Apple has given word that they will be selling Lucky Bags (Fukubukuro) again this New Year’s! The sale will begin on 2 January at 8:00am.

According to Tokyo Walker magazine the price is set be 33,000 yen (US$420) at the Ginza and Shibuya Apple Stores (other locations are uncertain). At the beginning of every year in Japan, there is a chance to find Apple’s top selling item in a few of their Lucky Bags. Could we see a MacBook Air or an iPad2 show up this time around?

But wait. “In 2012 Lucky Bags will indeed be sold by Apple, however their price and other details have not been officially released” said an Apple Store staff member in a phone interview.

In spite of the conflicting reports and murky information it’s unlikely that die-hard Apple fans who are chomping at the bit to get whatever Lucky Bag they the company is willing to offer would care about an official announcement.

They only need to remember the famous Lucky Bags of New Year’s 2011 when seven Apple Stores across Japan were selling Lucky Bags at 30,000 yen (US$380) each. Pandemonium ensued as the luckiest of shoppers were surprised with iPads nestled along with some 8GB iPod touches or iPod nanos.

There is a New Year’s tradition in Japan of selling fukubukuro, also known as lucky bags. If you have never seen one before, they are like those mystery bags of candy that you might have bought at the corner store as a child. You pay a flat rate of 50$ but could walk away with a lot more that you paid for. In Japan this is done on a huge scale with nearly every major retailer offering Lucky Bags of their merchandise.

Apple Site:apple.com/jp/promo/newyearspecial/ (Japanese)
Wikipedia Article On Lucky Bags: Fukubukuro (English)


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