Yes, it has been over FIVE YEARS since I last posted! In the interim, I completed my internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship so now I’m a full blown independent gastroenterologist! This was all perfect timing because this year is not only Rilakkuma’s 20th anniversary, but also the first time Rilakkuma is touring the US!

To celebrate Rilakkuma’s 20th, there is a Rilakkuma tour bus spending the summer in six US cities: Newark, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago. The tour bus sells exclusive USA-themed Rilakkuma merchandise, and there are also meet and greet events on the weekends to meet jumbo Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma. Notably, for each of the cities, there are 100 special Rilakkuma/Korilakkuma plushies that have a special serialized number seal.

I have a friend who lives in San Francisco who I had already been meaning to visit for years, so when the tour dates and cities were announced, I knew the stars had aligned.

In probably the most unhinged decision I’ve made in my life, I decided to line up at 4:20AM to get the numbered Rilakkuma, and I was #42 in line. Shortly after, lots of other Rilakkuma fans continued to line up and there were over 240 by the time the merchandise time slot tickets were given out at 9:00AM. I was assigned the first time slot, 11:00AM – 12:00PM.

Being number 42 and knowing there were only 30 Rilakkumas available on Friday (40 on Saturday, 30 on Sunday), I was initially afraid I wouldn’t make the cut, so I was very relieved when I was able to! Surprisingly, being in line was actually not so bad because there were lots of other diehard Rilakkuma fans like me. In San Francisco, the event was held at the Crossing at East Cut, and it was very safe and well-lit. Furthermore, we were lucky to have a weekend that wasn’t too cold and windy, so it wasn’t a big deal to be outside of so long. I did see a couple sleeping bags and even tents in line!

I was very fortunate to obtain #28 Rilakkuma plush!

If you are interested in the 20th anniversary Rilakkuma plush with the King design and the golden plush (not the USA tour plush yet), they are available at JellyBeet!

In addition to the merchandise, I was also able to go the Rilakkuma Meet and Greet on Saturday as well! It was important for my to have my Rilakkuma meet jumbo Rilakkuma. I was impressed at how quickly they were able to get through so many people! I also went to the Korilakkuma one but I was unprepared and Korilakkuma wasn’t facing the camera and neither was my own Rilakkuma plush haha! The Rilakkuma one turned out a little better.

Overall, I had an absolute blast of a weekend, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was meeting other Rilakkuma super fans! Especially living on the east coast, most of my interaction with other Rilakkuma fans is online, which is wonderful, but being able to meet and talk in person is so special.

I hope the popularity of this tour means that we will have more Rilakkuma events stateside in the near future. What would you like to see next from Rilakkuma? A permanent Rilakkuma store? Personally, I’d love to see a Rilakkuma cafe!