Welcome to 2020.

While most shops across Japan are closed on New Years Day, they open on January 2nd and have massive sales storewide. Walk down any shopping arcade (shotengai) just after the new year and you will see bags of goods displayed out the front. These bags are called fukubukuro or lucky bags in English.

This custom started during the Meiji period (1868 to 1912) in Ginza, Tokyo. Since then it has spread across Japan. Clothing stores, food outlets, mobile phone stores and more all get in on the action of bagging up last years stock and selling the, for 50% off or more.

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People line up out the front of popular brand shops and department stores in the early mornings, often 2 or 3 hours before opening, to grab a bargain fukubukuro.

While you might not know exactly what’s inside, clothing and fashion stores bag products according to size, so you can choose the bag that best suits you.

In Kobe, the best place to find these bargains are along Sannomiya Center Gai and around the brand shops in Kyukyoryuchi, the old foreign settlement area between Higashiyuenchi and Kobe Daimaru Department Store.

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Depachicka – Department store basement food floors also sell fukubukuro

Depachicka are popular food areas of department stores selling ready-to-eat food items, bentos, sweets, sake and often have a supermarket attached.

Downtown Kobe has two main depachicka in Kobe Daimaru and Kobe Hankyu. Many of the shops also have fukubukuro on sale. Perhaps its a good chance to grab some Japanese sweets for souvenirs.

Be quick though, most shops sell them from January 2nd to 4th only (or until the first working day after the new year break.

What fukubukuro would you like to get your hands on?