New Years Lucky Bag: UNIQLO vs. MUJI

Every year on New Years Day, all major retailers in Japan sell Fukubukuro, or Lucky Bags, that have a hodge podge of items of that brand for a heavily discounted price. This year, my brother brought me one lucky bag each from two internationally renown Japanese brands—UNIQLO and one from MUJI. My conclusion? The MUJI one is cheaper, and much, much cooler.

Here's a point by point comparison of each (I got both in a women's medium):

UNIQLO
Cost: 5000 yen
Packaging: Neatly presented in a beautiful silver-and-bronze box with a personalized note by "charismatic housewife" Chieko Kuroda.
3 items: A pink cotton cashmere cardigan, a short white cotton sweater with big buttons, and a white nylon blouse with a big ribbon in the middle.
# of items I'll actually use: One. I'm giving the cardigan to my mom and the blouse to her housekeeper.

MUJI:
Cost: 3000 yen
Packaging: Thrown together in a large clear shopping bag.
9 items: Three thigh-high socks (one gray, two black), one brown painter's hat, one brown leather bag with a single canvas strap, one beige woolen p-coat, two black t-shirts—one sleeveless, one with 3/4 length sleeves, and one taupe table mat.
# of items that I'll actually use: Nine. The bag is a great basic that fits everything, the coat, hat, socks are all  super cute, the table mat is perfect for single living, and the t-shirts are great basics for any occasion.

Comments

[vagrant]

I was just watching TV and they were showing the ladies and a few guys going craZy over those bags. All grabbing and shoving.