Fukubukuro Pictures – Shibuya 2011

It’s time to experience the craziest shopping day of the year in Shibuya – and the grand finale of our 2011 Tokyo Fukubukuro and New Year’s Sales coverage. Just after midnight in the early morning of January 2nd, people start lining up in the subway tunnels under Shibuya 109. By the time the first Fukubukuro sales start around 7am, there are thousands of people waiting to get into the department store, and many more thousands en route from all over Tokyo. These excited shoppers – most of them young fashionable women – are hoping to either buy Lucky Bags from their favorite brands or to load up on their favorite fashion at super low New Year’s Sale prices. Once they leave 109, the huge crowds flood into the streets of Shibuya hunting for further bargains at all of the shops and department stores in the surrounding area. Shibuya during Hatsuuri must be seen to be believed!

Shibuya 109 New Years Sale

Shibuya 109’s New Year’s Sales event – this year called “7 Days Bargain” – is, in our opinion, the most chaotic of all of Tokyo’s New Year’s sales. Yes, there are a lot of people that wait in line to get into LaForet Harajuku’s sale, but the scene at Shibuya 109 just seems more like anarchy. A big part of the reason for that is the impromptu flea market that develops on the sidewalks surrounding the department store as girls flood out the doors. Because Fukubukuro are “Mystery Bags”, some girls end up getting things that they don’t want or that won’t fit. The solution to this issue is a massive onsite trading fair.

Girls pull their unwanted items out of their Shibuya 109 Fukubukuro and wave them above their heads, sometimes shouting the brand name. If another girl sees something they like, and they have an unwanted item to trade, then a deal is done. It sounds simple, but imagine thousands of Japanese girls waving clothing above their heads and trying to make deals – right in front of the store as huge crowds of shoppers are pouring in and out of the building. The entire area becomes a swirl of people moving in every direction – and not moving at all – all at once. We tried to capture a bit of that in our photos, but you really should try to attend the sale someday if you want to fully understand it.

Besides all of our Shibuya 109 pictures, we did a bit of wandering around Shibuya and taking pictures of Fukubukuro and sales. We also tried to get some street snaps of various different shoppers – both guys and girls – showing off their New Year’s purchases. Please enjoy the pictures and remember, you can click on them to see them in high resolution. Also, don’t miss our previous Takeshita Dori Fukubukuro and Harajuku Fukubukuro reports!

Shibuya 109 Fukubukuro
Shibuya 109 – can’t see too much from here, right? Just wait until we get closer.

Shibuya 109 Fukubukuro Crowds
The crowd crossing the street to get to 109 before 10am in the morning. These pictures are taken above ground – there is also a massive crowd underground.

Shibuya 109 Fukubukuro
The crowd in front of Shibuya 109. You can see girls trying to get in the doors mixed with the girls trading Fukubukuro items.

Shibuya 109 Sale
Lots of Fukubukuro trading going on in this group.

Shibuya Fukubukuro Girls
There was a crazy amount of leopard print during the New Year’s sale. These girls had Fukubukuro from the Japanese brand D.I.A. These are the lucky bags we saw most often on opening morning. Not sure if they were the most popular, or if they were the only shop that made enough bags for all of the customers who wanted them (as many brands sell out of Fukubukuro right away).

WC by Chinatsu Wakatsuki Lucky Bags
By far the cutest Fukubukuro of the day were the WC by Chinatsu Wakatsuki bags. We saw many of these as well.

7 Days Bargain at Shibuya 109
Yes, there are a few guys out in front of Shibuya 109 as well – but maybe they’re just passing by on their way to another sale.

Shibuya 109 New Year Sale
The crowds go on and on forever. Blow these pictures up to see just how many people there are here.

Muse Muse vs Donald Duck
Smiling girls with Muse Muse and Donald Duck bags passing security as they try to make it along the sidewalk.

Shibuya 109 Fukubukuro
A girl holding up one of her purchases in front of Shibuya 109.

Shibuya 109 Sale Security
There are so many security guards inside and outside of the department store to try to keep things organized. All of them were friendly to us. :-)

Shibuya 109 New Year Sale
7 Days Bargain!

Shibuya 109
More Fukubukuro trading on the sidewalk.

TutuHA vs LDS Fukubukuro Girl
We saw a lot of girls with TutuHA bags and TutuHA fashion. This girl actually has an LDS (Love Drug Store) shopping bag, but her beanie is TutuHA and her outfit (at least the necklace) looks very TutuHA to us.

Liz Lisa Fukubukuro
This girl has two of the most coveted Lucky Bags – the Cecil McBee one and the rolling Liz Lisa one. Wonder what time (or what day) she arrived?

Shibuya 109 Security
This guy has the biggest bull horn in Tokyo. Enough said.

D.I.A. Fukubukuro
Cute girls with more of the huge D.I.A. brand lucky bags.

Shibuya Fukubukuro
Shoppers carrying about a billion bags away from Shibuya 109. Maybe they’re headed back toward the station?

Emoda vs. Egoist Shibuya Shoppers
Emoda and Egoist bargains for these Shibuya-styled shoppers.

Shibuya 109
This is usually one of the Shibuya 109 entrances, but today they have huge “EXIT ONLY” signs above the door. You can see the mayhem – and leopard print – inside.

Rienda vs. D.I.A. Girls in Shibuya
D.I.A., Rienda, and more leopard print for these stylish girls.

Shibuya Shopping Crowds
The clock keeps ticking, but the crowds only get bigger!

Shibuya 109 Shopping
And bigger and bigger.

D.I.A Fukubukuro Girls in Shibuya
Guess what? D.I.A. Fukubukuro, leopard print, and stylish Japanese girls! Sound familiar? :-)

Adidas Adi-Can 2011 Fukubukuro
Walking across the street from Shibuya 109, we see that Adidas is selling lucky buckets instead of lucky bags. This seems like a trend, as we’ve seen quite a few shops with buckets instead of bags this year.

TutuHA Loving Girls in Shibuya
A girl with awesome hair and a TutuHA bag, and a girl with a D.I.A. bag, near Center Street in Shibuya.

TutuHA & Maison Gilfy Girls in Shibuya
Very smiley Japanese girls with more TutuHA and two large Maison Gilfy rolling Fukubukuro. We saw a lot of Gilfy bags this year as well.

Ingni Lucky Bags
Huge stacks of Ingni lucky bags. Not sure if these are shop staff, people planning to resale the items, or just fans of the brand, but we didn’t see anyone else with more bags from a single brand than these two.

Shibuya New Year's Shoppers
Two girls taking a well deserved break from the shopping mayhem at 109.

BAPE Shibuya Sale Line
This is the line outside of BAPE Shibuya. Actually, the line goes around the corner and down Spain Zaka, but this gives you an idea of the difference in the crowd at BAPE and Shibuya 109.

PARCO Shibuya New Years Sale
Parco Shibuya is also having a New Year’s sale.

Parco Shibuya
More Parco sale promotion.

Beaver Fukubukuro
Beaver Fukubukuro!

MOMI&TOYS Crepes
Girls with CoCoLuLu Fukubukuro looking at the menu at MOMI&TOYS Crepes near Parco Shibuya.

CoCoLuLu Fukubukuro Guy
Speaking of CoCoLuLu Fukubukuro, here’s a guy with one in front of Shibuya 109-2 (the men’s store).

FUGA Fukubukuro Guy in Shibuya
FUGA Fukubukuro seemed really popular with the Shibuya guys and Gyaru-o.

Daisy & Jack Rose Fukubukuro Guy
This guy had awesome hair, a big smile, and Lucky Bags from Daisy and Jack Rose.

Shibuya 109-2 Fukubukuro
Shibuya 109-2 7 Days Bargain (for guys)!

Cute Shibuya Fukubukuro Girls
Fun girls with a Maison Gilfy rolling Fukubukuro and one that I don’t know the logo of. If you know what bag the girl on the left is holding, feel free to post it in the comments.

Shibuya Fukubukuro
The cute girl went for the cute Fukubukuro – WC and a big red heart bag. If you know who the red heart bag is, let us know in the comments.

Chinatsu Wakatsuki Fukubukuro Girls
Wow, that’s a lot of Chinatsu Wakatsuki/WC Fukubukuro cuteness right there!

Shibuya 109 Sale Madness
During another quick pass by Shibuya 109, we see that the crowds are still huge.

Shibuya 109 Fukubukuro Sales
As hours go by, maybe a few less people, or everyone is just getting tired and sitting down?

Ank Rouge & ROSE FANFAN Fukubukuro Girls
Cute girls with Ank Rouge & ROSE FANFAN Fukubukuro.

Shibuya 109 New Year Sale 2011
Security meeting at one of the exits. Anywhere else, this could mean trouble, but in Japan there will be no trouble! :-)

Emoda & ROSE FANFAN Fukubukuro
Smiling girl with an Emoda Fukubukuro and a Liz Lisa rolling bag behind her.

ABC Mart New Years Sale
Leaving 109 again, we see that ABC Mart is having a big New Year’s Sale.

Gyaru & Gyaru-o Fukubukuro
A few of the most awesome shoppers we’ve seen all morning. The guy on the far left appears to be carrying a Glad News Fukubukuro. If you want to see what’s inside of it, check out this post on Moments Like Diamonds where Sara Mari dissects Glad News and TutuHA bags from Shibuya 109.

WC Fukubukuro Girls in Shibuya
How awesomely cute are these two matching girls with their WC Fukubukuro?

Forever 21 Fukubukuro
The newly opened Forever 21 Shibuya has Fukubukuro too!

Loft Shibuya New Years Sale
Loft Shibuya isn’t fashion, but they have so many amazing things you can’t live without – and the cutest collection of scissors and staplers in Shibuya.

Happy Price Bags in Shibuya
These aren’t really Lucky Bags, but they are bags on sale – close enough?

ANAP New Years Sale
Two shouting sales girls outside of ANAP on Spain Zaka.

Amo's Style Fukubukuro
Amo’s Style Fukubukuro!

Parco Shibuya Sale
A guy. A sign. A sale. Parco. Okay. Next.

GGD Fukubukuro
This girl wants to sell you a Mystery Bag from GGD.

Shibuya Sale Line
Just another street with a long line of people waiting for some shop to open. There were lines like this all over Shibuya.

Freak's Store Shibuya
Freak’s Store has a big sale and Fukubukuro.

B2nd Shibuya Fukubukuro
B2nd is one of the coolest chains of select shops in Tokyo. If you’re looking for cool higher-level street brands (both Japanese and international), check them out. Not sure what was in the Lucky Bags!

ROIT by B2nd Sale
This store – called “ROIT” – is the female select shop run by the same company as B2nd. If you search for “ROIT” on Google, they will correct it to “RIOT”. That’s funny, except that it makes it hard to find the store online.

Free's Shop You Sale
Free’s Shop is having a “YOU SALE”. Hmmm… why does that logo look so familiar?

CA4LA Shibuya Fukubukuro
CA4LA Shibuya hat Fukubukuro.

Nano Universe Shibuya
A line outside of Nano Universe Shibuya.

417 by Edifice Shibuya
There’s the Fukubukuro of the new 417 by Edifice shop in Shibuya.

WEGO Shibuya
WEGO Shibuya. That girl’s sign says “Someone Please Teach This Idiot How To Use A Camera In Bright Sunlight!” :-)

Beach Sound Shibuya Fukubukuro
Beach Sound has bucket Fukubukuro instead of bags – like Adidas and True Religion.

Midwest New Years Sale
Some very big gold New Year kanji on the front of the awesome select shop Midwest in Shibuya. This is another one of the Tokyo select shops not to miss if you’re looking for higher-end street-friendly fashion.

Journal Standard Fukubukuro
Journal Standard has American flags on their Fukubukuro this year. Not sure why.

Cuirs Shibuya Fukubukuro
Small shop, big lucky bags.

ESP the LIBRARY Shibuya
ESP the LIBRARY Fukubukuro features either “three piece cap” or “three piece tee”. Better than that one we saw in Harajuku that featured three shoes. :-)


Tool Agit’s Fukubukuro is a collaboration between Addict and LRG.

Rose Bullet Happy Sale
Rose Bullet Shibuya is having a Happy Sale.

Visalia Fukubukuro
As we watch these happy shoppers walk off into the sunset with their lucky bags and New Year’s Sale purchases, we’ll end our 2011 Shibuya Fukubukuro report.

We hope you enjoyed this little photo tour of Shibuya on the first day of New Year’s Sales! If you did have fun, don’t forget to check out our 2011 Harajuku Fukubukuro and Takeshita Dori Fukubukuro reports as well. This also wraps up our Tokyo Fukubukuro coverage for 2011.

Happy New Year everyone, and here’s hoping that you can visit these sales in person next year!

Comments are closed.

  1. Oh, how I miss Fukubukuro sales…
    Pictures are amazing! 109 is so scary, it’s almost impossible to enter there.
    Thank you for this site, I love it so much, it makes me feel closer to Tokyo :)

  2. Thank you, again, for this awesome post! all the pics very so great and lovely and all these people looked so happy with their lucky bags =) Wish I could be there!

  3. Big red heart bag is from the brand JSG – Japanese Super Girl

    It was awesome, 5000yen and contained a one piece, a leopard jacket, leggings and a top. And of course the amazing bag.

  4. I have to admit I was surprised to read that people only started lining up at midnight, haha~!

  5. the sales are worth it just for the amazingly cute bags, never mind whats inside them! the Ank Rouge and Emoda bags are cute enough to use as purses, so are several others including a pink one i kept seeing. the Liz Lisa roller bag is to die for!!!! it would be the best suitcase! the marketing and packaging for these stores is really incredible, american stores should take note! cute bags are the best!

  6. Oh it looks like such an adventure! Kinda sorry that I skipped out on it, kinda not XD I really loved seeing the pics of the hardcore tutuHA fans, the girl in the first picture is wearing everything tutuHA except her white fur leg warmers XD

    Thank you so much for mentioning my site, I wish I could have gotten the Gilfy bag too, that suitcase is so nice!

  7. aaaah ty for them pics!
    makes me wanna go japan even moar T__T they all look so happy!

  8. Oh my. I’m torn between envy because I love fukubukuro (esp the CocoLulu ones!) and relief that I’m not fighting the crowds to get one this year. Great post! ^^

  9. OMGACKT I SOOOO WANT 2 BE THERE!!!!!!! IF I WHER THERE I WOULD SHOP THEIR ALL DAY LONG UNTILL THE STORE CLOSES^^
    LOVE SHIBUYA THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART \*o*/

    IM GOING 2 VISIT SHIBUYA 109 BE4 I DIE >_<''

  10. Actually D.I.A is one of the shops that didnt make enough AT ALL! it was sold out within less than 2 hours and many people didnt get it.

  11. Oh mon dieu ! C’est hallucinant ! Même en France c’est pas comme ça :s

  12. wow…so many sale in there.

    I want to go there !!

    Japan wait me !!

  13. kory christopher alexandre

    je dois absolument faire cela
    I absolutely do this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  14. Pingback: Tokyo Girls Collection Street Snaps 2011 S/S

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  16. I’d love to go to Tokyo some day O_O And indeed I will :-) When they have a sale they have a proper sale! I love the clothes and just the styles espeically since with some of the stuff I wear [stripey stockings!] you tend to get a lot of looks with they’d be the norm there :-D

    Panda X

  17. oh my god so crowded,look more market than a mall,no offense…
    more crazy they’re not sweating at all…..

  18. Yes I was there It was amazing!! Cant wait for next year I will be there again!!

  19. Tragic Angel

    Maison Gilfy photo, the logo of the bag is, I think, Egoist, in shredded form.
    Sorry it took so long and hope this is correct info.
    I returned to the old photos and cannot believe it’s been a couple of years already since I remember the images so clearly!
    I was looking for 2013, which are not here.