More Ichiban Kuji Goodness! | Japan Award Haul

Hi everyone! I am so happy to be finally getting this post up! It's taken me forever but today's post is going to be all about the second big haul that I did through one of my favourite YouTube channels, Japan Award! If you love all things adorable and Japanese, then be sure to check out this fabulous channel! Horacio who runs Japan Award is always so excited and fun, that I can't help but be instantly happy when I'm watching :) I've been so looking forward to sharing the joy I get from playing ichiban kuji with you guys! Enjoy! 

If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you may have seen my previous post from back in October all about the wonders of ichiban kuji, and my experiences of playing it for the first time! If not and you're a fan of all things kawaii, then you can check it out here :) Before I get to showing you guys my fantastic prizes, I want to start off by just briefly explaining what ichiban kuji is, for those of you who haven't heard of it before! There's a more thorough explanation over on the previous post I mentioned, but just to summarise... the Japanese words ichiban kuji mean 'Number 1 Lottery', basically 'best lottery', and this is because it is a lottery game and the aim is to try to find tickets for the best prizes! These are usually A,B,C or 1,2,3 depending on who's running the lottery. Most are run by the company Banpresto. 

When you play ichiban kuji (or just kuji), you purchase however many tickets you want, and tear them open to reveal a letter/number, all of which correspond to a prize. I think it's absolutely fabulous that you win a prize no matter what! :) It's so different to these sorts of games here in the UK, when you play for just a chance at pulling out a winning ticket and often times you walk away with no prize. I just love kuji so so much! It's super exciting to play, and I can't wait until the day when I can finally go to Japan and play it in person for myself. But until that day, I am so happy to play via Japan Award :3 

So now that we all know what kuji is, it's time to reveal my prizes to you all! I bought tickets from three different ones, so in order to show you all my prizes, my post is going to get very picture heavy from now :D I will also link all of the videos showing my tickets being pulled, so that you can watch along and share in the excitement. Please give Japan Award's channel some love, by liking, commenting and subscribing! Okay, here we go...

First up is a Dragon Ball kuji! I recommend watching the entire video because it's really fun to see what everyone else who played wins, and this video is extra cute because chibi kuji crusher is choosing & opening all the tickets!! If you would like to see my prizes though, I'm at 6:13 :) I bought five tickets for this one! 

If you didn't watch the video yet, here are all of the prizes that I won! The tickets that I got for the Dragon Ball Battle of World kuji were E, G, E, H & F. So I won two smartphone rings, an art print, a plate and a glass. Yay! With this kuji having so many prize categories, I think that E might have been a top prize too, so it was very cool to win two of those :) 

For those of you who are curious to know more about the prize categories that were available in the Dragon Ball kuji, here's a list: A- a figure of Goku, B- a figure of Gohan, C- a figure of Majin Vegeta, D- another Goku figure, E- a smartphone ring (three designs available), F- a glass (four designs to pick from), G- an art print/ 'signature board' (this is a mystery pack, and you can win one of 12 designs!), H- a dragon ball mini plate (another mystery box, you can win dragon ball's  1-7), and the last prize was a figure too, another Goku. The last prize goes to the person who purchases the last ticket in the store... how awesome is that!? 

Now let's take a closer look at my prizes :) 

Each time, I am so impressed by how well packaged all of the individual prizes are in whichever kuji I play! They even make the boxes decorative which is fantastic, though for someone like me who is already a box hoarder, it just makes me want to keep every single box, even when I've already put the items on display in my bedroom :D (I have a problem, haha)! 

I always go into kuji games super excited at the prospect of winning any of the prizes, because no matter which letter/number you get, you are guaranteed to win something that is of great quality and equally as awesome! Although it's impossible not to want to pull a top prize, especially when they are usually either figures or big plushies, both of which I collect! Other than the Vegeta figure, which I really wanted to win because Vegeta is my favourite DBZ character, I also had my heart set on getting an art print and one of the dragon ball plates. So I was over the moon to get them! 

I really love how bright orange the dragon ball plate is, it's super eye-catching! It's not very big so I won't be able to put many trinkets on it, but that suits me fine because I want to use it as a little stand for a small Dragon Ball Z figure :) 

How brilliant is the design on the glass that I won?! I love how detailed it is! There was a Vegeta one available, but this Goku version was my second favourite of the bunch, so I'm glad to have won it! I really like the style of the glass that Banpresto chose for this prize category; it's one of those whisky glasses with the thick base. They are super sturdy, which makes them more durable and less likely to get broken, and this is great for me because I'm clumsy, oops! It actually has a print on both sides which is always awesome, mine has a faint white print of Frieza. Fun fact: when I was a child, I watched the American-English version of Dragon Ball Z on TV and little me thought that the English voice of Frieza sounded like a woman. So I grew up thinking that Frieza was a female character, and it wasn't until my late teens when I watched some of the original Japanese episodes, that I was confused to hear a man's voice and therefore discover that Frieza was in fact a male character! XD

It's fabulous that I won two of the E prizes, especially the Chiaotzu version! He's super cute!! He is the best buddie of Tien, and when I was a kid, I thought Tien was pretty cute ;) and I always think of Tien whenever I see Chiaotzu, haha. I love how happy he looks! I've never used a smartphone ring before, but to be honest, I don't think I am gonna be able to bring myself to use my Chiaotzu one because I drop my phone a lot and I don't want it to get all scratched up and ruined. I have decided not to open the other smartphone ring, the Raditz & Ranch one, because I am not as much of a fangirl over those characters and I think I'm going to gift this prize to a friend some day :) 

Okay so I absolutely adore this art print!! Just look how amazing it looks! It's gorgeous and I can't wait to find a good place to display it because I just want to show it off to the world! I love every single thing about this print, even though I wanted to 'unbox' one of my favourite characters, either Vegeta, Great Ape Vegeta or Cell. I am so surprised by the level of detail on this print, I really wasn't expecting it to look this cool! I wish I'd won more of these now :D So, which is your favourite of all the Dragon Ball items that I got? 

What's the next kuji that I played? Keep reading to find out! 

If you are a lover of sweet little bears, then watch this video!! It's a mix of both Sanrio/San-X's Rilakkuma and a Winnie the Pooh kuji! I played the Rilakkuma one, which was launched to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of this super cute character and his friends :3 I am a big fan of Korilakkuma so I couldn't resist buying tickets!! Again if you just want to find when I got my tickets, you can skip to 10:22 minutes. 

I forgot to take a flatlay photo of all the boxes for these prizes (sorry!) but I bought five tickets! What was really interesting about this kuji is that several of the prize categories were based on a character, rather than a specific item so you could win one of four different items for each of the characters, if that makes sense. For those of you who don't know, there are four Rilakkuma characters: Rilakkuma himself, Korilakkuma (the paler bear), Kiiroitori (the yellow bird) and Chairoikoguma (looks like Rilakkuma but is smaller and darker brown in colour). 

The prizes for this San-X kuji were: A- a plushie of Rilakkuma laying down with Kiiroitori sitting on his back!, B- Korilakkuma, dressed as Rilakkuma, C- Chairoikoguma, dressed as Rilakkuma, D- a Rilakkuma scarf/hat combo, E- Rilakkuma set, F- Korilakkuma set, G- Chairoikoguma set, H- Kiiroitori set. In each of these sets, you could win a decorative trinket dish, a plate, a bowl/dish and a glass. 

The tickets that I got were F, E, B!!!!!!!, E & G. Yes I won a B prize! Oh my gosh!! Eeeeee! *insert all the heart-eye emojis here*. I can't believe it :D I literally almost cried when I was watching this video and discovered that I won the big Korilakkuma plush because she's my favourite!! 

I feel so lucky that I won something from almost all of the sets, apart from the Kiiroitori one, which is my least favourite of the characters so I'm okay with that :) From the Rilakkuma set (E), I got the most adorable bowl! I really like the colour scheme, it's so vibrant and even though there's a winter theme for this ichiban kuji, they haven't used the traditional colder colours, which is different and I like it! I love all of the fir trees, and also the classic fair isle knitting design that they've chosen to decorate the bowl. It's pretty! Of course, little Rilakkuma in his scarf and mittens is the star of the show :3 

From the Rilakkuma set, I got a plate and I love that it's a pastel yellow shade. It's lovely! I like that he's blushing too, so cute! The last ticket Japan Award opened for me was a G prize, the Chairoikoguma set, and I got another plate. This one is a pale pea-green shade and it matches so well with the yellow plate. I think Chairoikoguma looks so excited, he is doing the face I do everytime I play kuji XD This is the first piece of merch I have owned for this lesser well-known Rilakkuma character, so I am very glad to add it to my collection. 

As for the Korilakkuma prize (F), I got a really pretty glass! I am such a fan of the design of this glass, I love the red base and the shape of it. It looks perfect to put desserts into, to make a mini ice-cream sundae in, don't you think? Although it does feel much more delicate than the glass I got in the Dragon Ball kuji, so I don't think I want to risk breaking it. I love that Korilakkuma is sitting on a strawberry, it's very sweet. My favourite thing about the glass though is that it says Rilakkuma 15th Anniversary on it, so it's an excellent collective piece to have.  Another thing I'm a fan of is how subtle the design is, it's a light gold colour; there really is beauty in simplicity, as they say :) 

Here's a close-up of the design on the Korilakkuma glass. I really like that they've put golden dots all around the character, because it just makes me see one giant strawberry XD … I'm definitely craving strawberries right now! Can I get a drumroll please?? It's time to show you all my amazing fabulous B prize!! Warning: extreme cuteness incoming...! 

AWWWWW! Look at it!! I squeeee everytime I see this plushie! I was super surprised about how big it actually was, and I think it's marvellous that this was actually a kuji prize! It's so cuddly and soft. The Rilakkuma outfit that Korilakkuma is wearing feels amazing, I can't describe it... it almost feels like a towel but really plush and furry. I don't really know what else to say about this plush, I think that it's perfect!! I love the colours, especially Korilakkuma's pink 'paws' and the yellow parts of the ears. The little red ribbon and button bowtie thing stands out so much against the other colours, and is so very sweet! I think it's awesome that they've put a 'badge' on the outfit too saying '15th Anniversary', again I really like commemorative items like this :) It's seriously so well made, and I feel very lucky that I won it. Thankyou so much Japan Award!! 

I have one more lot of ichiban kuji prizes to show you guys! There's no video for this one though so you'll just have to admire the prizes from my photos :) I bought three tickets for this one and it's Pokemon themed! The pokemon is very cute and is a big fan of Pikachu.... can you guess who it is?? *No peeking, go tell me who it is in the comments first!* 

IT'S MIMIKYU!! And this particular Banpresto ichiban kuji was called Mimikyu's Circus :) I am a big fan of circus themed things, so I was really excited to see what the prizes for this kuji were like. I was not disappointed! I really liked all of the prizes available. There was: A- a big Mimikyu plush, B- a Mimikyu poncho blanket with a hood, C- a circus tent-shaped trinket case, D- a decorative plate (four designs available), E- a glass (four designs to choose from), F- a face cloth (five designs available), G- a charm (mystery box, with six designs available), and the last prize was another big Mimikyu plushie! 

As you can see above, I won a F, E & D prize. Here are some shots of them out of box... 

All of the face clothes were incredibly adorable, however this one was actually my favourite of the five designs because it features Umbreon & Espeon, and I absolutely adore the Eeveelutions!! I also really love that Mimikyu looks like a magician's bunny popping out of a hat :3 There was another face cloth that I would have been super happy to get too, and that was one with a Gengar on it, and the design on it has gothic vibes, so it's right up my street!

The D prize plate is also very pretty, and the blue and white design makes me reminisce about these antique-looking oriental plates that my mom used to have when I was a kid. I love that in the design at the top of the plate, Mimikyu has a wand and is wearing a magicians top hat! I also really like all of the little stars dotted around the sky, and who wouldn't like the fact that there's a silhouette of both Pikachu and Ditto on there!? 

I really like that on my glass Mimikyu is wearing top hat and has a wand, just like in the silhouette on my plate. The red, brown and blue circus rent design looks wonderful as well! Something that I wish was different about the glass though is that the print is only on one side, but it's not a major problem or anything. This glass wasn't my favourite, I wanted the Gengar one that was available, but I still love it! That's why kuji is so spectacular, because if it's for a franchise that I love, there's never going to be a prize that I dislike! It was about time that I got some Mimikyu merch in my life!! 

Here's my entire ichiban kuji haul!! It's amazing if I do say so myself :3 Now everyone can see the boxes for the Rilakkuma kuji too! I'm so elated to be able to now play kuji and I don't think I'll ever not get excited whenever I hear that a new one is being released. I actually have to stop myself from buying tickets for kujis for animes that I haven't even watched yet, or for characters I have never heard of before XD It's addicting, haha! 

My post has almost come to an end, but there's just one more thing that I have to include!

 

When I discovered that the Pokemon Center was releasing a collection of Eevee and Pikachu collaboration merch, I was so flippin' excited, and when I saw the two plushies, I couldn't not buy one!! I very much wanted to buy both of them, but my bank balance said no T_T There was an Eevee dressed as Pikachu, and this one of Pikachu dressed as Eevee, and since I have been after a plushie of Pikachu dressed as another Pokemon FOREVER, I decided on this one. I wish there were more words for cute in the English language, especially for posts like this... I am very nearly resorting to using the German words for cute that I have learnt, haha! XD (I actually shared a post about how I'm learning German last year, if anyone's interested). But yeah, this Pikachu is so so cute!! Even more adorable in person than I'm imagined it would be, and like every official Pokemon Center plushie, it is really well-made and super soft! 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new plushies!! Look how sweet they look together! So, we've reached the end of my second Japan Award haul post; I really enjoyed writing it, and I hope you all enjoy reading it just as much! That's if you managed to put up with my rambling :D You should totally go follow Japan Award over on YouTube, and Instagram. You can count on me to do more ichiban kuji posts this year because I cannot stop playing!! I hope you all have a lovely rest of the weekend :)

Thankyou for reading! 

♥ 

What's your favourite item that I won?

Had you ever heard about kuji before reading my post? 

Have you played it yourself before? I'd love to hear all about your prizes!