As per Japanese tradition, Apple has started handing out its Fukubukuro (a.k.a. “Lucky Bags”) to customers at its brick-and-mortar retail stores in Japan — giving some fortunate buyers massive discounts on the latest Apple products and accessories.

The bags are part of a special New Year offer, and are available in only limited quantities, with customers not knowing which they’re going to get until they’ve stumped up their ¥36,000 (around $300).

Check out the bag’s contents (as well as how you can get your hands on one, even if you don’t live in Japan!) after the jump:

Christmas may be over here in the United States, but the season’s just starting in Japan. Apple has just announced that it will kick off its annual “Lucky Bag” celebration in its Japanese retail stores starting January 2.

In Japan and other Asian countries, an annual tradition that many retailers participate in during the holidays is called “Fukubukuro,” commonly referred to as “lucky” or “mystery” bags.

The concept is simple: you put together bags of heavily discounted products at random and sell them to customers who don’t know exactly what they’re getting. It may sound weird to westerners, but if you really think about it, an overweight old man in a bright robe coming down your chimney at night is a lot weirder.

Anyway, Apple Japan is participating in the tradition again this year, and it has confirmed the special sale’s kickoff date of January 2nd. Lucky Bags will cost 36,000 yen, or around $345. Bags usually contain items like iPods, random accessories and t-shirts, but customers have received more expensive hardware like iPads and even MacBooks in years past.

Supplies are limited, so Apple stores in Japan will definitely have lines of eager customers after New Years.

Source: Apple

Like its Black Friday shopping event held for those in the U.S. and other Western territories back in November, Apple is set to celebrate the Year of the Dragon with a shopping event on January 6 for customers in China/Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

The company promises the one-day sale will provide “amazing iPad, iPod, and Mac gifts for everyone.”