Japan Envy: Final Fantasy XI and Creamy Mami Café Collaborations

I think it’s safe to say that I almost like talking about Japanese pop culture-themed food items as much as I like talking about the media represented in said food items themselves. And when it comes to “otaku food,” there’s nothing I enjoy more than a good themed café, whether it be a single café dedicated to a certain character, game, or anime series or just a special collaboration that features themed food and drink items for a limited time. So, for this installment of Japan Envy, I’ll be focusing on two recent café collaborations that caught my eye.

Moogle latte art! 

Since I’ve been on a Final Fantasy kick lately, I’ll start with Square Enix’s special Final Fantasy XI 11th anniversary café series, which will be running for a month at the official Square Enix café Artnia in Shinjuku, Tokyo starting October 11th. Big thanks to Kimimi for tipping me off to this one!

Folks who order a cold drink will be treated to one of two adorable coaster designs.

Speaking of cold drinks, the café will be celebrating Final Fantasy XI‘s main villain, the Shadow Lord, with two themed drinks, one alcoholic (left) and one non-alcoholic (right).

But enough about drinks! How about a three-berry pancake stack with Moogle insignia? I think it’s safe to say that I’d be ordering this one.

They’ll also be offering a “Queen’s Crown” fruit parfait. It contains pineapple, apple, orange, banana, and cherry. Yum!

Finally, Artnia will also be selling some good old-fashioned chocolate featuring a number of Final Fantasy XI-inspired designs. I don’t know if I could eat them! (I’d probably manage)

Next up is the Creamy Mami collaboration with another café in Tokyo (all the best things in Japan are in Tokyo, it seems) called Patisserie Swallowtail White Rose. This also happens to be an anniversary special, in this case celebrating 30 years of Creamy Mami, a magical girl anime from the early 80s. If you’re curious about the show, you can watch it for free, legally, on Anime Sols!

Anyway, pictured above is the first item on the café’s limited special menu, two mini tarts (one sweet potato and the other green tea flavored) and a Creamy Mami mug that you can bring home with you.

Apparently sweets with special characters printed on them is a common item at Patisserie Swallowtail, as a cursory look at their website reveals a couple of different collaborations that feature character macaroons and cookies. The purple macaroon is blueberry flavored, the blue one is pistachio, the yellow-green one is lemon, and the pink one is strawberry. Nothing too special, but the designs are cute!

Now, for the real star of the show: the Creamy Mami cake! At only about $6.50, I’d say it’s a real steal, though I’d imagine it’s probably quite small in person. It contains cheese and raspberry mousse, but honestly, if I could, I would probably buy it regardless of flavor! Too bad the Creamy Mami collaboration is only running for two weeks, meaning even locals would probably have a hard time getting their hands on these limited-run sweets.

Well, this concludes this installment of Japan Envy! Are you hungry yet? I know I am…

The Great Japanese Game Haul of 2013 – PlayStation Edition (with Giveaway!)

The time has finally come… to show off my haul of video games from my recent trip to Japan! I was originally going to throw everything together in one massive post, but it turned out to be far too unwieldy (apparently I like to write a lot… who knew?), so I’ve broken it up into two: the PlayStation edition, which you’re viewing now, and a Nintendo edition, which will come later this week. Sorry for all the “hey look what I got!” posts, but what’s a Japanese entertainment blog without excessive Japanese entertainment purchases, right?

I bought a new bookshelf specifically to hold everything I bought in Japan.
Feel free to judge

But before I begin, I’ll briefly detail my “criteria” for game purchases during my trip. I spoke briefly about my wishlist on episode 3 of Chic Pixel Plus, but I was most looking forward picking up a few GBA games to beef up my collection and a handful of random titles that are harder to find/more expensive outside of Japan. Ultimately, I was a little disappointed by the GBA game selection in Osaka (more on that in the Nintendo post), but I ended up with eight PSP games, five PS2 games, five GBA games, four PSone games, and two DS games. That’s 24 games total! Since I needed an easy way to break this up into two posts, I’ll just be going over the games I bought for PlayStation systems today.

First up are the four PlayStation one titles I picked up during my trip: Chocobo no Fushigi na Dungeon (Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon), The Vision of Escaflowne, Marriage, and Tamamayu Monogatari, better known as Jade Cocoon: Story of Tamamayu. Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon and Marriage were my two whim purchases – Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon was only $1 and I’ve been amassing a bit of a Chocobo game collection lately, whereas Marriage caught my eye because of the oh-so-descriptive title and the fact that the back of the box touts that it’s a dating sim that takes place after the protagonist has already married the girl of his dreams. Sure, sign me up!

The Vision of Escaflowne and Tamamayu Monogatari, however, are two titles that I’ve been wanting to add to my collection for quite a while. In particular, The Vision of Escaflowne is a game I’ve been pining for for a number of years now, so finding a copy in great condition was a real highlight of my many game store visits. And, while I’ve always wanted to play Jade Cocoon, I’ve been holding out for Tamamayu Monogatari due to its awesome cover art illustrated by none other than Katsuya Kondō of Kiki’s Delivery Service fame, so it’s great to finally have that, as well!

Next we have the first half of my PSP game haul. Final Fantasy Type-0, Pop’n Music Portable 2, and Gekka Ryōran Romance were all on my list, so no big surprises here. Actually, these three games were probably the ones that cost me the most, as none of them have really gone down in price. I looked for a used copy of Gekka Ryōran Romance (an otome game) for ages and finally settled on a new copy for around $50, only to find a used limited edition for about the same price the very next day!

Now for what I like to call the “Monster Hunter Haul”… Funnily enough, I had only planned on picking up one of the Airu Mura titles, which feature Monster Hunter‘s adorable Felyne characters in an Animal Crossing-like world, but soon after I found G I stumbled on a store that was selling the original title for only $1 new! They also had Monster Hunter Portable 2 for only $1, so against my better judgement I went ahead and bought both. 

Ao no Kiseki and Nayuta no Kiseki, however, were, without a doubt, my biggest random splurges of the trip. For those unfamiliar, they’re both part of what’s known as the The Legend of Heroes series by developer Nihon Falcom, with The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky for the PSP probably being one of the most well-known titles available in English. Well, I know next to nothing about the series aside from the fact that many of my good friends say it’s one of the best JPRG series out there, so when I saw both of these collector’s editions available for relatively cheap, I figured I’d bite. From what I understand, Nayuta no Kiseki is actually more of a spinoff that doesn’t need any prior knowledge of the series to play. Ao no Kiseki, on the other hand, is the second part of the seventh entry in the series and is preceded by Zero no Kiseki, meaning I really need to play that before diving into this one.

Above you can see two PS2 gems I grabbed – the one on the left, Love Com, is the game adaptation of one of my favorite shojo manga series. It seems like it might have some otome game elements, and for less than $5, I couldn’t pass up!

Otometeki Koi Kakumei Love Revo!!, on the other hand, is a title I’ve had my eye on for ages but never picked up. As you can probably guess from the cover, it’s an otome game, but with a twist – Love Revo puts players in the shoes of an overweight girl who wants to return to her thinner “glory days” and win the guy of her dreams. If you think that sounds rather horrible (“Lose weight and you too can get a boyfriend!”), don’t worry, I’m mainly interested in it because I’d like to see how the game handles the weight loss/relationship aspect. I don’t have high hopes, but it could prove to be an amusing train wreck. Again, at $5, I won’t consider it a major loss even if it is awful.

Next up is a little title I’ve been meaning to get my hands on for ages, Boku no Natsuyasumi 2! Well, not this title specifically, but I’ve always wanted to try a Boku no Natsuyasumi game and this is the one I ended up with. I can’t wait to give it a go!

Now these were a great deal – I managed to grab the premium boxes of both Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3: Unmei no Labyrinth and Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 4 for only $10 total! As you can probably tell, they are entries in the same series, which is well known for being one of the few otome games that incorporates RPG elements. While I originally just wanted to pick up 4 due to it having more appealing character designs (to me), when I saw the HaruToki 3 premium box for only $5, I had to snag it, as well.

The unfortunate part of this story is that Unmei no Labyrinth is actually what’s usually referred to as a “gaiden” game, meaning it’s a side story (I believe in this case it takes the characters out of their fantasy world and puts them in a high school setting). I can’t very well play it if I haven’t played the original HaruToki 3! I guess that’s another game to add to my list…

Now here’s a game I wasn’t thinking would pick up at all, but I couldn’t pass it up when I saw a brand new copy of the limited edition on sale for only $3! So into the basket it went. Kanuchi Shiroki Tsubasa no Shou is, as you’ve probably guessed, another otome game. I don’t know much about it aside from the fact that it takes place in a fantasy setting and is broken into two games, with “white” being the first part and “black” being the second part. Since there are a lot of neat goodies in all these limited edition boxes, I’ll do a more in-depth posts on them in the future.

If it isn’t obvious by now, PS2 otome games are extremely cheap and in great abundance! Many of these titles also have PSP versions that generally go for $40 or more and are often only ports or have minor additional content. As such, I highly recommend folks interested in checking out otome games to look for PS2 titles… but be wary of eBay! Otome game prices seem to be hugely inflated there, so I’d suggest going through a friend who can buy second-hand titles from Japan and mail them to you or an import service that will help you buy from sellers on Amazon.co.jp or Yahoo Japan and ship internationally.

fuzzy stegosaurus not included

But guess what? I have one extra copy of the PS2 version of Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 4 to give away to a lucky reader! All you have to do is comment on this post with “I wanna live an otome life!” for an entry into the drawing. If you’d like an additional chance to win, please share this article on Facebook or Twitter and leave me a comment linking to your post! Giveaway runs until Saturday, September 28th at 9 pm EST. Please note you’ll need either a modded PS2 or a Japanese PS2 in order to play the game, but you’re still welcome to enter even you don’t currently the have means to play it.

Well, that’s it for the PlayStation side of my game purchases in Japan… Stay tuned for the significantly smaller Nintendo side of things later this week!

Update: The giveaway is now closed! Congratulations to Chalgyr for winning the random drawing! I’ll be getting in contact with you shortly. And a big thanks to everyone who entered! Keep checking back for more giveaways in the future. 

Battle Princess of Arcadia looks like a super cute, HD Odin Sphere

I’ve always been a fan of NIS America for consistently bringing super niche Japanese titles to western audiences, but I’ll admit many of their recent titles, such as Mugen Souls and the Neptunia series, haven’t really appealed to me. For one reason or another, however, I’ve never quite kept up to date with what their Japanese parent company, Nippon Ichi Software, has been working working on. Well, perhaps I should be, as I just read up on their upcoming September release, Battle Princess of Arcadia (Arukadiasu no ikusahime), and I must say, it looks right up my alley!

Edit: Whoops, it turns out that NIS is just the publisher. Apollosoft, the folks who did Ragnarok Tactics, are the developers!

The first thing about Battle Princess of Arcadia that caught my eye, aside from the fact that the characters seem to be plagued with the same disease that caused the Fire Emblem: Awakening characters to not have feet, is the game’s bright, watercolor-esque art style. As the title of the post suggests, it very much strikes me as a cute version of Odin Sphere, which can only be a good thing in my book!

Illustration of the game’s worlds

The gameplay itself looks to be quite similar to Odin Sphere, as well… At least in terms of the fact that both are 2D side-scrollers. Battle Princess of Arcadia has been described as a beat’em up title, suggesting a lack of tactical/RPG elements, but players will be able to have three characters in their party to swap in and out during a level at any given time, which should provide an added layer of strategy not seen in usual beat’em up games. In addition, you apparently even have an army to control: 

Though the environments aren’t nearly as detailed as those found in Odin Sphere, I’m really digging the overall look, and if the combat does tend toward the simpler side (I’ll admit Odin Sphere was a bit tough for me), then I think Battle Princess Arcadia could be a real winner. Oh, and there’s a goose king. for good measure: 

Adorable! Hopefully NISA will pick this one up, since it’s being published by their parent company. The game releases in Japan on September 26th, and I look forward to seeing how it’s received!

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn just launched and I’m already addicted

First, I should qualify that statement with the fact that not only did I participate in the phase four beta weekend, but I also put in some time during the early access period before today’s official launch, so it’s not like I just started yesterday! Of course, that probably makes me sound even crazier, especially since when I mentioned Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn on the other day’s podcast, it had only just piqued my interest. Well, all I can say is that a lot has happened since then!

This isn’t my first time playing an online game – long-time readers will recall that I had a brief stint with Phantasy Star Online 2 last year, but Final Fantasy XIV is much more of a traditional MMO in that you’re with hundreds, if not thousands, of players at the same time. I won’t delve far into the gameplay and systems because frankly, I don’t really know much beyond what I’ve played so far (approximately 10 hours), but I’ve heard it’s similar structurally to World of Warcraft. 

The first thing that drew me to FFXIV was its amazing art direction. In fact, I love the art so much that I immediately went and downloaded the PS3 theme as soon as I knew it was available. I hate to be superficial, but when a game’s art captures my heart, that can often be enough to make me want to give it a go. Since FFXIV had a free open beta weekend before the full launch, that’s exactly what I did!

Especially fun for the open beta weekend was the fact that people could choose to try the game out on both the PC and PS3, as normally players have to purchase both versions separately. I gave both a go, and while the PS3 version was competent (and ultimately the one I went with for logistical reasons), I can see why most MMO gaming is done on the PC. Unfortunately my PC isn’t much of a powerhouse, so I couldn’t get any real high quality screenshots, but even on a low-quality system the game looks very nice, which can again be chalked up to the great art direction. All of the pictures in this post, by the way, were taking on said PC during the open beta weekend.

Can’t have a Final Fantasy game without Moogles!

Of course, one of the most fun aspects of an MMO is creating your own character. As soon as I heard about the different races available in FFXIV, I knew I wanted to be a male Miqo’te. As you can see, the Miqo’te are blessed with some very neat cat-like characteristics, making them a popular choice for the catgirl-loving crowd in particular. My suave catboy is named Chive Thistlewood, continuing my trend of naming my characters after food. Here’s my full character card courtesy of Firestream.net:

For a starting class, I chose pugilist, which means Chive specializes in hand-to-hand combat. For a quick comparison, think Yuffie from Final Fantasy VII. From a gameplay perspective, I’m much more interested in getting in close and hacking away at enemies than I am at hanging back and dealing ranged damage or shooting fireballs, so it seemed like a good place to start. The great thing about Final Fantasy XIV, though, is that you can change your class at a drop of a hat by equipping a different weapon, so if I ever get tired of being a pugilist, a new class is just a click away! There are also a variety of non-combat classes such as fishing or mining, but I’ve decided that appearance is everything, so I’m working on leveling up my weaver class so I can outfit Chive in the best threads in town!

Race ya!

Suffice it to say, after playing just a few hours over the open beta weekend, I was hooked. I immediately went out and preordered the PS3 version in order to get an early access code (which meant I could start playing a few days before the official launch). Unfortunately, by the time I had committed myself to purchasing the game, the North American version of the amazing collector’s edition was all sold out, so I settled for the regular version… and then proceeded to scour the internet for stores selling the collector’s edition like the hopelessly obsessed woman I’ve become. Lo and behold, I managed to nab a European PAL copy, and should be coming in the mail in a few days! I’ll definitely do a post sharing that when it arrives.

What’s a Final Fantasy game without Chocobos?

Unfortunately, the game’s early access and official launch yesterday have been marred with issues that plague all MMO releases: login errors and overcrowded servers. I personally haven’t had many issues logging in until today, but I’ve been amazed to hear that some folks weren’t able to sign in at all during the early access, or that people literally can’t create characters on the servers they want because they’re full. Since none of this as been a major issue for me, it hasn’t significantly impacted my impressions of the game, but it’s worth noting for those reading this who are thinking of jumping on board.

If you asked me a month ago, I would’ve never thought Final Fantasy XIV would be my cup of tea. Now, I practically eat, drink, and sleep FFXIV! Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, but it’s safe to say that this is the first Final Fantasy that has grabbed me in a number of years. I hope Chive and I have many more months, and maybe even years, of adventuring ahead of us!

Pokémon Center Osaka Part Two: The Haul

Originally I had just planned on doing one post on the Pokémon Center in Osaka, but it was so huge I had to split it in two! If you haven’t seen my first post on the store itself, I highly encourage you to go check it out. Today I’ll be showing off what I actually brought home with me!

One thing I was determined to pick up during my trip to Japan was a case for my 3DS XL, so I was beyond thrilled to spot this gorgeous case featuring Pikachu, Sylveon, and Eevee at the Pokémon Center. I love things that are equal parts adorable and functional!

Some of you may remember that I tweeted a photo of the Moo Moo Milk cell phone strap pictured above a few weeks back. Initially, I was surprised to see Miltank on the face of so many different items, and I was more strangely intrigued by the strap than anything. But when I couldn’t get it out of my head a couple days later, I decided that meant I needed it as a souvenir! I also couldn’t resist the Scraggy “gotsu gotsu metto” (rugged helmet) one, as Scraggy is one of my favorite newer Pokémon.

Now to decide where to put them! Though I could leave them in the packaging, I find it much more satisfying to actually use the things I buy, so I’ll definitely be taking them out and putting them through their paces.

In the end, I couldn’t walk away without something from the “Happy Party Time: Eevee & Friends” series. I’m a sucker for stationary, so I settled on the notepad above! It’s chock-full of cute:

The first page features some bonus stickers, followed by four different sheet designs, and even an illustrated back cover!

I also couldn’t pass up these amazing stamps! I can’t wait to stamp them on anything and everything.

Deco tape seems to be a current popular item in stationery stores in Japan. It’s similar to white-out tape, but rolls out a variety of cute little pictures on translucent tape, making it a clean and theoretically easy alternative to stamps. Unfortunately, I find them extremely difficult to use properly… But, well, at least they’re cute!

Even the packaging is cute! How can I throw it away?!

Here’s a test run I did with some of the stamps and deco tape on a sheet of the Eevee party paper. It’s a tad disappointing that the deco tape is so hard to use – it’s extremely hard to place the tape without it tearing or warping, but perhaps I’m just clumsy!

Of course, I also had to get some writing implements to go along with all my stationery! I love the Oshawott swimming in ramen, a Fukuoka regional item. Funnily enough, all the regional items are available in every Pokémon Center, so while I would’ve liked to get Osaka’s special designs, I just happened to prefer the Fukuoka one!

Finally, I ended my Pokémon Center shopping spree with some Pikachu cookies! I haven’t opened them yet, so I’ll save that for a future Taste Test post, but isn’t the tin awesome? I don’t even care if the cookies themselves are good – at least I’ll be able to reuse the tin!

There’s a different Pikachu pose on each side. Brilliant!

Well, what do you think? Did I go a little nuts, or show some restraint? I’m personally quite happy with my haul, so I’d say it was a good trip! Though of course I already want to go back…

Dreams Come True: Reliving My Childhood through Little Witch Academia

It probably goes without saying that as you grow older, your tastes change, and even perhaps mature. I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds myself increasingly cynical of modern media, be it film, anime, video games, or one of the many other forms of entertainment available today. Believe it or not, when I was in high school, I recall myself boastfully telling a friend that there wasn’t a single anime I’d seen that I didn’t like. Let me assure you, I’ve watched some anime that I wouldn’t think twice about going back to now! These days, however, I find myself in the complete opposite position – while I still like anime, it’s much more difficult to find titles I enjoy, and there are only a handful of series that I would wholeheartedly recommend to friends without hesitation.

I’m not really interested in talking about why it gets harder to enjoy certain things as you age, because that’s a whole other topic in and of itself. Instead, I’d like to highlight a title that instantly brought me back to that feeling I had when I first saw Sailor Moon transform on Cartoon Network many years ago: Little Witch Academia.

The first thing you should know about Little Witch Academia is that it’s available for free, subtitled, legally on YouTube direct from the studio that created it, so I highly suggest for anyone reading this to go check it out! It’s only one episode and clocks in at a little under 30 minutes, so it’s not a big time investment, either.

The short was created by Studio TRIGGER, a fairly new studio formed by former Gainax animators known for their work on titles such as FLCL, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. As a huge fan of Gurren Lagann, the studio automatically hit “must-watch” status in my book, though before Little Witch Academia, the only works they had produced were the web series Inferno Cop and the opening animation to the 3DS game Project X Zone.

Little Witch Academia is fairly unique in that it was produced through the Young Animator Training Project in which four studios are selected to receive government funding to produce short films as part of an effort to train young Japanese animators. While it originally aired in Japanese cinemas in March alongside three other shorts as part of Anime Mirai 2013, TRIGGER later decided to release a subtitled English version on YouTube and Crunchyroll to gauge how well it would be received internationally.

Well, those efforts must have proved fruitful for the studio, as not only did they announce a second episode of Little Witch Academia, but they launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to increase the total time of the episode from 20 to 35 minutes that was fully funded within five hours of going up! The Kickstarter finished today at a whopping $625,518, and the studio has stated that if the sequel does well, they may even consider turning it into a full series or feature length film.

Not only that, but TRIGGER will also be opening preorders for Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray of the first episode of Little Witch Academia on August 13th that contains an additional making-of video and a whopping 112 page artbook of sketches, character art, and illustrations from the gorgeous short. Considering all of this has become possible due to one animated short being available for anyone to watch for free online, it’s truly an amazing feat and definitely reflects both the quality of the work and the gap it fills in the anime industry.

But what is it that makes Little Witch Academia so special? For me, the first few minutes of the episode where a young girl, who we later find out is the protagonist, Akko, attends the magic show of her idol, the witch Shiny Chariot, sums it up perfectly. Shiny Chariot dazzles Akko and the rest of her audience with her magical prowess, ending with the advice, “never forget, a believing heart is your magic!” The complete awe and adoration on Akko’s face during this sequence is, admittedly, exactly how I felt as a child watching Sailor Moon, and aside from the occasional Studio Ghibli production, I haven’t had an animated Japanese feature evoke the same sense of wonder in me since.

Time then skips forward to the present day, where Akko is a student at an academy for witch girls. Though she falls asleep in class and shows no real magical talent, she continues to look up to Shiny Chariot as a source of inspiration, even though the other witches condemn her for giving people the wrong impression of what it means to be a witch. Again, Akko’s clumsy nature, paired with her passion to succeed, is reminiscent of many other magical girl series.

At a time when fetishization of high school girls (and younger) saturates much of the anime (and manga) scene, it’s great to see a show that embraces the magical girl genre to create a world for both children and adults to enjoy with an abundance of non-sexualized female characters. While it I find myself less drawn to coming-of-age stories as I grow older, Little Witch Academia manages to capture the magic of Japanese animation and the “girl power” tone that first got me hooked on the medium over 15 years ago.

But you don’t have to be a fan of magical girls or a woman looking for a strong cast of female characters to relate to to enjoy Little Witch Academia, as it is one of the most well-animated and genuinely fun shows to come out in a long time. If you’re like me and are finding yourself bogged down by your own cynicism for current art and entertainment, give Little Witch Academia a shot. You’ve got nothing to lose!

If you watched Little Witch Academia and didn’t get a chance to support the episode 2 Kickstarter, be sure to keep your eye open for preorders for the Collector’s Edition when they open on the 13th!

Japan Envy: Rilakkuma x Yamanote Train Line

Nearly every popular character in Japan gets its own themed train at some point, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that Rilakkuma is finally getting his turn on the tracks. While this may not officially be the first time Rilakkuma’s adorable mug has appeared on the side of a Japanese train, I did do some extensive research (aka Googling in Japanese) and couldn’t come up with any previous examples, so I’m going to go ahead and call this Rilakkuma’s big train debut! It’s as wonderful as you’d expect:

official site
This Rilakkuma train collaboration is with the Yamanote Line in Tokyo, an extremely busy and famous line that circles the city and hits nearly every one of its major stations. The train is known for its green color, so of course all of the promotional materials, and the train itself, are a lovely shade of green: 

Not only is the outside covered in cute (just look at the windows!), but the inside is covered in special Rilakkuma posters, as well!
Maracas? 

Rilakkuma himself even came out for the train’s debut! Look closely and you can see the Rilakkuma head silhouette on his hat and the buttons of his jacket. Too cute!

The Rilakkuma train will only be running until August 16th, so if you happen to be in Tokyo, make sure to hop on before it disappears!

Of course, there’s always merchandise for those of us who can’t make it or want a special souvenir of the event…

I’m particularly fond of the train design itself, so I’d kill for one of the file folders or the plush train cell phone strap. Or how about that “train enthusiast” Rilakkuma plush on shown on top left? He’s even carrying a little camera!

So, even though it’s only been less than two months since my trip to Japan, the land of the rising sun continues to give me reasons why I have to go back! I think it’s safe to say these Japan Envy posts won’t be going away anytime soon…

Got a craving for more Rilakkuma after reading this post? Support Chic Pixel by purchasing Rilakkuma products through my affiliate link so I can talk about even more crazy and cute stuff from Japan!