Apparantly we were late in buying tickets, seems like some locals really go there EVERY year. ALL bus tickets are sold out! So we gotta take the JR train from Shinjuku to Gotemba station, which was 95mins of duration and Y2800 per person...quite doubling the bus fare. It'd better be worth it, Happy Bags (福袋) we are coming!!!
Yo we woke up at 5:45am and arrived Shinjuku at 7:00am and the JR Odakyu "Romance" Car is departing at 7:20am sharp!
In fact, Gotemba is in Hakone (箱根)...So in short, we are closer to Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) in Gotemba than in Tokyo!
OK, let's switch back to the shopping scene - here you go -
Gotemba Premium Outlets ~
People are all so early, there are long queues in nearly all the famous brands that offer Happy Bags, so to say, really a spectacular shopping mood! Luckily, we did do a bit of research on the outlets' shops. Most of them offer Happy Bags, so we have to prioritise. Juli picked Anteprima and I couldn't finalise one...until I reached there, Burton (yes, I was queueing at the above queue for 1 hour before I get my Happy Bag)!!
So we both got our Happy Bags as wished and then the rest of the day is just to check out the other shops...And ended our shopping day at 5ish, the Happy sunset ~
You maybe curious, wouldn't they put "rubbish" in the Happy bags? Well, I won't comment on that as everyone have different definitions for crap in mind and I totally respect that, hahaha. However, after our 1one whole day research, we arrived at the following 1-2-3 Happy Bag Shopping Guide (just our 2 cents to share, yeah):
No.1: Don't Choose the cheapest bag
If they came in different prices, say Y10,000, Y20,000, Y30,000. Usually in this case the cheapest one won't have much REAL good stuff. Why? Simple, higher price means more room for price cut/bargains. Like, when a Y10K bag contains Y20K goods, then at the same shop, a Y20K one will usually contains Y50-60K of stuff. See the exponential relationship there?
No.2: Only buy if you like the brand very much
It's likely that you won't need 100% of the items in the bag. So the goal is ultimately to get at least 1-2 items in huge bargains. And that you won't mind get extras from the same brand.
No.3: Always check current discounts for the brand in the outlets
If the shops are offering big discounts already, you'll be better off just choose from the shops' shelf instead so you guaranteed to get what you want with good prices. Simply not worth to take the risks of blind items from a Happy Bag in this case. Agree?
Indeed, some Happy Bags are not really very attractive so it really takes some care to choose which one to get and which not to...finally, we have the follows:
1. Anteprima - Hangbag, Handbag accessories, Leather Notebook, Notebook refill (Bag Tag: Y21,000 -> Bag Total Value: Y100,000+) Yes! This is the most valued Happy Bag for 2011 we have chosen!!
2. Burton - Ski 1+1 Jacket, T-shirt, Sunglasses, Wool handgloves, Wool Beanie (Bag Tag: Y10,000 -> Bag Total Value: Y60,000+)
3. Swatch - 2 Swatch 2010 special edition watches (Bag Tag: Y5,000 -> Bag Total Value: Y10,000)
4. Franc Franc - Air humidifier (Y13000 in the shop), fur pillow, fur slipper, rabbit doll, 2 towels, Champagne shower gel, storage box (Bag Tag: Y5,000 --> Bag Total Value: Y15,000)
5. Body Shop - Shower Gel, Body Cream, Body Scrub, HandCream, Shower sponge (Bag Tag: Y3,150 -> Bag Total Value: Y6,000+)
Finally apart from Outlets, Department stores in town, you can also get Happy Bags online, I've purchased the Adidas Shoes Happy Bag from Rakuten (http://www.rakuten.co.jp) at Y5,250 as a test, and got it delivered to my place on 2 Jan 2011 morning, very on time! And surprise! The shoes are very very trendy and we can't really expect more for Y5K! 2 pairs of shoes! and the black one bears the 3-leaves label!!!
So hope you liked what I liked as above, and wish everyone who read this a very Happy and Healthy and Properous 2011!
"Let's fill our bags with happiness everyday.
Stay cool and be happy!"
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