SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

TOP

» Japan
» McDonald’s French fries humidifier is the star of this fukubukuro lucky bag from Japan

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

McDonald’s French fries humidifier is the star of this fukubukuro lucky bag from Japan

Oona McGee Jan 4, 2024
Tweet

It’s like you can smell the fries cooking in the room!

In Japan, some New Year’s lucky bags, or “fukubukuro” as they’re known here, are harder to get than others. On the rare side of the spectrum is the McDonald’s fukubukuro, which, like the equally hard-to-get Starbucks Lucky bag, can only be purchased by lottery winners.

18 members of our team entered the lottery to purchase a bag, and only seven won, proving just how rare this fukubukuro is. One of the lucky winners was Seiji Nakazawa, who was happy to hand over 3,000 yen (US$20.90) for the bag, especially as it contains rare collaborative goods that you can’t get anywhere else.

▼ This year, McDonald’s teamed up with fashionable kitchen and home brand Bruno for its fukubukuro.

The bag contained the following items:

▼ A Coin Pouch…

▼ …a Blanket…

▼ …and Special Coupons (equivalent to 3,430 yen).

The coupons alone were worth more than he’d paid for the bag, making this a very good deal, but there was still a mini plate to add to everything, and best of all there was…

▼ …a French Fries Humidifier!

This was the star item in the entire bag, and it had been causing a buzz online since back when the lottery had opened. To see it in person was a thrill for Seiji, who couldn’t wait to see it in action.

▼ The steam from the humidifier was designed to make the fries look like they were piping hot, straight from the fryer.

▼ It seemed easy enough to use, so he filled the product with water, popped the top back on…

▼…and plugged it in.

▼ Now all he had to do was press the switch on the back to activate the steam.

▼ However, much to his dismay, nothing happened.

No matter how many times he pressed the button or plugged and replugged the humidifier, there was no steam.

Taking a look at the instruction manual, he couldn’t work out what had gone wrong. He’d followed all the steps correctly, so the humidifier should’ve been working by now.

Desperate to get the thing to work, he decided to call the helpline on the back of the booklet, but alas, it was closed during the New Year’s holiday period.

This was not the way he imagined starting the year, so in a last ditch effort to avert failure, he sent out an SOS on social media.

It didn’t take long for one of Seiji’s followers to answer the call, giving him exactly the advice he needed. They told him the problem might lie with the fabric core, saying it can take time for it to become completely wet, during which time there would be no mist.

So he followed their advice to soak it in water, and though a number of people suggested he leave it for an hour, Seiji couldn’t wait that long, reaching in to retrieve it after around 10 minutes.

▼ Would this do the trick?

▼ Holding his breath and crossing his fingers for luck, he pressed the switch and…

▼ …success!

Woo hoo! Seiji was beyond thrilled as he watched plumes of steam rise from his fries towards the ceiling.

It was even more impressive than he’d hoped, giving off so much steam it was as if he could smell the fries. Despite all the steam, though, it was surprisingly quiet, barely making a hum as it humidified the room.

It was the tastiest looking humidifier he’d ever seen, and Seiji felt incredibly fortunate to be one of the chosen few to receive it. He was also grateful for the kind help he’d received online, which added to the joy of it all, making for a very happy new year!

Photos ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]