Category Archives: Collaborations

Flower Bouquet Korilakkuma!

Wow, it’s getting warmer here and finally feeling like spring!

On that note, check out this cute Flower Bouquet Korilakkuma!

Flower Bouquet Korilakkuma - full

Perfect for springtime!

Flower Bouquet Korilakkuma - flower detail

What a beautiful bouquet!

Flower Bouquet Korilakkuma - tag art

Tag art! Wow, this was back when Green Camel was all over Rilakkuma goods!

Adorable! And really so fitting for the season! She was really quite perfect for Valentine’s Day this past weekend!

This elegant plushie was released by Fansclub back in 2006 – wow, what a long time ago! What’s so special about this plushies is that the inside of the tag even has a little color chart of what the flower colors represent: since this bouquet is orange, this Korilakkuma represents cheerfulness – hooray! Pretty accurate, I think – receiving this Korilakkuma certainly made me cheerful!

Endless thanks again to Trinie, who so kindly sent this cheerful springtime Korilakkuma – she’s so pretty and a perfect fit! <3

In other news, the Rilakkuma world has been abuzz with great new things too!

Check out the new Lawson x Rilakkuma collaboration: the Vegetable Series!

Vegetable Series - Rilakkuma

Carrot and Cabbage Rilakkuma!

Vegetable Series - Korilakkuma

Tomato and Eggplant Korilakkuma!

Vegetable Series - Kiiroitori

Onion and Green Pepper Kiiroitori!

I love these! When have I disliked a Rilakkuma food theme though, hahaha. The little crates are so cute, and I do like how each of them have other veggies in their crates too (though I think tomatoes are technically fruits? hahahaha).

The whole set of 6 is 9135円 (tax included) online, but I believe Lawson stores will be selling them individually at 1450円 (tax not included), too, starting March 14. I might try to get my hands on 3 of them (1 of each), maybe the carrot, eggplant, & onion, but haven’t been able to decide yet – what do you all think? I really love this set a ton!

Lawson is also releasing a bunch more goods like nap cushions, phone cases, and bags that go along with the newest Stripes Stripes Everyday Series too, but I think the veggies are really the ones I’m personally looking out for!

And hey, Kiiroitori is getting a special set all for itself this spring, too!

Kiiroitori Set - banner

So many Kii’s!

Kiiroitori Set - set

And a bunch more!

Even though I’m a Rilakkuma fan through and through, I love that Kiiroitori is getting some solo time!

The plushie and set are expected to come out sometime in mid-April, and they will also be releasing some housewares as lottery prizes at Lawson at the end of March – how special!

I do love the motif of Kiiroitori wearing the Rilakkuma ears hahaha it reminds me a lot of the Kiiroitori from the I Love Rilakkuma Series from 2011 – and it looks like they’re still continuing the 10th anniversary theme with Kiiroitori’s coins! Speaking of which…

Attentive reader Jennifer noticed a super-cute Sumikko Gurashi x Rilakkuma crossover in one of the latest San-X Fan Club books!

Sumikko Gurashi x Rilakkuma - 10th Anniversary

Shirokuma as Rilakkuma, Neko and Tonkatsu as Korilakkuma, & hahahaha Penguin as Kiiroitori!

Wow, how amazing is that! Two of my favorite series, celebrating together :D Great find, Jennifer!

Last but not least, check out this great footage of the Yamanote Line x Rilakkuma model train!

Wow, it looks so realistic, and it’s 1/150 of the actual size – incredible!

This cute model train set is made by Kato Models, and celebrates the Yamanote Line x Rilakkuma collab from back in the summer of 2013! The 11 car set is a cool 30,450円  and the 3 car set is 12,600円 (tax included), but it’s certainly worth it for a model train enthusiast with an eye for stunning detail and Rilakkuma :D

Anyway, I’m so glad to be done with exams for now! It’s so nice to be back and active in the Rilakkuma world, especially since the weather is getting sunnier and sunnier :) I thought the exam went well, but grades haven’t come out yet, so we’ll just have to see! Now onto the next module of immunology and microbiology :O

Would love to hear what you think about the many new developments in the Rilakkuma world recently! I hope everyone’s local weather is warming up, too!

ETA (2/19): The Fukuoka 4th Anniversary Plushies have been announced!

Fukuoka PARCO 4th Anniversary - announcement

I didn’t even know they went to school…

Looks like they’re graduation themed, and they’ll be available at Rilakkuma Stores everywhere on March 15 for 1,300円 each. What a cute surprise! I really love the cherry blossom petal motif on their tails as well as the border on the ad hahaha

Rilakkuma Store 5th Anniversary Plushie!

Finally here – the Rilakkuma Store 5th Anniversary Plushie!

Rilakkuma Store 5th Anniversary - full

Just hanging out.

Rilakkuma Store 5th Anniversary - fish

Mr. Red Sea Bream says “Hello!”

Rilakkuma Store 5th Anniversary - Kiiroitori

Kiiroitori rides along in the back!

Rilakkuma Store 5th Anniversary - tags

Red fabric ribbon says “Rilakkuma Store 5th Anniversary!”

Rilakkuma Store 5th Anniversary - coasters

Plus some Halloween coasters! My first Halloween-themed Rilakkuma items actually haha

He kinda looks like a Christmas ornament, doesn’t he?

Oh my gosh, I pre-ordered him way back in September and just received him this weekend because I was waiting for the Happy Natural Time Series Caravan design to be announced for the longest time. Ah well, he is definitely worth the wait!

As I mentioned in a previous post, the first Rilakkuma Store (Umeda) opened five years ago – to celebrate, San-X released both an anniversary plushie specific to the Umeda branch (chestnut-themed) as well as an anniversary plushie for the Rilakkuma Stores as a whole (this guy!).

Rilakkuma and Kiiroitori are riding a big red sea bream (鯛, tai), a symbol of good fortune in Japanese culture. There’s also a Japanese proverb “腐っても鯛” (Kusattemo tai) which roughly translates to “No matter how spoiled/old, it’s still sea bream” because even when sea bream isn’t very fresh, its flavor lasts longer than most other fish so it’s still good to eat (turns out that the fish produces a substance, inosinic acid, that decomposes slower than most fish and helps it resist spoiling!). Following, this proverb reflects how even in dire circumstances or old age, a person of quality still has their worth.

Hopefully this Rilakkuma and sea bream will give me some good luck for my upcoming medical school years!

In other news, the Rilakkuma x Enherb collaboration is gearing up again!

Rilakkuma x Enherb 2013 - Winter ad

I love their ad this year!

Looks like they’ve extended their product line since last year with some honey/herb mix and bath salts, which is great to see!

The Enherb collab is close to my heart because (1) I love tea and (2) it was one of my very first posts on my blog!

Speaking of flashbacks to old loves, how CUTE is this new ad for the new Sumikko Gurashi tableware line?

Sumikko Gurashi - tableware ad

Too cute to eat?

Appropriately, Tonkatsu is positioned at the very end of the cutlet hahaha

So amazing to see San-X developing Sumikko Gurashi! My sister has the mini plush like the one in the photo, and we both have the larger/regular sized one too!

Tonkatsu has always been my favorite, and like Enherb, was also the subject of one of my blog’s earliest posts :D

Speaking of which, Rilakkuma Lifestyle’s 1 year anniversary is coming up on the 21st – wow, I can’t believe it’s been a year already!

Yamanote Line Rilakkuma Plushies!

Yay, they’re both finally here: the Yamanote Line Rilakkumas!

Yamanote Line Rilakkumas - full

Wow, a double Rilakkuma set!

Yamanote Line Rilakkumas - back

The backs of their shirts match!

Yamanote Line Rilakkumas - hats

Their hats are slightly different: the station master’s is red/gold with a bear, and the fan’s in black/gold with an “R”!

Yamanote Line Rilakkumas - stationmaster

The Yamanote stationmaster Rilakkuma’s ID badge says “駅長リラックマ” (Stationmaster Rilakkuma) with a little gold bear icon! His outfit also has cute bear-shaped buttons with an R lapel pin design!

Yamanote Line Rilakkumas - stationmaster bag detail

The stationmaster also has a super cute cross-body bag!

Yamanote Line Rilakkumas - fan

The Yamanote fan’s shirt looks like the front of the train with the Rilakkuma crew inside, and has a “50” (for the Yamanote green line’s 50th anniversary) as well as “山手線 Yamanote Line” printed on it!

Yamanote Line Rilakkumas - fan camera

Yamanote fan Rilakkuma also comes with this suave camera with a little Rilakkuma detail in the corner! Also, I’m so impressed that they even added a little flash lamp detail on the camera, too!

These two bears were part of this big collaboration between the JR Yamanote Green Line and Rilakkuma back in early August. It was a perfect collaboration because the Yamanote Green Line was celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and Rilakkuma’s celebrating his 10th!

In addition to this great plushie pair release, the Yamanote Line itself became Rilakkuma-themed! While I didn’t get to ride the Yamanote Line while this collaboration was happening, San-X did take some pretty great photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

The Yamanote Line holds a special place in my heart because I rode it so often with my family during my short visit to Tokyo this past summer. Our hotel was close to Tokyo Station, and we took the Yamanote Line to Kanda to get the Pizza Hut x Rilakkuma collab products as well as to Harajuku to visit their Rilakkuma Store!! So these two plushies are sort of like my very belated souvenirs hahaha

The Yamanote Line basically goes in this huge circle around Tokyo, with stops at a bunch of the major city centers! One of the stops, Tokyo Station, actually has a Rilakkuma Store in the terminal!

Getting both of these bears was such an awesome team effort: Ariel (Rilakkuma Desu) helped me get the Yamanote fan Rilakkuma from Tokyo (right on the Yamanote line!), and Liemzie (Tea Two Sugars Please) helped me get the Yamanote stationmaster from Umeda! A gigantic thank you to both of them – be sure to check out their blogs!

In other news, I still have more exciting Rilakkuma stuff to photograph and post (I seem to have a constant backlog haha), but you know, slow and steady with that because I’ve got medical biochemistry on my plate right now too haha.

Ah, what to get…

Wow, things have really gotten hectic in the Rilakkuma world in the past two days!

Here’s a quick run-down of what’s going on:

Rilakkuma's Homemade Pie with Fruits Filling - Lawson

They’re in a fruit pie!

Rilakkuma's Homemade Pie with Fruits Filling - cover art

Yum!

Rilakkuma Happy Natural Time (ハッピーナチュラルタイムテーマ) – Rilakkuma’s Homemade Pie with Fruits Filling – Deer Series: October, date TBA

I really want more details to be released about this whole series! Also a shorter official series name maybe hahaha.

Especially because it’s pie-related, and I love food Rilakkumas.

Right now, we can get ourselves ready for the Lawson x Rilakkuma collaboration for this series – details on the date to be released soon, but in the past I’ve ordered Lawson Rilakkuma goods online and of course, those in Japan can use the Loppi system at Lawson to order in person. This set will be 3990円.

The design for the standard size plushies have been leaked (they’re deer), but I’m kinda torn because I want to wait and see what the other designs will be (Caravan, Store Exclusives, Net Shop Exclusive, etc.), but this Lawson plush pre-order might end before I get a chance to decide.

Also, I don’t know how deer relate to pies but I’ll take it hahaha

Umeda 5th Anniversary Plushie - ad

Didn’t know Rilakkuma was such a good fisherman!

Umeda 5th Anniversary Plushie: September 14

Hey, Rilakkuma and Kiiroitori caught a big red sea bream!

The red sea bream has a special place in Japanese culture, and are symbols of good fortune. How auspicious to have Rilakkuma riding one for the celebration of the oldest Rilakkuma Store’s birthday!

I think I want to get this one! I kind of want to hang it on my car’s rearview mirror, but I wouldn’t want it to get sun-damaged either, hmm…

I wonder if there will be a happy birthday message printed somewhere like we saw in the past year’s store anniversary plushies (example)?

This plushie (looks like it’s on a string) will be available for 1600円 at all of the Rilakkuma Stores, but not online.

Halloween 2013 - set

Not too scary!

Halloween 2013 - playset

A playset! Also Kiiroitori’s ghost costume completely covers him up haha

Halloween 2013 Plushies and Playset: September 7

This is the first time we’ve seen a Halloween playset in a while!

Like previous Halloween releases, you can buy these at one of the 8 Rilakkuma Stores in Japan, select carrier stores, and the Net Shop. The individual plushies are 1680円, and the playset is 15,000円 (wow). If you go directly to a Rilakkuma Store, they will have special edition drawstring treat bags, too!

Sapporo 2nd Anniversary - annoucement

Bunnies?

Sapporo 2nd Anniversary Plushies: September 7

Also coming out on September 7 is Sapporo’s Anniversary plushie for 2013!

Like the Umeda anniversary plushie, this set is also deeply tied to Japanese tradition! Because Sapporo’s Anniversary is quite close to the harvest moon for this year, these plushies are Tsukimi (月見) themed! Tsukimi, literally translated to “moon viewing”, are Japanese festivals honoring the harvest moon. Traditional offerings include dango and susuki grass, which Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma are holding. Not sure what’s in Korilakkuma’s left paw (if anyone knows, please let me know), but seasonal produce are also offered during Tsukimi as well!

In my family’s tradition, we play this wild mooncake dice game for the harvest moon – super fun! My sister won the jackpot prize last year!

Though I loved the food anniversary plushies from the past year, seeing these new ones that are so linked Japanese culture and tradition is really great!

Their little pink tags/ribbons say “2nd Sapporo” on them!

Unlike the Umeda plushie, this one is only available at the Sapporo Rilakkuma Store, and the plushies are 1300円 each.

Christmas 2013 San-X Net Shop Exclusive - full

A beautiful band!

Christmas 2013 Net Shop Exclusive Pre-Orders: August 23 ~ September 23 (Delivered in late November)

I know I kinda posted about this set already, but it’s worth mentioning again just to represent how many different things have been announced in the past 48 hours!

I really love this batch’s set of instruments: keyboard, piano, drum, bass violin, trumpet, accordion, and saxophone – what a mix!

As a Net Shop exclusive, you can only buy this online at the Net Shop for 17,500円 – the priciest I’ve seen at retail yet!

Whew, that’s about it for now! I think I got used to the slow Rilakkuma news and now I feel overwhelmed haha.

Lawson Aloha Rilakkuma Playset!

Wah, I can’t believe I ordered this back in March and I’m just now photographing it haha – though in my defense, it only arrived after I came back from Asia.

Anyway, here it is, at long last: the Lawson x Aloha Rilakkuma Playset!

Rilakkuma x Lawson - Aloha Rilakkuma - full

Everyone’s going shopping!

Rilakkuma x Lawson - Aloha Rilakkuma - Rilakkuma, cart, and lei

Rilakkuma and his undetachable cart! His flower lei is removable though.

Rilakkuma x Lawson - Aloha Rilakkuma - Korilakkuma

This Korilakkuma is so wild to me haha because she’s proportionally much smaller than the Rilakkuma, like she could be Rilakkuma’s plushie… and she herself is holding an Aloha Rilakkuma plushie? Hahahaha I guess it’s cool that Korilakkuma goes shopping for Rilakkuma plushies just like we do.

Rilakkuma x Lawson - Aloha Rilakkuma - Kiiroitori

Eeee this Kiiroitori is so cute and small! And he bears a striking resemblance to the Kiiroitori from the Happiness series (2007) – I guess Kiiroitori has always been in charge of holding the money!

Rilakkuma x Lawson - Aloha Rilakkuma - items

My favorite details: Hawaii coffee, Rilakkuma cookies, and a Kiiroitori honeypot with a Lawson bag to take them home in!

Lawson/HMV started taking pre-orders for this set way back in February of this year – wow that was a long time ago! They sold out before the pre-order deadline of April 15, and were finally sent out in mid-June!

I actually haven’t finished covering all the cool Rilakkuma things my dad bought in Japan, so here’s another entry that jives with today’s Aloha Rilakkuma theme!

Kabaya Aloha Rilakkuma - front

I assembled this one myself!

Kabaya Aloha Rilakkuma - top

Well assembly is pretty easy – just 2 stickers for the background and the ground, and then fitting the 2 yellow boards and the figurines in the right spot!

My family really likes the guitar-playing Rilakkuma because there’s an old photo of my dad playing the guitar in exactly the same pose and expression hahaha so it’s kind of like seeing my dad in bear form.

This figurine set was made by Kabaya under domestic license – Kabaya seems to be mostly a sweets company, which makes sense (I guess) because this set also inexplicably came with an unmarked bag of candy inside (what).

This set is pretty cool because there’s a little link at the bottom so that you can connect it to other figures like it! Cool idea! I wonder if my dad will collect any more…

Anyway, just as a heads up, I’m starting medical school on August 5 – I really have no idea how much free time I’ll have (if any, yikes), but I’ll try to still keep posting when I can because surprisingly, Rilakkuma mania actually keeps me grounded and focused hahaha. I mean, Mary makes it work as a doctor AND a mom AND collecting way more than just Rilakkumas so we’ll see how well I can do haha

The Rilakkuma Reference Sheet!

Hey, so if you ever wondered how I think about Rilakkuma things, here’s a little peek –

I’m opening up my Rilakkuma Reference Sheet for everyone to see!

These are basically the notes I use to keep track of Rilakkuma plushie releases.

Because San-X sometimes separates out their news over a few different sites (especially with their recent site overhauls), I decided to compile all the links to remember all the old series!

From what Ariel posted, looks like the current Rilakkuma Fan magazine has a pretty good timeline, too! Except I can’t read Japanese haha, so this reference sheet is all in English of course hahaha

The only major thing that really bothers me is that I had to remove a lot of the old Net Shop links because most of them got broken in the recent revamp, booo… I tried to link them to other similar “official” pages like Net Shop Blog posts, but I think I might be missing a few (e.g. the 2011 Net Shop Exclusive links to the Modes4U post right now haha). It’s a shame because Net Shop Exclusives are some of my favorites.

Obviously, I come from a huge Rilakkuma plushie angle, so many of the non-plushie releases I probably skipped over.

Major things missing:

  • Jewelry
  • Rilakkuma Natural
  • Books/manga
  • Most furniture, kitchenware, and bags (though some snuck through)
  • Ito Yokado products (plates, mainly)
  • Fansclubs – the Fansclub website already does a wonderful job timeline-ing their releases, so I usually just use theirs.

Maybe I’ll add them in the future? It’s already hectic enough keeping up with plushies alone right now hahaha

Anyway, I hope this can be a good resource for some people who want to look at the history of Rilakkuma. For example, seeing how many plushies came out for Rilakkuma’s 5th anniversary makes me understand why there’s so much happening this year for the 10th!

Right now, I mainly use it to predict what time in the year to expect big releases and such, so my bank account can prepare itself appropriately, of course haha.

Holiday x Rilakkuma Plushie!

I’ve been on a fashion kick recently, though maybe spending money on anything that’s not Rilakkuma feels bizarre to me.

Anyway, here’s a fashion-related Rilakkuma from a cute collab: Holiday x Rilakkuma Plushie!

Holiday x Rilakkuma - full

How stylish! Took me forever to figure out what it was for though since “holiday” is such a generic term – googling at first just brought up stuff about the Happy Holiday Picnic series.

Holiday x Rilakkuma - shirt close-up

What a nice t-shirt! They also came out with a black t-shirt version!

Holiday x Rilakkuma - tag

Teehee, even a special Rilakkuma face in the shape of the Holiday logo as a tag!

Holiday x Rilakkuma - lining

Thanks to Kumadokidoki for pointing out to me that he has a special pocket lining that says “Rilakkuma <3 holiday”!

We picked him up at the Umeda Rilakkuma Store!

He was part of a collaboration with fashion line Holiday back in 2010!

Speaking of fashionable bears, here’s are few shots of the Rilakkuma apparel we also picked up while we were in Umeda!

Thanks to my sister Rachel for modeling them all!

Rilakkuma Apparel - shirts

The shirts say “Rilakkuma” and “Music de relax!”, and the shirt on the left also says “It’s Rilakkuma time!” in Japanese! Guess the left-most Rilakkuma is listening to the most bumpin’ music hahaha

Rilakkuma Apparel - jacket

A special Rilakkuma Store jacket released in November 2011! Top: front detail, Bottom: back detail.

Rilakkuma Apparel - shorts

Rilakkuma shorts! Everyone in my family has a set for themselves.

They’re so comfy!

We basically bought out most of the Umeda store’s apparel that day hahaha

On the topic of Rilakkuma apparel, I know Uniqlo has a Rilakkuma collab out, but I haven’t seen a lot of stores stocking it – the website says it’s available online and select stores. We went to 3 different Uniqlo’s during our Asia trip, and didn’t see any booo :[

I wish they would’ve stocked their Rilakkuma line (it’s only 6 shirts) in more stores! Then maybe I could completely replace my wardrobe with Rilakkuma apparel hahaha

Rilakkuma x KFC + Wishlist: Yamanote Line Rilakkuma! (ACQUIRED!)

Whew, I made it to the Philippines!! It’s great to be here, but that also means my Rilakkuma adventures will slow down significantly from the past week – which is totally okay because I have a huge backlog of plushies/hauls to photograph anyway haha it’s good to finally get a chance to slow down a bit.

On my last morning in Japan, I finally got my hands on something from the Rilakkuma x KFC collaboration: an Aloha Rilakkuma fan!

Rilakkuma x KFC - fan and box

Most importantly, I finally got the box!!

Rilakkuma x KFC - smile set #3

Set #3!

As I mentioned briefly in a previous post, this is the third set of items from the Rilakkuma x KFC campaign!

In this campaign, you can get one of six Aloha Rilakkuma items with each smile set (like a kid’s meal). I thought the chicken was pretty good – even better than the KFC in the States! But that might have been because I was hungry hahaha

I really liked the picnic blanket design (pancakes!), but I figured I could get more use out of a fan. My sister ordered a smile set too, and chose the same design fan. I think the hot dog design is super cute and silly, especially since you can’t even buy hot dogs at KFC hahaha

The fan turned out to be a good choice because yesterday was HOT and we had to wait in line in the sun for the bus to the airport. On top of that, the Philippines was hot upon arrival (like always), so even though I’ve only had this fan for 24 hours, it’s already seen a lot of use!

Getting this box/fan was so much trouble – we stopped by a KFC in Kyoto and they had nothing in stock… then in Tokyo, we asked our hotel concierge, and they gave us directions to a KFC that recently closed… then we got directions to one in Shibuya that didn’t carry any smile sets at all… but the employees there finally gave us information to another KFC in Shibuya that did stock the Rilakkuma products that was just a short walk away. Such a tiresome journey, but rather worth it, I think! I did everything I wanted to do in Japan, Rilakkuma-wise!

Also, new in the Rilakkuma plushie world: Rilakkuma x Yamanote Line!

Rilakkuma x Yamanote Line - set

Yay, two different designs!

This collaboration celebrates Rilakkuma’s 10th anniversary AND the Yamanote Line’s 50th anniversary as the green line!

In honor of the green Yamanote line and Rilakkuma, Yamanote car #10 will feature a special Rilakkuma design!

ETA (8/28/13): Acquired!

Wow, I wish I was still in Japan to see this! My family took the Yamanote line quite often in our short stay there. Of course, everything has to happen right as I leave Japan haha

In any case, I’ll certainly be trying to get my hands on these two plushie designs – one for me and one for my sister!

I think more details about this collab will be released in mid-July so stay tuned!

Rilakkuma x Pizza Hut: Pizza Cutter & Pizza Board!

Quick post again!

I mentioned a while ago that Rilakkuma had a collaboration with Pizza Hut with special pizza boxes and soup bowls.

Well, the latest iteration as of spring 2013 is a Rilakkuma x Pizza Hut pizza cutter and pizza board!

Rilakkuma x Pizza Hut - cutter and board

Perfect size for Rilakkuma!

I was so excited to get these, I didn’t actually care what I had to buy…

But as it turns out, the pizza was also an adventure in itself!

So the paired pizzas in this campaign are like sampler pizzas – each of the 2 pizzas has a different topping combination for each quadrant:

Rilakkuma x Pizza Hut - pizza 1

From the bottom right: Tuna Mild (tuna/corn/bacon/onion), Idaho special (parsley, mayonnaise, black pepper, corn, diced potatoes, bacon, onion), bacon/asparagus, Meat Trio.

Rilakkuma x Pizza Hut - pizza 2

The “Family 4”: (from the bottom right) bulgogi/leek/shredded red pepper/mayonnaise, pepperoni/bacon/onion/pepper, Tuna Mild (again?), and pepperoni/salami/bacon/onion.

I think it’s somewhat hard to tell form the photos, but they have a lot of interesting ingredients! Awesome!

Surprisingly, my favorite so far has been the Idaho special: the topping with potatoes, corn, and mayo. The potatoes give it a texture I was shocked to find that I enjoyed hahaha

Tomorrow’s my last day in Tokyo, so I’m gonna try to stop by a KFC in the morning – there’s a new Aloha Rilakkuma promotion there starting tomorrow!

Nara Rilakkuma!

I was originally planning on doing individual plushie posts later, but I couldn’t wait to share this one!

It’s Nara Rilakkuma!

Nara Rilakkuma - bento

The top cracker he’s holding up says 鹿せん (shika-sen), which is the cracker used to feed deer; the bottom cracker 奈良 (Nara), the region he represents!

This plushie was produced by HNA with a Rilakkuma license!

Basically, each prefecture in Japan has its own special Rilakkuma based on the what’s special for that particular city.

In Nara, there are a TON of deer, so Nara Rilakkuma is appropriately wearing deer antlers and holding up a rice cracker called shika-senbei – you can buy them to feed the deer.

I think it’s really fitting because it seems like deer paradise in Nara. According to legend, one of the gods (Takenomikazuchi-no-mikoto) appeared on a mountain riding a deer, and since then, deer have been considered messengers of the gods in Shinto! Back then, killing a deer was a crime punishable by death!

Nara - deer

One photo really does not do them justice – there are really deer everywhere!

Nara - deer warning sign

Sometimes people get way too friendly with the deer though…

In any case, I was super excited to run across this Rilakkuma plushie! Wish I could’ve found more – the HNA website lists 59 different Rilakkuma designs in just the Kansai region alone! They seem pretty difficult to find though; we only ran into this one at a small souvenir shop by chance as we were leaving Tōdai-ji.

Speaking of deer… I hear that the newest Rilakkuma series leak is a deer Rilakkuma??

deer-leak-1

Thanks for the tip, Kumadokidoki and Mary!

Wow, how fitting! Seeing this design after a deer-filled day in Nara is pretty silly hahaha