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What item would you buy at Uniqlo if you had five minutes and a limitless budget?

Oona McGee Dec 11, 2023
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Our boss gives us a generous winter bonus, but makes us work for it with a team challenge.

Our team disagrees on a lot of things, like whether karaage is better than tonkatsu or whether supermarket ice cream tastes better than a luxury brand, but there’s one thing we all agree on — our boss Yoshio is the best boss in the world.

Sure, he can be a bit of a prankster at times, but time and time again, he’s proved to be surprisingly generous. That generosity was on display again this week, when he got the team together to make this announcement.

▼ “Thank you again, everyone, for all you’ve done this year. I’m going to give you a special winter bonus, so could you all come with me for a moment?”

Bonuses are commonplace in Japan, where staff members receive a monetary bonus in addition to their salary or wages, but they don’t usually come with a grand announcement as the supplementary money simply appears in one’s bank account.

Our team had already received their bonuses for the year, so they were curious to know what this “special winter bonus” was all about. Yoshio’s prank-loving nature made them slightly dubious about following him, but they pushed their fears aside and joined him outside, where he led them silently to a secret destination.

That destination turned out to be…

▼ …Uniqlo!

Breathing a sigh of relief, our team felt safe in the glow of the Uniqlo signs, lining up beside the entrance as Yoshio revealed the reason why they were here.

▼ “As a token of my gratitude, I’ll buy you one item of your choice at Uniqlo, and I don’t care about the price!! However, please bring it to the cash register within five minutes.”

“You don’t get something for nothing” is a mantra our team has long been familiar with, so they were ready to take on this challenge and work hard for their reward.

What would they all come up with? We could almost hear the cogs in their mind churning as they entered the store, with the clock ticking on what they could buy within five minutes.

▼ Start the clock on the five-minute shop!

▼ Tick tock…

▼ …tick tock…

Here they come! So, what did everyone buy? Let’s take a look at everyone’s haul below!

▼ Masanuki Sunakoma bought a long-sleeved Ultra Warm Crew Neck T for 2,990 yen.

“Uniqlo is known for Heat Tech, so I chose the long-sleeved Ultra Warm Crewneck T-shirt, which is said to be the warmest out of all the Heat Tech innerwear.

This is a high-quality Heat Tech that I usually wouldn’t be able to justify spending 3,000 yen on, so I’m super satisfied with this purchase. I think I made the best choice within the five-minute time limit. Thank you, Santa!”

▼ Go Hatori went for a Hybrid Down Parka for 12,900 yen

“For me, Uniqlo isn’t a store for buying fashionable clothes, but for wearing the latest technology. Just off the top of my head, I can name Heat Tech, Block Tech and Seamless Down as some of their high-tech clothing lines, but I haven’t been to Uniqlo for a while so I was surprised to see something I’d never heard of before — the ‘Hybrid Down Parka (3-D Cut)’.

I wasn’t sure what ‘hybrid’ and ‘3-D Cut’ meant, but it sounded like something packed with the latest technology so I chose it. I was hesitant about the dark green colour so I chose beige as it seemed easy to go with everything. Thank you!!”

▼ Yuuichiro Wasai came back with an Ultra Light Down Jacket (6,990 yen)

“At first, I thought about getting something like a coat, but I decided against it because I’d need more time to choose something like that — if it didn’t suit me, it would end up taking up a lot of space in my closet.

When I thought about something that I could definitely wear without it taking up too much storage space, the ultra-light down jacket instantly came to mind. I’ve wanted one for a while, but at almost 7,000 yen I couldn’t afford it. Thank you!”

▼ Ahiruneko picked up a long-sleeved Knit Fleece Set (3,990 yen)

“Although the idea of expensive outerwear crossed my mind for a moment, what I wanted from Uniqlo now was warm loungewear, not outerwear. With loungewear, I wouldn’t have to waste time trying it on.

After thinking about ultra stretch loungewear for a moment, I ended up choosing a knit fleece set instead as it seemed warmer. As expected, the comfort is excellent. You can’t go wrong with Uniqlo’s loungewear. Thank God for Yoshio.”

▼ Seiji Nakazawa is now the proud owner of a pair of Heat Tech Smart Pants (4,990 yen)

“I thought it would be a good time to buy some trousers since I don’t have many comfortable ones for winter. So I headed to the trousers section and noticed they were selling Heat Tech varieties! And they also had Uniqlo’s unique elasticity for a good fit. How amazing is this!!”

“I wanted them straight away, but five minutes wasn’t enough time to try them on so I just guessed my size and grabbed them. It took me just three minutes to get to the register, and I was the first one there. However, now that I’m wearing them…

…they seem to be a little long. Oh well, this is the first time I’ve ever bought a pair of trousers within three minutes of entering a store so I can’t be too hard on myself. Plus, they’re stretchy so I’ll make them work somehow.”

So in the end, everyone was incredibly pleased with what they received, and though Go’s fancy parka cost over 10,000 yen, the other members of the team managed to keep their selections under that amount, meaning both our reporters and our boss were happy with the result. If Yoshio had given them any more leeway in terms of time, he could’ve been well out of pocket so this special winter bonus turned out to be a perfect way to see out the year on a happy note.

Yoshio’s stock has now skyrocketed within the company, and we encourage all bosses across Japan to emulate him. We’ll say it again — our boss truly is the best in the world! And he’s certainly improved on his end-of-year gift-giving, as this year’s bonus is a lot better than that time he gave each member of the team 10,000 yen in one-yen coins.

Related: Uniqlo
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