Fukubukuro (福袋)

Fukubukuro (福袋) is a Japanese New Year custom in which merchants make grab bags filled with unknown random contents and sell them for a substantial discount, usually 50% or more off the list price of the items contained within. The low prices are usually done to attract customers to shop at that store during the new year. The term is formed from Japanese fuku (福, meaning "good fortune") and fukuro (袋, meaning "bag"). The fuku comes from the Japanese saying that "there is fortune in leftovers."

Popular stores' fukubukuro usually are snapped up quickly by eager customers, with some stores having long lines snake around city blocks hours before the store opens on New Year's Day. Fukubukuro are an easy way for stores to unload excess and unwanted merchandise from the previous year, due to a Japanese superstition that one must not start the New Year with unwanted trash from the previous year and start clean. Nowadays, some fukubukuro are pushed as a lavish New Year's event, where the contents are revealed beforehand, but this practice is criticized as just a renaming of selling things as sets.

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4 Dishes to Try Out When Visiting Fukuoka

As one of the closest cities to the Asian mainland, Fukuoka has developed a unique and interesting food culture that has been influenced by Korean and Chinese cuisine. Some Fukuoka dishes, such as Hakata Ramen and motsunabe, have swept Japan by storm and become widely popular across the country.

1. Hakata Ramen

Hakata Ramen is a local ramen dish that features thin noodles in a thick, creamy tonkotsu soup, topped with slices of chashu. Some of the best places to enjoy Hakata Ramen are the city's emblematic yatai food stalls. Hakata Ramen can also be found at any of the numerous ramen-ya in Fukuoka, especially around Hakata Station.

2. Mentaiko

Mentaiko, the spicy version of salted cod roe (tarako), is a common Japanese food that can be found nationwide accompanying rice or alcohol, used as filling for rice balls, or as a seasoning in pasta dishes. Mentaiko is particularly famous in Fukuoka, where it originated by way of Korea, and is a typical menu item at the yatai food stalls and izakaya around the city where it is usually served raw or lightly seared.

3. Motsunabe

Motsunabe is a local hot pot dish typically made up of beef or pork tripe, cabbage, garlic, chives and togarashi peppers in a soy sauce or miso based soup. The inexpensive, slightly spicy stew is usually cooked at the table on portable burners and served together with a bowl of white rice. Noodles or additional rice may be added to the leftover soup in the pot at the end of the meal to finish the dish.

4. Tetsunabe Gyoza

Gyoza are pan-fried, Chinese style dumplings, which are typically stuffed with a mixture of ground pork, cabbage and green onions. While gyoza appear on the menus of ramen-ya, izakaya and other restaurants nationwide, they are also a popular Fukuoka specialty where they are served in large batches on ceramic or hot iron plates. Fukuoka, or Hakata, style gyoza can be found at specialty gyoza shops around the city, especially around Hakata Station.

The local specialties are probably best sampled at one of the popular yatai food stalls found around the city. But there are also countless restaurants in Fukuoka especially around downtown Tenjin, the Nakasu entertainment district and Hakata Station where some nice restaurants are located on the upper dining floors of the station building.

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A Kickstarter Campaign to Check Out: Japanese Manhole Cover T-Shirts

There are many different ways that artists and cities can work together to decorate their cities, but it seems like cities in Japan have come up with one solution that is as unexpected as it is creative and beautiful – decorated manhole covers.

Each city takes pride in its manhole cover design, which can display anything from municipal symbols and local landscapes to abstract patterns or illustrations of local legends.

If you guys love the Japanese manhole cover designs then you'll definitely love these T-shirts. This Kickstarter was started by Kevin and Steven, founders of 47Regions, they are passionate about all things Japanese including the culture, history, art, and of course the food.

This campaign is looking to make T-shirts that feature different manhole designs from the 47 prefectures of Japan. From their prototype, the designs are very vibrant in colors and are unique. All the T-shirts will be hand printed by them in Tokyo and with this campaign, they are working towards producing these T-shirts on a larger scale! In just 10 days, the campaign is already 40% funded.

Visit 47Regions's Kickstarter page to learn more and show your support. A pledge of $32 will get you both a T-shirt and a card when it ships this March 2018.

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