Apple lovers in Japan flocked to the country's eight Apple retail stores for the annual Lucky Bag sale, where they received a heap of goodies from Apple's lineup of products for a massively discounted price.
The first Apple customers to get hold of their Lucky Bag have taken to the Internet to reveal the contents of their goodie bags. For 38,000 yen, or roughly $323, customers receive one of four bags at random.
For the extremely lucky customers, their bags contain a 128GB 11-inch MacBook Air. That alone makes the $323 purchase more than a good bargain considering a MacBook Air with those specifications normally costs $899. The bag also contains an accompanying Air Jacket ($74.95), an Apple TV ($99), an Icon Slim Pack in a limited edition color by Incase ($149.95), Powerbeats 2 wireless headphones ($199), a limited edition Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation ($79.95) and a Twelve South PlugBug ($34.99). That's a whopping 79 percent discount customers get if they purchased all items at regular items instead.
The second and third Lucky Bags contain either a 16GB iPad Air 2, which costs $499, or a $399 iPad mini 3. Both bags also contain the same Apple TV and an Ultimate Ears Boom Wireless Bluetooth Speaker ($169). These Lucky Bags also contain the same Incase Icon Slim Pack, Powerbeats 2 and Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation. Customers receive either an $871 or $771 discount on all items combined, depending on which Apple tablet they pick.
For the slightly less lucky customers, they get the fourth bag, which is also the most common bag. The fourth bag contains the $199 fifth-generation iPod touch with 16GB of storage, a gift card for iTunes purchases, and the same Apple TV, Incase Icon Slim Pack, Powerbeats 2 and Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation. All in all, most customers receive $626 worth of Apple devices and products from Apple's partners, so even if they don't get the MacBook Air bag or one of the iPad bags, they are still getting more than their money's worth.
The sale, which started on Tuesday, Jan. 2, at 8 a.m., took place in Apple's physical locations in Sapporo, Shinsaibashi, Sendai Ichibancho, Nagoya Sakae, Fukuoka Tenjin and in Shibuya, Omotesando, and Ginza in Tokyo.
Customers in the United States, however, will likely not see the same sale stateside anytime soon. The Lucky Bag custom is a New Year's tradition in Japan where merchants fill up bags with random items and sell them for a huge discount. Locally known as Fukubukuro, the custom is believed to bring businesses good luck for the coming year because, as Japanese superstition goes, it is bad luck to start the year with unwanted items from the previous year.
"There is fortune in leftovers," so goes a Japanese saying.
Still, Lucky Bag isn't just lucky for the merchants. As is seen in the customers who spent their money on Apple's Lucky Bugs, the buyers are also fortunate to have landed such great bargains.
