It’s kind of the opposite of sweater weather around these parts nowadays, but say hello to Striped Knit Rilakkuma & Korilakkuma!
What a lovely pair! Though it looks like Rilakkuma got a little bored with our photoshoot hehehe
A beautiful pink and white sweater, for a beautiful pink and white Korilakkuma! Also, this is the first time I’ve noticed even the thread for Kobear’s red button is a pretty pink just like her paws, feet, and ears!
Rilakkuma looks so cozy in his orange sweater… so cozy that he sat down and took a nap.
Tag art features a mysteriously sweater-less Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma.
Sleepy Rilakkuma is one of my favorite alternative faces, and I think the knit sweaters are really well done! In fact, I’d love to have one of these sweaters for myself so I can match – Rilakkuma is so stylish!
These snug bears were released as part of the Fansclub Striped Knit Series in in December 2013 – with that season’s polar vortex here in North America, looks like Rilakkuma and friends had the right idea for the peak of sweater season!
I also appreciate the stripes on these sweaters as a foreshadowing to the Stripes Stripes Everyday Series that was released just 3 months later – very clever! The standing Rilakkuma from this series even has the same color scheme!
Enormous thanks to generous reader Trinie for this snug pair of bears! During next winter, they’ll be the most prepared bears in my collection hahaha.
Also a little update on the JAXA x Rilakkuma collaboration! People were curious when this plushie appeared on the San-X Net Shop July lineup with no announcement, then mysteriously disappeared shortly after.
Wow, how did they get him to stand up like that? Engineering at its finest, I suppose. One small stand for bear… one giant leap for bearkind!
Good news is that his page on the Net Shop is back up, and San-X announced a little more information about him!
As it turns out, not only is this plushie a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Rilakkuma, but it’s also a special product for the Space Expo 2014: The Great Challenge of NASA · JAXA being held at Makuhari Messe (幕張メッセ) in Chiba – hey Ariel, is this anywhere near you?
As part of Space Expo 2014, this plushie celebrates the rich history of both American (NASA) and Japanese (JAXA) achievements in space exploration and engineering. I love this background, and now knowing more about the context, I think I’m leaning more toward getting this plushie!
In other news, interested in what a Rilakkuma Caravan event looks like? Check out Moriwaki’s video of this year’s Space Series Caravan in Kobe!
Rilakkuma looks so professional in his space suit!
I’ve always wanted to go to one of these events! It’s funny to see all those people rubbing his head when he’s leaving hehehe.
You know, it was watching Rilakkuma videos like this that actually first got me interested in Rilakkuma! Something about him waddling around like that around his adoring fans is really endearing! What’s your favorite Rilakkuma video?
RilakkumaLifestyle 
Maybe there will be a partnership that brings Rilakkuma to the ISS!
EEeeeee I would love that!!
Yes that’s my town XD I’ve been thinking of going but now that Rilakkuma will be there I might pop in! How fun those sweaters look and your new Kumas are gorgeous. Hmm my favorite Kuma vid haha there’s too many to choose!
OMG how cool!! Dang, I am so impressed by how well this collaboration was planned out haha every design they’ve come out with so far has been exceedingly cute!
Oh my gosh, Korila with that sweater is totally adorable!!!
I always found Caravan Rilakkuma super adorable. I always want to run up to him and give him a great big hug.
Ahh, me too! One of my dreams is to go to a Rilakkuma photo event one day :3
Ohmygosh Rilakkuma in his little knitted sweater is the cutest thing *_*
I was wondering what the story was behind the space series, thank you for sharing.