In Japan, ‘ lucky bags ’ are a New Year’s Day shopping tradition that offers up a mystery bag of items usually at a discounted price. And perhaps one of the most sought-after lucky bags comes from the country’s Apple Stores.
I always considered myself a pretty big Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - 新聞) fan, but this event seems to bring out the most hard-core fanboys. Back in 2010 I tried to queue for a lucky bag, arriving at the store at 5am only to find that overnight campers had filled all the spots. This year the bag cost 33000 yen (about $430), and most customers are hoping that there will be a big ticket item inside like an iPad 2 or a Macbook Air.
The folks over at App Bank and Ringo-Sanco have blogged about the event, with pics showing the long queues as well as the surprise contents that were found in some of the lucky bags. I’ve posted a few of their pics below, but I encourage you visit their sites (Japanese) to view more.
