福袋 – The Bag of Fortunes for Japanese New Years
New Year is a huge time of the year in Japan. There are traditions and events that all line up around the end of the old year, and the beginning of the New Year. There is one specific thing that shows up around the new year. This is known as Fukubukuro.
Table of Contents
What is this Fukubukuro?
Basically, fukubukuro is a bag you get at several different shops or businesses. The fukubukuro has items, receipts, or other goodies usually from the retailer that is selling them. The thing that makes these bags special is that the contents are a mystery. This is something that will see around New Years or the beginning of the year.
Usually, the fukubukuro will have a price that will be somewhere around or less than the total of the items inside. So pretty much it works like this, you go to a store purchase a fukubukuro, and get several things inside. It is basically a risk though because you won’t know if you like what you got until you purchase one. But, it is a fun way to enjoy the season.
What does Fukubukuro mean?
Fukubukuro in Japanese is 福袋. This word is made up of first 福 and then 袋 which means bag. The first part of this word, 福 can mean fortune, luck, wealth, happiness, and so on. Basically, all the stuff you want in life. So if we translate 福袋 from Japanese to English we come up with something like,
- Bag of Fortunes
- Lucky Bag
- Bag of Wealth
