New Year is the opportunity in Japan to buy lots of products of the brands you like at a cheap price. Indeed, the Fukubukuro is a very popular tradition where all merchants offer at a given price a bag full of products. Of course, you do not know the content of the bag but for some big brands, you know that the game is well worth the effort. For example, at the Sega Club in Akihabara, the famous UFO catcher also does the Fukubukuro. It is also a way for the brand to empty their stock of accessories or pluchies and make room for the new collection.
You will find at the entrance a large machine filled with stuffed animals at a fixed price of 500 yen the game. It may seem a little expensive at first, but you'll be surprised. You will find that in this machine the prizes to win are arranged very differently from other machines. It does not contain new products but they are all stacked on top of each other. Once the game started, we quickly realize that the claw barely moves, and then several of plushies fall at the same time. In addition, a Sega employee comes behind you and push to the hole more plushies. We get away quickly with a huge bag filled with stuff with this machine. For 500 yen, it's a bargain! On the other floors, several smaller and cheaper machines (100 yen per game) offer you small figurines or stuffed animals to win in one go. It's very easy to see because in this type of machine, the prices are all at the edges of the hole, just pass the claw next to it and the product falls systematically. It's impossible to walk out the SEGA with empty hands. Even children got it ;p
It's really nice the atmosphere of the Fukubukuro but it is even more when you've won a lot of things. And even if the merchants put products from a previous season or things to empty their stock. For Sega, all prices are figurines and stuffed animals. It's always cute and fun. We can choose from all the easy win prizes what tempts us the most. We do not have plenty of choice but we do have choices. It's a win-win situation!