Sunday August 15, 2010 was the closing day of the Rilakkuma Weekend festivities. Fans, shoppers, and curious folks of all kinds dropped in on the last day to say farewell to Rilakkuma.

Early morning shoppers in the Pop-Up Shop. Photo by Neil Sharum

We couldn’t let Rilakkuma’s last day go out with style of course! In honor of the relaxing bear, a pop-up Japanese styled nail salon was set up to pamper guests at the pop-up shop. Special decorative nail seals and charms were provided by San-X. You can’t have Japanese styled nails with out the decorations!

Get your nails "did". Photo by Neil Sharum

Once the nail salon was up and running it got quite busy fast! People began to line up and sign up for their turn.

Chubby Bunny's pastel deco nails. Photo by Neil Sharum

Not one to let the guests go bored while waiting, two food trucks came to the rescue! Parked right outside the Pop-Up shop were the Yatta Truck and King Kone! Fresh and savory sushi for hungry fans, and sweet cold treats to counter the hot day.

Of course, in the usual style of JapanLA and Bubble Punch events; the first 50 people who gave us the correct password, received a free ticket for either truck.

Ninja's eat sushi, and so should you! Photo by Neil Sharum

Now if you’ve never had the Yatta Truck, we suggest you do! We also suggest you try their cream cheese roll. Epic is a word that falls short of it’s deliciousness! King Kone is no joke either! Try their regular soft serve with an array of toppings!

Rainbow Sprinkles, oh wow! OMG! Photo by Neil Sharum

And of course, the bear of the hour was there all day to thank his fans, new and old, for coming out to support his Relaxing Weekend!

Why, hello!

We can’t help but favor the tiniest of Rilakkuma’s fans.

Photo by Neil Sharum

Photo by Neil Sharum

Photo by Neil Sharum

Photo by Neil Sharum

Photo by Neil Sharum

And so he bid us adieu…

Until Rilakkuma’s next visit, we’d love to thank everyone, EVERYONE, who came out during the weekend! Thank you for all your support in making this event successful!

To see the entire photoset from this day, please visit:

NeilSharum.Com

Keep Relaxin’.

- Bubble Punch

We’ve been running around nonstop catching up on other work now that the epic Rilakkuma Weekend is over, but now we finally have time to do an event report from the epic 2-day popup store!

On Saturday, August 14, we opened the doors at 7326 Melrose Ave. for the 2-day San-X popup store! We had a line of people waiting to get in and get first dibs on the cute Rilakkuma and Mamegoma merchandise!

Our hardworking staff created a beautiful display of Rilakkuma goods for fans to oogle and purchase for the two-day pop up shop. During the day, we had the Crepe’n Around truck sercing up delicious crepes to those who knew the secret password of the day! The password was “RELAX,” and boy we had a good time making Zoolander-related jokes about that all day!

The evening party drew a HUGE crowd that wrapped around the block! The first 100 guests received a super cute giftbag full of Rilakkuma and Mamegoma goods! That night, we had Jenny Rae of Lil’ Rae cakes serving her delish cake balls to guests, as well as Takoyaki Tanota bringing us super fresh and super delicious takoyaki from their old school truck!

Lil’ Rae cake balls are SUPER delish!

Takoyaki Tanota!! "Takoyaki" Are savory pancake balls filled with octopus, radish, and yummy sauces on top!

Rilakkuma himself even made an appearance at the party! Photographer Eron Rauch took photos of guests with the famous bear all night!

Jenny Rae of Lil' Rae Cakes and Stephie had a rollickin time at the party!

The hardworking staff who took many sleepless nights to bring your Rilakkuma Weekend!

San-X buddies from Japan partied hard Saturday night!

We had a fantastic time on Saturday with all of the loyal Rilakkuma fans new and old! Photos from Sunday’s events are coming soon! Make sure you check out the links below for more photos, article, interiews, and even soundbites from the night!

PHOTOS:

Saturday photos (Photos by Dianne Garcia of DEFECTIVE GEEKS, and Valerie Durham)
Saturday evening photobooth photo(Photos by Eron Rauch)
VIP Party photos by Bubblesung
More Photos by Bubblesung!
VIP Party photos by LookBookLA

EVENT REPORTS:

Rilakkuma Weekend Article by Liz Ohanesian
KPCC (LA’s NPR news station) article and audio by Alex Cohen
Rilakkuma VIP Party event report by DEFECTIVE GEEKS