One day in late 2003, a little brown bear named Rilakkuma made his way into the home of a young 20-something office worker, Kaoru. Taking up residence in her tiny apartment, he spends his day doing nothing much other than enjoying pancakes, listing to music, and basically lazing around. Just as Rilakkuma suddenly appeared in Kaoru’s apartment, so did he make his sudden entrance into the kawaii character scene. Not an instant hit, it would take a couple years before the world realized his true powers. Few, least of all San-X, could have predicted the overwhelming popularity of this lazy bear that would soon catapult their stationery company into international kawaii character domination!
