We did it with Sanrio characters, but we couldn’t avoid taking a look also to San-x catalogue. The company that gave us Rilakkuma, in fact, has nothing to envy the historical competitors when it comes to strangeness. As a matter of facts, San-x has possibly created during the years some of the best (or worst, depending of the point of view) oddities in the world of Japanese characters. Here is our top 5, or better top 6: there’s a final bonus!
Atsugari-san, 2001. A fairy that appears when the temperature exceeds 30 degrees, in hot food and spicy food. Of course, he sweats a lot (10 buckets of sweat a day!) and can’t really stand Samugari-san, the cold fairy. 
Koyainu, 2001. Is he a dog? Is he a doghouse? He is both! Koyainu is a peculiar puppy: he has the shape of a little house and a roof on his head, with which protects his friends from the hot summer days. We are speechless. 
Ginshari-san, 2002. He’s less than a centimeter small and He’s the rice grain you always left in the bottom of the bowl. His mission is to save Japan from recession, with the help of his friends rice grains of different varieties. 
Ishikoro-kun, 2011. He’s a rock. Yes, you read that correctly: a rolling rock traveling around the world and taking life easy. His motto is “don’t worry”, even when he’s rolling straight into a puddle. 
Shirasu-Tai, 2014. As their tagline says, they’re not cat food. These little anchovies, when they’re not forced to defend themselves from hungry animals, try hard to come back home (in the sea, not the fish can). 
BONUS! Tohohona Inu, 2006. One of our undisputed idols. The canine equivalent of “never a joy”: he’s stuck with the head inside a tire and he lives like that, rolling and splashing his head on the floor.
Did you already know any of these characters? What’s your favourite?