It wouldnt be New Years without a bag of junk.
Mr. Sato makes annual pilgrimage to Japanese junk shops for lucky bag called fukubukuro. These are typically sold in most stores and restaurants in Japan and contain a large range of goods and sometimes gift certificates at a discount.
Lucky bag contains many customers, and rewards them in all its parts. Akihabara junk stores on the other hand give no guarantees not only on whats inside but on whether the contents even work.
And even then there are many other factors, as if theyre compatible with modern systems or if you really want to use Hot Shots Golf 3.
Akihabara has been downsizing in recent years, this happens in timer chai of junk shops that have fallen year on year. Mr Sato plans to visit same same shop as last year to see that there was nothing in store he inherited.
Tough haul of junk for more than 10,000 yen (7US$77) he found last week was for 4,000 ($31) at Graffiti stores that sell rebuilt computers and appliances.
This one gave its contents, it was quite vague but gave its contents a good way to talk about a portable DVD player to check out as well as some mobile phone, PC stuff.
Mr. Sato felt the rush of not knowing what hed ended up with, even though not quite as if from years past. Junk shops really the gamblers choice when it comes to fukubukuro, because theys capable of anything.
And as many as others, this bag was tightly sealed with staples and Scotch tape to preserve the mystery.
Eyes immediately drawn to bright pink USB charger on top after cracking it open.
Thankfully this bag was packed with a lot of stuff, but thats OK after most of the space was taken up by the portable DVD player. If you want to get 4,000 yen mobile DVD player, it was just the junk cherries that made the difference.
Mr Sato had gotten a microUSB charger after closer inspection. Aside from relatively universal ports, the days of getting an adapter that only works on 2007 model Docomo phones seems to be over. And even though all Mr. Satos devices use Lightning or USB Type-C cables, that can be easily overcome by an adapter.
Next was a pack of reusable fruit-shaped ice cubes. And who enjoys a cold drink? The kids.?
It was actually really good for something sold at a junk shop but upon closer inspection, there was a note that read dent implying they were damaged items.
Our writer got to look around quite a bit to read what it was talking about. He probably never knew the damage unless the note sparked the cause of the damage.
Another slick-looking phone case for a Huawei P40 that was made of 100-percent genuine aramid fiber. The staff at home at the same time looked to her as if he could give it to the next person he met who had that very specific phone model.
Also included was a Personal Ion Generator that can be worn around the neck. Mr Sato had no idea why he would need an Ion Generator on the go, but you can never have too many so it was great to know how to generate some on the go.
All together, it was a pretty good selection of this years junk shop lucky bag gear. But everything in general: The portable DVD player-loading event hasn’t had a big impact as the event itself!
Which made the bag worth its weight in electronics. And quite rare for a junk shop item, it even came with all its parts, such as a adapter, AV cables, and a remote control.
And before you go guffawing at how nobody watches DVDs anymore, it also has USB, SD card ports to watch all kinds of video files.
Mr. Sato got the first USB t-she he could find and tried it out. On the back of the stick, everything was all quite stunning.
However, as he tried to play a video file only the sound came out. The image had already been on the DBPOWER logo screen.
That may have just been the file type. Perhaps this particular device could not read mp4 files properly. Ensuite he tried out a DVD.
A disc is out.
Portable DVD player seems to have didnt play DVDs after all. Mr. Sato pops into CD and works fine so this was more of a portable music player in the end. Some people have said they had proof that this DVD player was operational. They just had to rebut their review. It just didnt fully turn on the brakes.
And so, M. Satos 2023 gamble wasnt a total win but not a total loss. Quite exactly the way they roll in Akihabara: Take the Good. Take bad. Both take them and there you have the junk shop lucky bag.
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