Japan doesn't know about IRK yet
2https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-asia-46805873
Partial quote of article:
They’re called Fukubukuro - and at the start of each New Year, thousands of people in Japan queue up for hours to get their hands on them.
Fukubukuro - or lucky bags - are essentially mystery goodie bags that contain anything from clothes to food, depending on the store selling them.
They started out as a way for Japanese department stores to get rid of old stock at the start of the year, but now have become an annual craze nationwide.
‘The excitement of not knowing’
Sales for Fukubukuro open every year on 1 January, and they’re typically sold across the entire first week of January, or until they run out.
For many, it isn’t the New Year without a Fukubukuro.
It’s unclear how exactly the Fukubukuro originated - there are multiple stories told - but one version says they were sold as early the 1900s when department stores started cropping up in Japan.
The department stores, it is said, wanted to get rid of their stock before the start of the New Year and so decided to sell mystery bags filled with random leftover goods at a sizeable discount.
Today, department stores around Japan and even global chains like Starbucks and Armani have jumped on the trend.
Bags are now no longer filled with random leftovers, but are usually stacked with premium objects that would be significantly more expensive if bought separately.
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Fukubukuro =/= Fukōbukuro
@Cythwulf I don’t speak Japanese but I put “Instant Regret Kit” into Google translator and it gave me “Insutanto kōkai kitto”. I don’t trust that translation though because it looks very anglicised to me.
@OnionSoup A source I trust translated “Instant Regret Kit” as: (「即後悔」キット) “soku koukai kitto”
There was a thread about this years ago, when Fukus were first rolled out by Meh. I remember it took quite a long time for the first non-kickstarter one to sell out, because no one knew what a fukubukuro was. That blissful ignorance ended quickly…
@shahnm I found this part amusing:
“Bags are now no longer filled with random leftovers, but are usually stacked with premium objects that would be significantly more expensive if bought separately.”
Premium objects
Although I will say, my Irk was certainly worth way more than $5 and the Fukus I received as part of Meh’s birthday celebration were all worth more than $5 each too.
The secret of the 福袋
The IRK is less than the FOMO