If you love fast food in Japan, you’re going to eat these restaurant and cafe fukubukuro right up! Find discounted food coupons and wild merchandise in these fun Japanese lucky bags.

Food-Themed Fukubukuro!?
How Japan’s Fukubukuro Traditions Are Changing With the Times

Ever since Japan’s Edo period (1603-1868), the fukubukuro (福袋) has been a part of Japanese New Year’s traditions. The original “lucky bags” or “happy bags” (as they’re sometimes called in English) were mystery bags put together by Japan’s early department stores and other retailers as a form of clearance sale, to avoid the bad luck of starting a new year with unsold inventory. The excitement of mystery purchases and the promise of a great deal has helped the custom of fukubukuro grow, and these days they’re offered by shops big and small, evolving into different forms to meet different needs. In recent years, that even includes some of Japan’s biggest fast food destinations.

From coffee shops and bakeries to sit-down restaurants, especially chains, it’s no longer a surprise to see Japanese eateries offering fukubukuro at the end of the year. But without much in the way of unsold inventory to sell off, what exactly can you expect to find inside these lucky bags? Packaged food products, coupons, gift certificates, and even custom-designed limited-edition branded merchandise have all become standard in the world of Japanese food fukubukuro – here are just a few of our favorite examples for the 2024~2025 season.

① Mister Donut

Mister Donut has been wooing Pokemon fans ever since it started offering Pikachu donuts in 2018, and these days their yearly Mister Donut x Pokemon collab fukubukuro is an absolute must-have for fans of these cute pocket monsters, as well as sugary treats. Divided into two or three price ranks each year, the lucky bags always include a gift card for a certain number of donuts alongside a selection of original merchandise featuring Pokemon and donut designs, which always lean very kawaii.

This year they’re offering a 3,500 yen fukubukuro which comes with a gift card for 20 donuts (up to a certain price) plus a small zippered pouch and a simple tote bag. The 6,000 yen edition comes with a 35-donut gift card plus a larger tote bag, a bath towel, a 2025 planner, and a set of three plastic file folders. The prices for each bag are technically less than the value of the donut gift cards alone (if you only buy expensive donuts, at least), so if you love fried treats and/or cute Pokemon merchandise, it’s definitely a good deal.

▶︎ Find details on the official website.

② McDonald’s Japan

McDonald’s might not be a Japanese company, but in Japan they’ve certainly leaned into the local culture, and for 2024~2025 they’re partnering with the fashion and design experts at BEAMS to produce an entirely ridiculous and possibly irresistible lucky bag. This year interested customers can use the McDonald’s app to enter a lottery for a chance to purchase the 3,480 yen McDonald’s fukubukuro “produced by BEAMS DESIGN,” which contains nine “special coupons” for a selection of popular menu items (worth a total of 3,610 yen) along with four pieces of original merchandise.

There’s a small original McDonald’s x BEAMS DESIGN zippered pouch and a similar lens cloth (which seems pretty random to us), but also a couple of wackier items. We suspect people will be buying this fukubukuro either for the hand-shaped french fry grabber themed around one of three McDonald’s mascots, or the Big Mac lantern, which can be opened to reveal a portable battery-powered light source.

▶︎ Find details on the official website.

③ Mos Burger

Love anime? Mos Burger might be the fast food fukubukuro for you, because this year the Japanese chain is keeping up their collab with One Piece to offer both hamburgers and anime merch for the new year. The cost comes in a little higher than McDonald’s, priced at 5,000 yen, but since the bag does include a sheet of ten 500 yen gift certificates, it’s probably worth it if you like both Mos Burger and One Piece. It’s like all the anime merch is a free bonus! (Just make sure to use up all those gift certificates before they expire at the end of March 2025.)

This year’s lineup includes one One Piece trading card game card plus four original items: snack tongs shaped like Luffy’s rubber arms (inside a plastic case topped with his straw hat), a Chopper water bottle capped with his big blue hat, a plastic file folder, and a little One Piece x Mos Burger hand towel. The official website makes the point that if you use the 500 yen certificates to buy their kiddy meal “Wai Wai Set” during the right time of year, you can bring home some additional collab merch as well.

▶︎ Find details on the official website.