For this fine summer’s day, check out Children’s Day Rilakkuma!
Happy belated Children’s Day!
A beautiful blue koinobori! Koinobori (鯉幟) are the carp wind socks symbolic of Children’s Day, and are flown because carps are spirited fish full of energy and power (like kids!) that by legend, will stream upstream to become dragons – how inspiring!
Rilakkuma’s wearing a handsome Kabuto (兜), a traditional Japanese military helmet that symbolizes strength and health!
Tag art of the Rilakkuma team all together!
Hooray! This happy Rilakkuma was released by Fansclub back in April 2005 – wow, that was when Rilakkuma was barely 2 years old! Very fitting in a way, as San-X celebrates one of its most successful “children” hehehe.
Children’s Day was back on May 5th (the fifth day of the fifth month), and it’s a Japanese national holiday meant to celebrate children! It used to be just for boys, but it’s since been expanded to include girls too (yay)!
Of course, since Children’s Day comes every year, this isn’t the only Children’s Day Rilakkuma (though it’s my first!) – just last year, Fansclub released another Children’s Day edition Rilakkuma plushie set – adorable!
What a beautiful Rilakkuma! Thank you Trinie for sharing this fabulous Rilakkuma with me, and for allowing me to share not only this plushie, but all of the history and tradition that come with him!
In other happy summer news, check out this new Kobe Rilakkuma Store exclusive plushie!
As an American, this color scheme and pattern seem very patriotic hahaha
Cute that they’re giving the new Kobe store their moment in the spotlight! As you may recall, the Kobe Rilakkuma Store officially opened back in April, so it’s great to see another follow-up plushie – a Rilakkuma and “Kobe Kobear” haha – that celebrates the port city history of Kobe!
I really love the sailor theme, and it’s great that they used a similar pattern as the old Marine Series from 2012! The Marine Series has a special place in my heart because not only was it the series that was out when I first started entering the Rilakkuma fray two summers ago, but it was also my brother’s first Rilakkuma set and our family’s first Kobear!
So I definitely appreciate this Rilakkuma stylistic throwback to 2012, when I first started collecting! Which was the first Rilakkuma series to catch your eye?
RilakkumaLifestyle 
I like the naked bears!
It is interesting to see how even naked bears have changed over time.
Yes! The naked bears were the first bears hahaha and my first bear was a naked bear too!
That’s definitely a cute Rilakkuma I love his Children’s day accessories! So excited for the Kobe series to come out, July is a big month for Rilakkuma!!
Ah yes, July is going to be so exciting!! I can’t wait to see what everyone gets, and all the great close up photos :) My Rilakkuma budget is all dried up right now, I wonder what kind of big things they have planned for the rest of the year :O
2005, wow! It’s so interesting to see how plushies (Fansclub in this case) has changed over time. He is adorable too! I love his props.
Also, so many releases this July! I’m excited – I’m really loving these. I loved the original Marine Rilakkumas, and these too are super adorabe.
Yeah, I love seeing how Rilakkuma has evolved – especially in the early years of Rilakkuma, his facial/body proportions changed over time, so it’s cool to see all the different faces of Rilakkuma hehe.