Let’s have a look at what’s happening at Japanese kawaii brand San-X for July. The last few months have been very quiet, partly due to the complete redesign of their online shop and website, but now it’s stacked with new releases. There’s new themes for Rilakkuma, Hamuchima and Lie Detective Tomanto plus more retro characters return. Shopping links and info is at the end of the post and some of the collections also have free wallpapers.
Rilakkuma Lab is doing the research to find out the secrets of Rilakkuma and friends and use them to build a robot that can make everyone’s everyday life more relaxing. Some of these experiments have turned out a little bit weird but the results are always cute.
The products all have a bit of a futuristic theme with lots of shiny silver materials and metallic accents, plus a fun designs based on model kits where all the pieces are attached on a sheet. All the plush are amazing with robots, scientists and experiments gone wrong (how much do you want to hug that extra-chubby Rilakkuma?). There’s also some cool bags and pouches, shaker charms and loads of stationery and stickers. Scientifically-minded kawaii fans will also enjoy the beaker style mug.
Hamuchima the hamster is already getting a new theme, I was always actually by your side. Hamuchima searches for small moments of happiness every day and this time they trip and fall, but find a lucky clover.
This story is the main design for all the products so great if you love a lucky clover theme or need a bit of luck yourself. There’s a few sizes of plushies and lots of stationery, plus plenty of cute accessories including keychains, phone mirror stickers, hair clips and pouches.
I got a bit excited when I realised the new Lie Detective Tomanto theme focuses on the origin story of my beloved Pucchy, the discarded yellow cherry tomato who becomes “the most-capable assistant in the world” (according to Pucchy!). Lie Detective Tomanto sees through the lie and explains that Pucchy is not worthless because cherry tomatoes are more nutritious per 100g than regular tomatoes. We’re all learning here.
You can recreate this amazing story with a wide range of products, including a whole load of stationery, plush and pouches, including memo pads, pens, stickers and clever fold-up accessory cases. The real crime here is that I don’t own any Pucchy merch yet.
The San-X Universe continues to create new merch featuring their beloved retro characters, adding new plush, keychains, stickers, pens and the cutest mini silicon keychain pouches. The featured characters this time are Mamegoma, Tarepanda, Nyan Nyan Nyanko, Monokuro Boo, Kogepan & Buroburo Dog, plus the original style Rilakkuma & Sumikko Gurashi.
More surprising is the return of wanwan wanco as these puppies have been retired for nearly 20 years! This collection is a re-release, based on designs from 2007 and features cute puppy photos on colourful patterned backgrounds. The nostalgia is off the charts here with plastic wallets, squishy sticker binders, banknote memo pads and glitter stickers. I hope this means more re-releases are coming.
How to buy San-X
All the products for July are listed in the San-X shop now – some items are available to buy now, but most are being released over the next week. To order direct, you’ll need to use a forwarding service outside Japan. Otherwise you need to keep an eye on official resellers, who may also have items that are already sold out at San-X. AmiAmi (JP) does pre-orders before release, Kawaii Republic (JP) and Meccha Japan (JP) do both pre-order and in stock items, while Very Goods (JP) usually add most items within a few days or 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. US fans also now have an official San-X store on Amazon, mostly with products made for the US market.
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