks, one night rescue masks, and a pack of there cleansing sheets which we haven’t tried yet. The LuLuLun Lucky Bag costed ¥2,000 and had contents with a retail value of just under ¥5,000.

Etude Lucky Bag

Our final lucky bag was purchased at Etude House in the Sunshine City mall. Etude House primarily sold women’s cosmetics. According to the advertisement, approximately ¥10,000 worth of merchandise would be in a bag that costed ¥3,300. The original plan was for Amy to split the contents with one of our friends. We purchased one. After looking through it, they determined that the type and quantity of the cosmetics was worth them getting there own.

The lucky bag contained a number of items, like glitter lock, blush, lip stick, lip gloss, concealer, eye shadow, and an eye shadow brush. Amy was quite pleased with the quantity and quality of the contents.

A number of lucky bags were by online lottery reservation only. We applied for the Muji Lucky Bag (Lucky Can) via the lottery, but were unsuccessful. It seems that every year the date for the applications moves up earlier and earlier. We missed the application deadline for the Pokémon store and Starbucks lucky bags. We’ll be sure to mark our calendars for next year.

The One That Got Away

Our biggest Lucky Bag Haul 2022 regret had to be the Mister Donut one. We mentioned that we were really looking forward to getting the Mister Donut Lucky Bag this year. For the last couple of years Mister Donut had done a collaboration with Pokémon. This year was no different. We had the chance to buy it when we were travelling, but fell into the “oh, we can wait, we’ll get it later” trap. One thing that we continue to learn in Japan, is that if you want it, just go and get it. Chances are that it may not be available the next time you come back.

Long story short, we had a chance to buy it a few days after it was released in late December, we mistakenly passed on that opportunity. Then New Years came and most shops were closed for a few days, Mister Donut was closed until the 4th. By the time we were able to look again, it was already too late and they had sold out. Moral of the story is, if you have a chance to get something you want, just get it, because you may not get another chance.

All in all, we’re happy with the goods we got from our Lucky Bag Haul 2022 and look forward to next year.

More to Come…