Hooray! My Misdo Rilakkuma plushie came in yesterday!
He had been on my wishlist since last week (short hunt haha), so I was really excited to finally see him today!
Welcome to the family!
Yum!
Tag close-up
Yay! He’s so cute! He stands out a little right now because he’s smaller/sitting down – he’s so special! Love him already :) Thanks, Simon!
Ah, the wonderful world of UFO catchers!
A UFO catcher is a kind of claw machine game popular in Japan. Compared to their Western counterparts, UFO catchers generally have 2 prongs instead of 3 or 4. From my experience, in the US, claw machines just have a random assortment of things, but Fansclub took it to another level and stocked their machines with Rilakkuma. Jealous!
These plushies are genuine San-X licensed – they’re just not sold in stores! You have to earn them by mastering the art of UFO catching. They come in different sizes, materials, and designs from the store releases.
However, sometimes, Fansclub and San-X come out with very similar Rilakkuma designs. Take the Marine Series, for example:
Store release (~22 cm)
Fansclub release (~17-20 cm)
Fansclub XL release (~50 cm)
Wow, super similar! But all legitimate :)
One great thing: Fansclub does a hell of a job cataloging their UFO catcher plushies and other prizes. If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can stroll through their entire catalog of prizes, by series name and release date. San-X has been partnered with Fansclub for a long time, so there are hundreds of Rilakkuma UFO catcher plushies out there!
I generally gravitate towards the standard 22 cm plushies, but I love that these Rilakkuma plushies come in so many different designs!
This past summer, Rilakkuma went and paired up with Pizza Hut, my favorite pizza chain, for one of the tastiest collaborations of all time.
From July 2012, if you bought a kid’s size crispy pizza, you could get a cute dessert bowl that came in two different designs (Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma). Also, if you were one of the lucky first 200 at each participating restaurant to order, your pizza would come in a special Rilakkuma pizza box!
Cute and simple box design!
2 dessert bowl designs – Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma!
Sadly, the official images are super tiny, but thankfully, others have posted larger pictures of their prizes here, here, and here.
Also, I was peeking at the Pizza Hut – Japan’s side menu online, and it looks like the dessert bowl campaign might still be on but now, you can also get a Rilakkuma soup bowl with your purchase of soup!
Sweet Corn or Minestrone Soup!
I’ll order it all!
Sometimes I think I have the least healthy eating habits ever, but Rilakkuma makes me feel better because it looks like his diet is pretty similar (pizza, donuts, and macarons?).
Maybe I should stop writing posts while I’m hungry; this is starting to turn into a Rilakkuma + food crossover blog hahaha.
Sometimes I get really one-tracked minded when it comes to Rilakkuma, and I forget San-X has a boatload of other characters they promote.
Recently, my sister and I discovered this character while cruising the San-X Net Shop blog:
Kinda looks like a Diglett, right?
This character is Tonkatsu (とんかつ) – the fried pork cutlet. His character description states that he’s that last leftover piece of tonkatsu; he’s 1% meat, 99% fat – and is always left behind because of his fat content.
Apparently, his pink nose is the 1% meat – the rest is breaded fat and grease!
In September 2012, this guy was introduced as part of a whole series of amorphous characters called Sumikko Gurashi (すみっこぐらし), which (very) roughly translates to “beings living in corners” (like of a house). I suppose I can imagine leftover crumbs of tonkatsu making their way into corners of a room.
In Sumikko Gurashi, Tonkatsu is joined by:
The whole Sumikko Gurashi team!
Top row: Shirokuma, Penguin?, Tonkatsu, Neko, Tapioca, and Zassou
Bottom row: Hokori, Furoshiki, & Nisetsumuri
What a team! I wonder how they came to be friends…
I really enjoy browsing old San-X archives, but I always end up wanting more Rilakkuma…
This time, it’s Sandwich Rilakkuma! Sold only at the Tokyo Station (during its 1 year anniversary) and Umeda stores in February 2010, this set was a special edition release as part of the Bon Voyage/Bonjour series – an entire series seemingly dedicated to Rilakkuma’s love of baguettes.
Rilakkuma and friends go to Paris!
What a big sandwich! Maybe Rilakkuma looks like he’s already eaten too much.
Speaking of sandwiches, apparently the term “sandwich” was coined by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who is said to have invented the combination of meat and bread so that he wouldn’t get his hands greasy while playing cribbage! I wonder how he would feel if he saw Rilakkuma feasting on his invention today?
Since this is a limited store-only release from a few years back, I’ll have my work cut out for me when I get around to hunting this one down. I’ve also been eying this Caravan edition from the same series. Maybe I can ask for one of these for my birthday next year?
ETA (9/18/13): Acquired!
So while I was researching Hara Donuts & Rilakkuma, I ran into another cute collaboration: Hara Roll and Rilakkuma!
It’s the same company as Hara Donuts, but they’re MACARONS! I love macarons! Looks like these were announced in back in February 2012 as the second time Hara Donuts has teamed up with Rilakkuma (the products featured in the last Hara post were from the third collaboration). The campaign is impossibly cute, as always.
Came in strawberry, chocolate, and soy milk flavors.
Wow, I really need these in my life; maybe because there aren’t any macaron shops where I live? These might be in the territory of “too cute to eat” though.
Machadango has a ton a beautiful pictures of this collab – check it out! The reading experience will likely be better if you can read Chinese, because sad fact: Google Translate sometimes converts “Rilakkuma” into “sloth bear” since the Chinese translation of “Rilakkuma” they use is literally 懶熊 (懶 meaning lazy, slothful, or indolent; 熊 meaning bear). Doesn’t have the same gusto, does it? I’ve seen 轻松熊 (where 轻松 means relaxed), 松弛熊 (松弛 meaning relaxation), and 拉拉熊 (“lala”) used too.
Another fun fact, “macaron” in Chinese is 馬卡龍! Literally “horse card dragon”, but it’s pronounced “mǎkǎlóng” – sounds pretty close!
So San-X announced the Rilakkuma Hawaii Series a few weeks back, which is set to be released in February 2013.
Ready for the beach!
Because it was announced before I even started this blog (!), I wasn’t originally planning on making a post about them until their official release, but San-X just announced that they’ve teamed up with H.I.S., a Japanese travel agency, to offer a special Rilakkuma-themed Hawaiian vacation! You get a Rilakkuma travel tote filled with gifts, and the room is fitted with Rilakkuma plushies everywhere!
Holiday Inn Waikiki Beachcomber Room
Sheraton Waikiki Hotel Room
Seems like paradise to me!
Keeping with the donut theme, I did a little research to see what other times Rilakkuma has been seen with donuts over the years.
Rilakkuma is certainly no stranger to donuts – back in 2007, Rilakkuma was seen stuck in a giant sprinkle donut as part of the Rilakkuma Cafe Series. Afterwards, San-X later had to release instructions on how to get Rilakkuma out of the donut so that you could use the donut like a cushion like the advertisement described.
Rilakkuma could just eat his way out, if he wanted to.
Side and back views
Finally free!
After that, San-X must’ve thought to consolidate those ideas together, because they released a donut-shaped Rilakkuma cushion in April 2012!
Seems a little silly to be sitting so close to Rilakkuma’s face…
That should conclude Rilakkuma’s donut history for now! We’ll see if Rilakkuma partners up with donuts again (hopefully he’ll come to the US, too)!
Thinking about the donuts from yesterday made me hungry! Here’s a plush I’ve recently been yearning for: the Mister Donut (Misdo) Rilakkuma! From my understanding, during the course of this campaign, you would receive a scratchcard with a Misdo donut purchase of more than 100円, and this plushie was a gold level prize.
Misdo Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma
Rilakkuma partnered with Mister Donut during Winter 2010, where they gave out a ton of other merchandise with donut purchases like tote bags, squish toys, and even a special Christmas set!
They also came out with this wacky TV commercial featuring Japanese star Hiroshi Tamaki:
History lesson: Mister Donut was established in the 1950’s in the US, but after being acquired by Allied-Lyons, most stores in North America were converted into Dunkin’ Donuts (Donutses? Donuts’?). However, the franchise kept its name in Asia (after being acquired by Duskin), and it’s now the largest donut chain in Japan! No wonder Rilakkuma likes them so much!
Anyway – I wrote and queued this post up around last week, and yesterday, Simon ordered him for me!! I’ll post pictures as soon as he arrives! YAY!
ETA (12/11/12): Acquired!
To celebrate the Happy Holiday Picnic Rilakkuma plushie featured yesterday, let’s take a look at another collaboration project: Hara Donuts & Rilakkuma!
Rilakkuma partnered with donut company Hara Donuts starting around November 2011. Hara Donuts uses a more minimalist approach to donuts, creating handmade donuts with all-natural ingredients. With their beginnings in a raw tofu shop in Kobe, their donuts use fresh, local tofu in their homemade recipes. Hara (はら) means “original” or “raw” in Japanese.
During the Hara Donuts & Rilakkuma campaign, they had a special Rilakkuma themed donut menu based on the Happy Holiday Picnic Series, and some great themed merchandise!
How cute is it that Rilakkuma brings donuts to a picnic?
Sweet & Sour Lemon Chocolate/White Chocolate Donuts
Hara Donuts & Rilakkuma Cell Phone Charm
Cute! They also came out with a selection of coffee mugs and tote bags. I would’ve loved if they released a plushie so I could add him to my collection!
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