Category Archives: Collaborations

Finalizing my trip to Japan!

So my parents have finalized our hotels and tours and everything for our first real visit to Japan! We’ve been in Japanese airports so many times for connecting flights, but have never actually seen the country – I’m so excited!

Here’s our schedule (all in June):

20: Arriving!
21: Tokyo (Skytree area)
22: Tokyo (Harajuku + Kiddyland) + Osaka
23: Kyoto
24: Kyoto
25: Nara
26: Tokyo again (for a last minute Rilakkuma Store run?)
27: Leaving :[

Wow, that makes 3 opportunities to visit 3 different Rilakkuma stores (Skytree, Kiddyland, Tokyo Station)! Don’t know if I’ll actually get to all of those (since it’s a family vacation with my parents), but it’s nice to know that I’ll be so close to Rilakkuma stores during my trip haha. (ETA: forgot that the Umeda Rilakkuma Store is in Osaka – that makes 4!!)

After that, it’s family time in the Philippines for a few more weeks! Fun for me, but not too much Rilakkuma related news on that front haha.

SAD NEWS THOUGH: this schedule means I will just barely miss the release of Harajuku 1st Anniversary and Comics Series plushies that come out on the 29th! Noooo!

Harajuku 1st Anniversary - full

Mmmm crepes!

Comics Series - full

I want a matching hoodie!

I’m pre-ordering them though, so I’ll get them eventually, but I won’t get to experience the Rilakkuma release day madness in person – which could be a blessing haha, but I’d like to experience it one time just to know what my sellers have to go through for me haha.

BUT GREAT NEWS: my sister earned an Aloha Rilakkuma plate from Lawson!

Rilakkuma x Lawson - Aloha Rilakkuma - plate

Wow, so HQ!

As I mentioned before, my sister was participating in a Rilakkuma x Lawson campaign where you could collect stickers from purchases and redeem them for prizes – the campaign recently ended on the 3rd.

Though she was originally aiming for the bag (20 stickers), with the help of her classmates, she was able to collect 30 for the plate in less than 2 weeks! WOW!

Thanks a bunch to Liemzie and Ariel for helping me and my sister decode this campaign haha!

You can read more details and see more photos of my sister’s win at her blog here! Yay!

Rilakkuma x Lawson Keychain!

Hey, look what my sister picked up in Japan: it’s a Rilakkuma x Lawson keychain!

Rilakkuma x Lawson - shopping basket keychain

Looks like he’s holding an onigiri – yum!

This guy is part of a mini-set that came out back in April – with Rilakkuma and friends hanging out in special Rilakkuma 10th anniversary Lawson shopping baskets! Cute!

Still waiting for the Rilakkuma x Lawson Aloha Rilakkuma plushie, which is supposed to be released in late June – I feel like I pre-ordered it AGES ago!

Also, as I mentioned before, my sister is in Japan right now, and she’s spied some more Rilakkuma at Lawson!

Lawson has an ongoing campaign featuring the Aloha Rilakkuma series where you collect stickers for prizes: Liemzie (Tea Two Sugars Please) and Ariel (Rilakkuma Desu) have posted about this campaign already – and thank goodness for those posts because otherwise we would have no idea what was going on with these stickers haha.

Rilakkuma x Lawson - Cheese Hamburger

“Cheese Hamburger”

Rilakkuma x Lawson - Teriyaki Burger

One of my sister’s favorites: Teriyaki Hamburger

Rilakkuma x Lawson - Cheese Bread

Cheese Bread

Just so you can be reminded of Rilakkuma all the time, even when you eat!

My sister’s running her own blog on her experience, so I’ll try not to steal too much of her thunder, just wanted to share some of her awesome Rilakkuma-centric photos!

I think my sister is aiming for the bag (20 stickers), but we’ll see how much she can collect before the campaign ends in June – what a great customer loyalty campaign haha.

I’m back!

Whew – I feel like I’ve been gone forever! So much Rilakkuma news has happened while I’ve been away!

But I was so excited to come home to a special Rilakkuma gift from the lovely Ariel at Rilakkuma Desu: the first Rilakkumagazine!!

Rilakkumagazine - front

Aloha Rilakkuma cover!

Rilakkumagazine - inside

The magazine folds out to reveal a ton of content! One side has a brief overview of Rilakkuma history, and the other side has details about the Aloha Rilakkuma series, along with some other Rilakkuma news (like the Baseball release).

rilakkumagazine-3

The back panel is my favorite! It features a Rilakkuma plushie adventuring around Hawaii – the photos are kind of like Rilakkuma Lifestyle tumblr style!

Such a wonderful way to be welcomed home! I hope they make more Rilakkumagazines in the future!

Also, my sister has officially started her study abroad program in Japan; you can read about all her (largely food-related) adventures on her new blog!

As a thoughtful sister understanding of my Rilakkuma addiction, she was nice enough to get a magnet set from the KFC x Rilakkuma campaign going on:

KFC x Rilakkuma 2013 - magnet

You can punch out the 4 magnets to make a photo frame!

Yay! Maybe I can snag a box too when I got to Japan next month to visit her :)

In other news, have y’all seen these new mascot towels?

Rilakkuma mascot towels - all

So cute how they can be wrapped to look like towel plushies!

Aww they’re each holding 4 leaf clovers! They’re scheduled to come out on June 8 in Rilakkuma Stores.

PS Remember when I submitted a photo of my Rilakkuma for San-X’s Facebook photo contest?

Well, they announced the winners, and my photo wasn’t chosen T^T It’s a little confusing to me because most of the winners had under 10 votes, and some had no votes at all! I smell something fishy! I definitely saw a lot of other photos with a lot of votes that didn’t get chosen either – what a bummer.

Oh well… Thanks everyone who voted for me – I really appreciate everyone’s support, and I’m so incredibly happy to know there are so many great Rilakkuma lovers around :) Y’all are the best!

KFC x Rilakkuma!

Quick post – I just HAD to update about this!

Rilakkuma is teaming up with KFC Japan!

KFC x Rilakkuma 2013 - item selection

Aloha Rilakkuma themed!

In addition to the special printed boxes, this awesome collaboration features Aloha Rilakkuma themed magnet sheets, clear pouches, an oragami set, and a shoulder bag! Wow! This collaboration will be officially released on April 25th!

The items are all very cute, but I really want the boxes the most hahaha

Hopefully, this promotion will still be happening when I get to Japan! So excited!

KFC x Rilakkuma 2013 - Rilakkuma Lifestyle

Rilakkuma sure loves his KFC!

Rilakkuma movie coming soon!

No way!

San-X is teaming up with the character and animation studio Dwarf (TYO Inc.) to make a stop motion-style Rilakkuma movie!

Dwarf is famous for its stop motion animations of Domo, NHK’s official mascot. Wow, what quality work!

Check out this (extremely short, but sweet) teaser video here!

Rilakkuma movie - teaser image

Coming soon!

Not sure exactly what this will entail, but it looks like they’re releasing it episode-style at the first of every month.

I am unbelievably excited about this, and the premiere just a week away!

Mikan Rilakkuma UFO Catcher Plushie!

Last but not least from the big UFO catcher batch: Mikan Rilakkuma! He was released into the UFO catcher wild by Fansclub and San-X in December 2011.

Mikan (Citrus unshiu) are citrus fruits of Japanese origin, and are also known as satsuma mandarins or satsuma oranges. We actually have a tree full of these out in our yard – yum!

Mikan Rilakkuma - full body shot

Hello Mikan Rilakkuma!

Mikan Rilakkuma - hat detail

Cute citrus hat!

Mikan Rilakkuma - scarf

Lovely scarf with fuzzy citrus details on both ends!

Because of Chinese tradition and symbolism (and some clever wordplay), my family loves to display and serve oranges to ring in the new year since our word for “fortune/success” sounds similar to the word for “orange”.

This Rilakkuma will also help us welcome the lunar new year next month as well – how auspicious for this Rilakkuma to join the family at the start of 2013!

Rilakkuma Valentine’s Day 2013 products!

Did you know that Japanese chocolate companies make more than half their annual sales during the week leading up to Valentine’s Day? Whoa!

Are you ready for Valentine’s Day? It’s just under a month away, but it looks like some Rilakkuma Stores have already started selling pink Valentine’s themed Rilakkuma products – there’s even Rilakkuma/Korilakkuma holding donuts and looking suspiciously like the Misdo Rilakkuma collaboration series hahaha.

Rilakkuma Valentines Series - 2013

Seriously, Rilakkuma’s essentially holding the same type of donut.

Wow, San-X has been doing WORK recently with all these new shiny releases!

Though with the exception the (unaffiliated) donut Rilakkumas, this set looks pretty similar to last year’s; if you’re curious, Relax Kuma has a really great post about last year’s 2012 Valentine’s set, with a cool explanation of Japanese Valentine’s Day traditions!

Personally, my childhood Valentine’s Day memories were of chalky Sweethearts candies and punny cartoon cards – could’ve used some Rilakkuma back then!

Rilakkuma Furikake!

My sister’s friend from Japan gave our family some Rilakkuma furikake!

Furikake is a delicious dried condiment that you can sprinkle over rice. No, these flakes aren’t Rilakkuma shaped (not that I’d eat Rilakkuma anyway), but they do have some great packaging designs!

Rilakkuma furikake - packaging

Adorable packaging!

Rilakkuma furikake - packets

Flavors by row, from top to bottom: salmon, vegetable, egg, okaka (bonito flakes)

Rilakkuma furikake - Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, Kiiroitori

One of my favorite packet designs, front and back! OMG that Kiiroitori’s is egg flavored though hahaha

Rilakkuma furikake - with Rilakkuma

Rilakkuma loves his rice with veggie furikake!

San-X began selling these as a collaboration with seasoning/instant food brand Nagatanien in July 2011. According to the product page, they are a great source of calcium!

So yummy! Getting addicted…

Outdoors Rilakkuma UFO Catcher Plushie!

While the last UFO plushies were gifts, I got this one for myself: it’s Rilakkuma holding a kabob! He was part of an outdoors series (アウトドアごっこ) released by Fansclub and San-X in July 2011.

Kabob Rilakkuma - full body shot

Ready to go camping!

Kabob Rilakkuma - kabob detail

Rilakkuma has cooked a yummy kabob! And he’s wearing a nice yellow bib in case he makes a mess.

Seeing this plushie on Fansclub was actually what prompted me to make my first big Rilakkuma UFO catcher plushie purchase earlier – San-X hasn’t released anything like this design in their standard 22 cm collectible size (the style I usually order), so that convinced me to make the leap!

I’m so glad I did, because he is a wonderful addition to my largely food-themed Rilakkuma collection. Yay!

Presenting at ECAASU 2013!

This is a pretty huge departure from the usual content of this blog, but whatever, it’s still Rilakkuma-related: I’m so excited to announce that I will be presenting a workshop for the ECAASU 2013 conference to be held next month at Columbia!

ECAASU 2013 - Rilakkuma

Rilakkuma with last year’s ECAASU conference materials.

ECAASU (East Coast Asian American Student Union) is a national, nonprofit intercollegiate Asian-Pacific American advocacy organization and is the largest and oldest conference in the country for Asian American students. The ECAASU conference invites college students from across the country to engage in debate and understanding about current, past, and future issues pertinent to Asian Americans.

At this year’s conference, I will actually be leading a Rilakkuma-related discussion! I’m holding a workshop titled Kawaii Iconography: the racial dynamics of cuteness.

For the workshop, I’ll be discussing the cute character market (San-X, Sanrio, etc.) as it relates to Asian-American identity and culture, as well as gender performance and masculinity/femininity. As someone who absolutely LOVES Rilakkuma, this subject is so important to me because I want to understand and discuss how popular icons (like Rilakkuma) reflect cultural attitudes and social dynamics.

The conference will be held at Columbia University in NYC from February 22-24. Registration is now open, and I highly encourage any university students interested in APIA activism to attend! For those who cannot attend, I will be doing a write-up anyway, so you won’t miss out on anything.

Yay, can’t wait!