son of soy

No Lucky Bags

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by

Rick Elizaga
in

I’m at the Apple store in Shinsaibashi. Waited in line starting at 1:30 A.M. Lucky bags ran out about 50 people in front of me! But I got a free t-shirt.
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[Updated Monday]
Before Friday night, I’d never waited in line overnight for anything. Now I can say I did it, and I can say that I don’t want to do it again.

Well, OK, let’s say tickets to have dinner with the Dalai Lama go on sale, and camping out in Osaka Friday night is the only option for getting them. I learned some things:
–Go earlier.
–The last train on the Hankyu line from Shijo-Kawaramachi to Umeda leaves at 11:30 PM.
–If you need to take the Mido-suji subway line from Umeda after midnight, you’ll be too late.
–Remember to bring some company and a comfortable mattress or reclining chair.
–Consider better ways you might spend that time and money. Helping the poor, for example

By the time I got to the Apple store around 1:30 in the morning, more than eight hours before opening, there were almost 400 people in line. I knew most of them would want a fukubukuro (the boxy black bags pictured above). Disappointment!

But there was still a small chance, and the trains had stopped running, so I stayed. Spent the night catching microsleeps and shifting from position to position — each uncomfortable in a different way. Communicated occassionally with the guy next to me, Hiroki, a friendly design student who would type English into his ketai and show me. Things like:
–Sorry about that drunk man. Not all Japanese people are as rude.
–Are you going to stay until the morning?
–If the line moves, it [I] carries your baggage. Do not worry about leaving the line.
Hiroki and I watched each other’s things while the other would leave the line to find a bathroom or food. Our greatest communication breakthrough was swapping iPods and letting our music speak for us.

Some awkwardness when I noticed a new person in line just behind me. Caucasian guy, maybe he spoke English? I could see that the Japanese guy next to him, whom I knew didn’t speak English, looked irritated but reluctant to say anything. So I spoke,
“Excuse me, but did you just get here this morning?”

I’m kicking myself for the conversation that followed, in which I made it clear that he was standing in the wrong place in line, yet was too chicken to politely demand that he move to the end. Worse, he was actually pretty friendly, and I made extended conversation with him, which must have seemed to the people behind us that I was cheerfully letting my American comrade cut into the line. It wrecked my mood and I stopped talking for awhile.

Finally, I turned around and said, “You know, you’re a nice guy and it was good talking to you, but in all fairness, you really should be at the end of the line. You’re standing with people who have been waiting here for almost nine hours. You can at least explain yourself to the folks right behind you.”
He then admitted, sincerely but weakly, “Yeah, I know. It is wrong of me. I just can’t make myself do the right thing this time.”

Arrgh! Should I have escalated to the American approach? “Dude, get the f*@# out before I kick your a#$!” I only said something like, “well the choice is clear.” Later he apologized to me. I guess I really gave him a guilt trip.

Speaking of guilt and karma: on my way to the Apple store, I passed at least five homeless men sleeping on the street. Today, in a delayed reaction, I remembered how unimportant my whole Apple store Shinsaibashi experience is the scheme of things. Sure, it’s important to have fun if you can, but shouldn’t I spend my free time contributing something more useful to the world?

But to finish the earlier story: Lucky bags ran out before I had a chance, the store is beautiful, folks were eating everything up, Apple employees were really friendly as usual, I impulsively bought Mari a gift that she judged (correctly) to be too expensive, so I’m going to listen to her reason and return it.

What was in the lucky bags, anyway? Elsewhere on the Web, Gary Allen reports.

Comments

8 responses to “No Lucky Bags”

  1. Hiroki

    Hi.
    Do you still remember me?
    I am “Hiroki” located in a line with the procession together with you.
    I’m sorry that you don’t get a lucky bag.
    I’m sorry that it is poor at using English.
    It was pleasant although it was short time.
    See you.

  2. nils

    zannen desu. I wish I could have gone, but I had work. Tomorrow, too, but my last job is near Shin-Osaka, so I’m thinking about hopping into shinsaibashi. My wife wants to know if computer nerds were standing under the glass staircase shooting keitai pics up geek girl skirts.

  3. Christian

    Any word as to what was in those lucky bags?

  4. Rick

    ひろきさん!
    おぼえています。こちらこそ、すみません。わたしはにほんごがあまりはなせません。
    ひろきさんのiPod をきけってたのしかっらです。
    しゃしんです:
    http://sonofsoy.com/son_of_soy/images/hiroki_no_ipod.jpg
    また、Rick
    [Hiroki-san! I remember you. Same here, sorry. I don’t speak much Japanese.
    It was fun to listen to your iPod. Here’s a photo:
    http://sonofsoy.com/son_of_soy/images/hiroki_no_ipod.jpg
    Later, Rick]

  5. Rick

    Well, I think you’re lucky you had to work, Nils. The line — 400 people by 1:30 AM on Friday — was terrible, and it looked even worse when I left the store in the morning.
    As for the peek-a-boo glass staircase, I wondered about that too. Fortunately, the glass is translucent rather than transparent (photos soon). However, there are empty spaces between the steps. I would not recommend leisurely trips up the staircase for those wearing short skirts.
    On opening day, store employees and company representatives were standing around the area below the stairs, so any would-be peepers would have had to be pretty sneaky or pretty bold.
    I have to say, though — if I can generalize a little — the crowd seemed like a different brand of computer nerd than the Akihabara crowd. Better socially adjusted. These are *Mac* geeks, after all [sniff]. ; )

  6. Rick

    Right, the lucky bags. What was in them, anyway?
    I guess I was so disappointed about missing them that I didn’t really want to know what was inside and didn’t find out exactly. But I did notice two lucky guys sitting outside of the store, just across the sidewalk from the line, and one of them was going through the contents of his bag (how you say “gloat” in Japanese?). Between all the people passing by, all I caught was an Airport Express adapter cables box (so there must have also been an Airport Express in there) and some unidentified headphonesa Griffin Product. But both guys were smiling. I’m going to check Gary Allen’s:
    http://www.ifoapplestore.com/stores/shinsaibashi/index.html
    for more info.

  7. nils

    Well, judging from the bag contents, I’m glad I didn’t pony up for one. I would have wanted at least a decent chance at an iPod mini. My attention is focused on the new iMac design rumors.

  8. Amy

    Ricky,
    Fun to read your Mac experience. Is the t-shirt cool, at least? Rand and I are getting used to the new place. Visiting SF on Saturdays, but getting over my homesickness slowly. Write to us!