Category Archives: Plushies

I love Rilakkuma plushies!

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.

Christmas 2011 Net Shop Exclusive!

Christmas came early this year!

I was so excited to start my 2nd week of medical school with this super-cute Christmas 2011 Net Shop Exclusive!

Christmas 2011 San-X Net Shop Exclusive - full

Merry (early) Christmas!

Christmas 2011 San-X Net Shop Exclusive - Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma

Their Santa outfits are removable, and exchangeable!

Christmas 2011 San-X Net Shop Exclusive - Kiiroitori

Kiiroitori is the angel on top of the tree hahaha

Christmas 2011 San-X Net Shop Exclusive - ISP

Probably one of my favorite parts of this set: an indifferent snowperson? Hahahaha

Christmas 2011 San-X Net Shop Exclusive - log

The set also comes with the giant roll cake log pillow with Rilakkuma’s face embroidered on it with strawberries, holly, and star details haha it reminds me of the huge Rilakkuma island that came with the Aloha Rilakkuma series’ Net Shop Exclusive.

Christmas 2011 San-X Net Shop Exclusive - tag

Cute tag with the set in illustrated form! Looks like Santa Rilakkuma is a little lazy as expected hahaha

Yay!!! Even though it’s still summer haha I was so excited to get this! I think this is my favorite Christmas Net Shop set, but they are always so nice every year!

Also lmao this set was WAY larger than I expected – I thought that they’d be regular sized collectible plushies like the 22 cm ones, but they’re about the size of my medium Rilakkuma, so a little over a foot tall for the bears. It’s so great that they ended up being so big, but I’ll have to get a side table for them or something hahaha

Thank you so so much to Ariel for helping me obtain this set! Check out her awesome Rilakkuma blog, Rilakkuma Desu, if you haven’t already!

I don’t really know the story behind the super indifferent snowperson but it’s so cute! … and disinterested. I wish it appeared more often. :| :| :|

I know it’s so early to talk about Christmas things, but since my apartment is too small for a proper tree, I’ll probably put this set out instead! And since it’s so cute, I’ll end up being one of those people who puts up Christmas decorations way too early (just this set though)!

Speaking of Net Shop exclusives, this year’s Christmas San-X Net Shop exclusive goes on pre-order this Friday, August 23! Preorder is here!

Christmas 2013 San-X Net Shop Exclusive

With a little stage for the band!

Christmas 2013 San-X Net Shop Exclusive

The whole band!

Christmas 2013 San-X Net Shop Exclusive

And they can all be used as ornaments, too!

Since I just bought another Christmas Net Shop Set, I’m not sure I’ll go for this year’s but we’ll see haha

Rilakkuma News & Korilakkuma plushies!

Whew, my first week of official medical school is over! I love the teaching style so far, and the material is heavy, but manageable for now (or did I speak too soon?). Now that the weekend’s here, I’ve got time to do Rilakkuma things :)

Anyway, the theme of this post is Korilakkuma!

These are actually my sister’s plushies! But they deserve some time in the spotlight too, of course!

Korilakkuma (M) - full

This is a medium sized Korilakkuma! She’s about 34cm – about 1.5x times that smaller collectible bears I usually have!

Korilakkuma (M) - back

No zipper! I’m not used to seeing bears without zippers anymore hahaha

Tokyo Skytree 1st Anniversary - Korilakkuma XL

Also, an XL Tokyo Skytree 1st Anniversary Korilakkuma! I only have the small version haha

Watermelon Korilakkuma and Korilakkuma (M)

These two Korilakkuma’s are about the same size – which means they TOWER over all of my tiny 22cm Rilakkumas haha

Yay! I’m so glad the other members of my family have some love for the other characters in the Rilakkuma crew to balance out my Rilakkuma fanaticism!

We got the (naked) Korilakkuma at Tokyo Station and the watermelon Korilakkuma at Skytree! The watermelon set was released during Skytree’s 1st Anniversary, but they still had a bunch of the XL plushies for sale when my family went in June!

In other news, Rilakkuma and friends were spotted at this year’s 7’s Day!

7's Day - side

Korilakkuma and (another) Rilakkuma are sitting inside, while Kiiroitori stares at a face-planted Rilakkuma?

MX7 - front

The color of the car is the same shade of yellow as Rilakkuma’s ears/paws/soles! Or is it more of a Kiiroitori yellow?

According to Dino Dale Carbonare at SpeedHunters, 7’s Day is the unofficial celebration of the Mazda RX-7 every year on July 7 (7/7) in the Daikoku Parking Area. And while it’s known it’s vast outpouring of MX-7’s, 7’s Day not only celebrates 7s, but anything rotary engine related!

RX-7 owners are a really tight knit community, and they organize this gathering every year just by word of mouth – incredible! It’s so cool to see RX-7 and Rilakkuma enthusiasts intersect :)

Um… not exactly sure why Rilakkuma is face-down on top of this FD, but hey – super cute Rilakkuma spotting, in my opinion!

Also, do y’all think this is the Christmas Net Shop Exclusive for this year?

Christmas 2013 Net Shop Exclusive - teaser

What a great present to receive! They all have little red stoles with white trim!

Looks like it’s Rilakkuma Wonderland themed! They look like mini-plushies, and it seems that their noses are flat too haha

Pretty cute, and looks like they’re playing different instruments from the ones in the summer release? I spy a violin/bass violin-playing Rilakkuma, I think!

Tokyo Station Rilakkuma Store Opening Plushie!

Since things are kind of quiet on the Rilakkuma plushie front recently (well, except for the Yamanote release), I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at the older series on the Japanese auctions!

After compiling my Rilakkuma Reference Sheet, I was so excited to see and recognize so many of the plushies up for bid! It’s so exhilarating to recognize really old series and rare finds!

So check out my newest addition: the Rilakkuma Strawberry Car!

Tokyo Station Opening - full

The cars are all separate plushies, and can be connected into one big car by little snaps!

Tokyo Station 1st Anniversary - Kiiroitori

Kiiroitori leads the way with a Rilakkuma steering wheel!

Tokyo Station Opening - Korilakkuma

Kiiroitori and Korilakkuma’s seats are lined with pink satin.

Tokyo Station Opening - full

Rilakkuma doesn’t sit in a seat, but just kinda lays on top of the caboose.

Tokyo Station Opening - box

They also came in this wacky but somewhat appropriate Kumamon box that shows different faces of Kumamon (mascot of the Kumamoto prefecture, not the Digimon) depending on which flap is showing.

This plushie came out in February 20, 2009 – at the opening of the 2nd ever Rilakkuma Store at Tokyo Station, which also happens to be the first Rilakkuma Store I’ve ever been to :D

This release coincided with the Rilakkuma theme at the time, the Strawberry Series.

I find this set so interesting since this was one of the earliest Rilakkuma Store-specific plushies! It’s so wild that there have been six new Rilakkuma Stores that have appeared since this plushie came out. As of right now, this is my oldest plushie!!

Also, since my entire family was together the other week, we snapped a Rilakkuma family reunion photo:

Rilakkuma Family Reunion

It seems like there are so many when they’re pulled out of their boxes!

Though I JUST got another shipment sooo… haha this isn’t even the most updated family portrait, but it’s as good as it’ll get!

Wow, I can’t believe it hasn’t even been a year since I started collecting!

Comics Series Rilakkuma Plushie!

Whew, my first few days of medical school have really flown by! We just completed basic life support (BLS) training/certification this afternoon – hooray!

Also one my of my new classmates likes Rilakkuma too – I’m so lucky to meet someone who has even heard about Rilakkuma all the way over here in Florida hahaha

In addition to all the new school things, I’m getting used to my new home here in Orlando – wow, even though it’s only a few hours from where I grew up, it feels a lot muggier! Orlando isn’t so close to a beach like my hometown, so the air is really quite different here.

Though it never really gets cold here in Florida, it never hurts to be prepared and have a jacket handy like this Comics Series Rilakkuma!

Comics Series - full

I want a matching hoodie!

Comics Series - front

The jacket is removable! Also, I don’t think Rilakkuma’s paws can reach into the pockets lol

Comics Series - back

The hood doesn’t really fit over his head hahaha but you can pull it up to get a better view of the print! On this one, you can see the Strawberry Series (2009) and the Happy Picnic Series (2012)!

This Rilakkuma was a part of the Comics Series, a Rilakkuma Store exclusive series released back in June 29 – this series features a neutral-tone comic print of many of the older Rilakkuma series! Korilakkuma was really special and got a pink print instead though haha

Also, after looking at Ariel’s photos of her Comics series plushies, it looks like each plushie’s jacket uses a different part of this somewhat large fabric design. So while mine has a pretty prominent view of the Strawberry and Happy Picnic series, other plushies might have the Rilakkuma Wonderland part or the Bonjour part more visible on their hoodies – pretty cool!

You know, I’ve been doing so well getting the full sets (with Korilakkuma and Kiiroitori) recently, but I guess I’ll always be a Rilakkuma girl at heart haha

Also in line with the comics series, my sister got her hands on a pretty stylish Comics Series pouch (wristlet?) while we were in Japan – the plushies hadn’t been released yet while we were there, but the purses and some other non-plushie stuff were already out!

Comics Series - pouch

Hey, this is pretty fancy!

This print is definitely one of my favorites so far! I love how they took Rilakkuma’s color scheme and made it into this lovely design!

Oh and I mentioned last time that I built a shelf for my Rilakkumas…

Rilakkuma shelf - 1

Here it is! I guess I’ll have to build a new shelf when I inevitably get more hahaha

I only brought about a third of my total collection (since I don’t have a place to put them all yet), but maybe more of them will migrate over to my new place as time goes by and I actually get a hold of more shelves or something.

You know, I still have more Rilakkuma plushies to photograph haha, but slowly but surely, I’ll get through all of them!

10th Anniversary Event Tuxedo Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, & Kiiroitori Plushies!

My white coat ceremony for medical school is today! A white coat ceremony is a big event here where we get to wear our white coats for the first time, symbolizing our transition to a serious career in healthcare!

To celebrate this occasion, check out these formally dressed plushies: 10th anniversary Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, & Kiiroitori wearing red sequined blazers!

Hey, also did you know this is my first full-size Kiiroitori?

10th Anniversary Series - full

Happy 10th, Rilakkuma! I love how their collar and hat ribbon colors match!

10th Anniversary Series - back

Showing their tails through their coattails hahaha

10th Anniversary Series - hats

Their hats have their favorite foods! Kiiroitori doesn’t have anything in particular T^T

This dapper set was a special order at the Rilakkuma 10th Anniversary Exhibit!

While I ordered these back in the spring exhibit, in the current exhibit, you can now get this set AND the special 10th anniversary thrones set as well – wow!

I really want to go to the exhibit myself (Ariel made a great post on it), but this cute set will have to do for now haha.

Anyway, in other news, I moved in to my new apartment in Orlando!

Rilakkuma moves in

Rilakkuma helped tremendously, of course.

We actually don’t have much furniture around yet lol, just a dining set and bedroom things – but no rush, we’ll be working on it over the next few weeks! We just spent the weekend building all the stuff we bought from IKEA hahaha (they have such a great cafeteria!).

This weekend has been a blur because of moving and stuff, but most importantly, I did set up a new Rilakkuma display shelf in my room, so photos of that in the next post for sure!

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.

Harajuku 1st Anniversary Rilakkuma & Korilakkuma Plushies!

Okay haha I know the Harajuku anniversary was way back in June, but I asked my seller to mail me all my Rilakkuma orders in one big box, so I just got them recently!

So happy 1st anniversary, Harajuku Rilakkuma Store! (And happy anniversary to the whole Harajuku Kiddy Land, too!)

Harajuku 1st Anniversary - full

What a delicious looking set of crepes!

Harajuku 1st Anniversary - face close-up

Rilakkuma is banana/chocolate/strawberry/cherry flavored, and Korilakkuma is strawberry/cherry! I wonder what Kiiroitori would be if he were included?

Harajuku 1st Anniversary - ear detail

Teehee, they’re even adorned with food by their ears!

Harajuku 1st Anniversary - back

One of my favorite details is actually the back, where you can see little bits of the banana slices and strawberries peeking out…

Harajuku 1st Anniversary - banana and strawberry detail

… And WOW, they actually put little seeds on the banana slices even though you can’t even see them unless you pull them out of the crepe pocket! Same with the strawberries – no shortcuts here!

And hey, we see Rilakkuma with bananas again! I guess Tokyo is really known for their bananas hahaha.

With all of the food-themed anniversary Rilakkumas, I tend to gravitate towards the foods I like to eat – so I was especially happy to see a crepe theme this year! Crepes are definitely one of my favorite foods :D

Anyway, I thought the pattern on Rilakkuma’s crepe envelope looked familiar… it’s just like my oven mitt from the Egg Series from 2012!

Harajuku 1st Anniversary - with mitt

I guess the checker pattern is quite a bit larger than the one on the crepe.

Harajuku 1st Anniversary - with Fukuoka Rilakkuma in mitt

Hey, now everyone can be a crepe Rilakkuma, too!

I do think the white/banana yellow combination is a pleasant color scheme!

I also got some event pins, too!

So beautiful, but I don’t really have a place to put them – they’re kind of just leaning against the other plushies in my collection now haha

Harajuku 1st Anniversary - pins

Watermelons! Just like this year’s Tokyo Skytree Anniversary plush!

Harajuku 1st Anniversary - Kiddy Land file

ETA: forgot to add that I also got a file folder for Harajuku Kiddy Land’s 1st anniversary, too! I keep my (folded) KFC x Rilakkuma boxes in there right now haha

Great! I hope the Rilakkuma Stores continue with the food trend :D

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