2025 New Year Lucky Bags to Offer Extraordinary Experiences

Tokyo, Nov. 5 (Jiji Press)--For the 2025 New Year shopping season, major Japanese department store operators are focusing on "fukubukuro" lucky bags that offer a wide variety of extraordinary experiences, such as working as a zookeeper and enjoying a luxury cruise trip.

Customers are seeking "a break from their daily lives," an official of Takashimaya Co. said.

Tobu Department Store Co.'s flagship store in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district will sell a fukubukuro package that allows elementary school students and their parents to experience the work of a zookeeper at Tobu Zoo in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo.

The zookeeper experience includes cleaning the elephant cage and feeding a white tiger.

The package, which will be available to five pairs of students and parents for 5,000 yen each, also includes having a photo taken with a ball python, as 2025 is the Year of the Snake in the 12-year Chinese zodiac cycle.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]