New At San-X This Month

I’m making this a regular feature so we can all enjoy the new themes every month. April seems to be Rilakkuma’s month with THREE cute new collections, but there’s also a new theme for Sumikko Gurashi. Shopping links and info is at the end of the post and the collection pages also have free wallpapers.

Let’s start with Sumikko Gurashi as this is such a sweet theme – Shirokuma’s Hometown! The little polar bear gets a letter from home with tickets to visit and the gang all head to the Arctic to meet Shirokuma’s mum and fluffy sibling, who live in a bear-shaped igloo of course.

There’s some really fun plushies including the whole family, the igloo and even a big plush of the furoshiki bundles – Shirokuma’s sibling (who doesn’t seem to get a name!) has a happy blue one. The furoshiki drawstring bags are so cute and useful too, plus there’s lots of stationery, blind box figures and a few accessories. Everything is released this Friday (20th) so check for preorders or set your alarm.

Rilakkuma’s latest theme has a title that seems to be untranslatable (probably involving some wordplay) but is all about Rilakkuma & friends heading underwater to go with the flow. That means lots of adorable cosplay as sea creatures and some soothing pastel colours.

I am absolutely screaming over all the plushies and would likely bankrupt myself if I got to shop in person. If you’re a fan of sea creatures you really need to see them all. If you can tear your eyes away, there’s also some fun pouches & bags, lots of stationery and some products for summer including a tumbler and neck cooler. The release date is this Saturday (21st).

There’s a couple of fun collabs this month, starting with Rilakkuma x Pai no Mi – the little chocolate pie treats from Lotte. The packaging has a woodland theme and they’ve gone all out to recreate it for the products with Rilakkuma & friends dressing up as squirrels for plush, homewares and accessories.

The collab with LINE illustrator sakumaru is so cool – they’ve drawn Rilakkuma in their own style that’s very different but just as kawaii. I really love how expressive the characters are and you can really see their personalities. Again, the plush are my favourite but there’s keychains, bags, hand towels and stationery too.

How to buy San-X

The collections above can all be ordered from the San-X shop but you’ll need to use a forwarding service outside Japan. Otherwise you need to keep an eye on resellers. AmiAmi (JP) does pre-orders before release, Meccha Japan (JP) does both pre-order and in stock items, while Very Goods (JP) usually add most items within a few weeks. International shops can take longer, from weeks to many months – we recommend Cuteness (EU – also do preorders), ARTBOX (UK) and Oshoppu (UK). Use our guide to The Best Kawaii Shops Worldwide for more options (sadly most US shops mainly stock San-X products made for the US market) or search on Ebay and Amazon Japan.