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A touch of Japan culture for this CNY
EXPECT some fuku, or good fortune in Japanese, when you shop at nine malls in Singapore this Chinese New Year. They are adopting elements of the Japanese culture in their festive promotions to offer something "unusual and exciting". For the first time in their CNY promotions, Frasers Centrepoint Malls (FCM) - which manages seven shopping centres including The Centrepoint, Northpoint and Anchorpoint - as well as Liang Court in River Valley Road are giving out furoshiki, a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth. FCM even uploaded seven video clips on YouTube to show how a furoshiki can be folded into bags for different uses, such as holding mandarin oranges. Over at Central, which is located in Eu Tong Sen Street, lucky bags called fukubukuro - filled with random items and sold at a price much lower than the items' total value - are up for grabs. The goodies range from electronic goods to air tickets to Japan, but the exact contents of each bag are kept a secret until the day all the bags are distributed. Fukubukuro is a tradition started by Japanese merchants to encourage people to shop at their stores in celebration of New Year's Day. FCM and Liang Court said that they hope the furoshiki will help spread the message of saving the environment. The cloth, made of recyclable material, can be folded and used repeatedly as a carrier for many things, they said. It can be redeemed with at least $100 in spending at the malls under FCM, which is giving out 20,000 of them. At Liang Court, shoppers have to spend a minimum of $150 to get a furoshiki. As of Friday, only about 100 are still available. Central's fukubukuro costs $68 each, and shoppers have to spend at least $88 before they can buy one. The mall said the total value of the items in each bag is at least three times the price of the bag. The first batch had sold out and more will be put on sale today. Shoppers found the Japanese touch a refreshing change from the usual Chinese-theme promotions. Said freelance trader Carol Chung, who is in her 40s, of the furoshiki: "I think it's a great idea to have a recyclable bag, and the design is nice too."
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