Who is Rilakkuma? Hello Kitty's mascot rival, explained

San-X’s Rilakkuma is a laid-back brown bear that has quietly become one of Japan’s most successful mascots. Hello Kitty, created by Yuko Shimizu in 1974, remains a global icon and generates roughly $3.1 billion in annual revenue, but Rilakkuma has its own sizeable following and a long history of merchandise and media.

San-X is a more understated company than Sanrio, yet it found huge success with characters like Tarepanda and, most notably, Rilakkuma. The bear has appeared on more than 16,000 products and had attracted $162 billion in revenue by the end of 2016. Rilakkuma also experienced a resurgence with Netflix’s stop-motion series Rilakkuma and Kaoru.

The name Rilakkuma combines “relax” and “bear,” and the character is presented as a bear costume with a zipper on its back, leaving it unclear who — if anyone — is inside. In the comics a woman named Kaoru finds the brown bear in her apartment and cares for him, and he is joined by the white cub Korilakkuma, who wears a red button.

Japan

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