Tag: Kawaii

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Korilakkuma – the mischievous cute bear

Korilakkuma is a friend of Rilakkuma. She’s a super cute little white bear with pink ears and white tummy. She has a mischievous sense of humour. And she is always busy and loves to play tricks on her friends. Especially Rilakkuma while he relaxes or sleeps. What fun!
Korilakkuma
Korilakkuma has lovely soft white fur and a cute red button on her chest. Korilakkuma doesn’t have a zipper on her back unlike her friend Rilakkuma.

She loves playing with toys, especially a  radio controlled duck. Just like Rilakkuma, she likes music and food. And her favourite food includes  Strawberries, Apples and Cherries.

Where to buy Korilakkuma?

Kawaii Unicorn – Kawaii Shop sells super cute Plushies, Accessories and Stationery. Buy Korilakkuma on KawaiiUnicorn.com

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Have you heard about a bear called Rilakkuma?

If you don’t know who Rilakkuma is then I will love telling you about this super cute Japanese brown bear. If you have heard of him, then it would be great if you can stick around, and read my post or maybe take a look around the Kawaii Shop where we sell lots of cute Rilakkuma goods..

Who is Rilakkuma?

Rilakkuma from San-XRilakkuma is a cute character made by Japanese Kawaii brand San-X. He was first introduced in Japan on 2003 so he’s 14 years old. He’s a teenager or maybe actually he’s like Peter Pan or Bart Simpson who never grows old!

The name Rilakkuma is a combination of two Japanese words, it translates to “Relaxed Bear” in English. And his name certainly gives us all a big clue to his nature! A cute lazy and very relaxed bear. He will make us smile and remind is to relax!

Rilakkuma’s story is that he one day appeared in a lady office worker’s apartment. And here he lives and likes to lazily relax. He takes it easy and loves eating and sleeping. His favourite food are dango, pancakes, and puddings.  Rilakkuma is often seen sleeping, eating or just taking it easy. Thats what I call a “Bears Life” in suburban Japan! How awesome!

Rilakkuma has super soft brown plush fur, he has cute little yellow ears, a white tummy and on his back is a zip. The zip can be opened to find a light blue polka dot patterned material inside. Friends include Korilakkuma, Kogumachan and Kiiroitori.

San-X

San-X are hugely big Kawaii brand from Japan. Rilakkuma is just one of many characters that San-X make. Kawaii Unicorn – Kawaii Shop sells adorable San-X goods. We stock Rilakkuma – plush, accessories and also stationery.

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Kawaii Shopping Guide – Kawaii Brands

Do you love plushies, cute keyrings,  purses and adorable stationery? If yes, then you will love these Kawaii brands.  All the following brands from Japan take cute to a new level :

AMUSE

AMUSE Japan AlpacasAMUSE  make products for the UFO Arcade Catcher market in Japan. And if you are wondering what a UFO Arcade Catcher is? It’s those tempting machines in Arcades where you try to pick up a prize using a remote controlled claw. But unlike the contents of these machines in Europe and the USA  their products are super cute and also rare outside Japan.

Our favourite AMUSE must-have items are the cuddly Alpacas called ‘Alpacasso’ but they also offer unique plush characters including ‘Hamsters’ , ‘Pups’, ‘Cats’ and many others. So if you are looking for something a little different.  Then super cute animal plushies, plush keyrings and plush charms from AMUSE are for you. I guarantee you will love them. Japanese UFO catcher products are lovely high quality. And plushies from AMUSE have some of the softest fur of all the brands.

Kawaii Unicorn sells genuine AMUSE products that have been sourced direct from Asian stockists.

View the Kawaii Unicorn AMUSE range

SANRIO

Started in 1960 Japan, Sanrio is a hugely influential Kawaii brand.  Sanrio brought us Hello Kitty in 1970 and this character alone has done more to spread Kawaii Japanese culture than anything else.  Hello Kitty has been with us so long she’s also retro, popular across the generations and an ideal way to cheer someone up – you can’t help smiling at Sanrio characters.

Sanrio Hello Kitty

Sanrio sells and licenses products branded with over 400 cute characters.  Sanrio specialises in creating plush, accessories and stationery. And the most popular Sanrio characters are:

Kawaii Unicorn sells authentic Sanrio merchandise

SAN-X

Started in 1923 Japan, San-X sell super cute character merchandise including Plushies, Accessories and Stationery. San-X has created hugely popular characters including:

San-X

With product names that are steeped in Japanese culture, getting your hands on items from this brand will give you access to a leader in kawaii merchandise.

Kawaii Unicorn sells adorable San-X characters

IWAKO

Iwako started fifty years ago in Japan. Their erasers are fun, practical and are guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Play, collect or use them, Iwako erasers can be pulled apart and rebuilt like 3D puzzles, but function like real erasers. These can make school work, office tasks and of course, home administration just that bit more fun. There is a such large range you’ll never collect them all!

Iwako creates every eraser imaginable from hamburgers to dinosaurs and they’re all really cute.

Kawaii Unicorn sells authentic IWAKO erasers

More to explore

There are absolutely thousands of Kawaii brands. Have fun exploring them and I hope you find some time to browse kawaiiunicorn.com

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I love Kawaii. Most people do without realising it.

The Disney experience

Kawaii the Japanese word for “cute” or “adorable”. Everyone loves cute things don’t they?

I first stumbled upon the term Kawaii in the summer of 2016 and was instantly fascinated. I was inspired how it has become engrained in Japanese culture and how fast it spread throughout the world. My first experience of  Kawaii wasn’t by  strolling the streets of downtown Tokyo. I discovered Kawaii in an exhibition hall in Epcot Disney USA.

As I walked around that exhibition seeking a haven from the hot Florida sun, I learnt how important Kawaii as a cultural movement is to Japanese society. The Japanese love cute things, many aspects of their culture including entertainment, clothing, food, toys and even road signs demonstrate this.  From cute electric toasters to road sign cones made to look like a fluffy rabbits.  The Japanese Prime Minister dressed as Super Mario at the Rio Olympic Games or teenagers dressed up as their favorite Anime characters. In Japanese culture everything has the potential to become cute.

The exhibition included many Anime and Kawaii characters. Some I knew about such as Pokémon and Hello Kitty but many others were new to me.  Rilakkuma, Iiwaken, Totoro, My Melody, Pom Pom Purin and so many more. These characters were everywhere, on clothing, stationery and accessories but also everyday objects we would normally not associate with the word “cute”.

I left the exhibition inspired to learn more and actually buy some of this merchandise from Japan.

Creating a Kawaii Store

When I landed back in the UK I got straight to work  and got myself a Kawaii haul. I bought Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma and Hello Kitty goodies. I loved my purchases so much I thought, hey, I should help spread Kawaii culture in the UK and actually start an online store. So my journey began.

First a store needs a name, it needs to sell not only very cute items but also rare items which are not readily available outside Japan.  Unicorns are cute, we all love Unicorns and so I named my shop Kawaii Unicorn. Next, it was so important to sell only authentic goods from big Kawaii brands such as San-X, Sanrio and AMUSE. I absolutely will not sell fakes. They have to be perfectly cute.

I researched what types of items to sell.  Plush, accessories and stationery. All must meet the right cute standard. And so, I started to build my online store to begin the Kawaii Unicorn shopping experience.

2017

My shop is relatively new and I look forward to sourcing super cute and hard to find stuff! Please be part of my story and visit my shop.

Thank you…

https://kawaiiunicorn.com