Give Us Some Clothes!

As we all know, fumofumo san are naked, just like many other stuffed animals. As the main function of a stuffed animal is to be hugged, exposing as much as their soft and smooth surface is perfectly normal. Fumofumo san, who have especially soft texture, this is one of their ultimate weapons to capture the heart of the user. Consequently, there is really no need in decorating them with the extra gadgets, as it will only take away the aesthetics (specifically the sense of touch) of these lovely creatures.

Nevertheless, as we all see, the Shinada company thinks otherwise, and I do have to admit that some of them are quite creative. For example, the onsen (hot spring) monkeys is definitely my favorite.



The Eskimos attire and the rain coats are simply cute too.



However, imagine hugging them, it wouldn't feel the same, would it? The stickiness of the raincoat, the roughness of the Eskimos attire, the extra decorations that doesn't go seamlessly with the the body of the stuffed animal, etc.



The special editions are cute in itself, but I think it is taking away the charms of a fumofumo san. I would be more than happy to get one of these editions, but they will be admired in a different way (i.e. sitting on a shelf as a collection item). Obviously, this is from an adult perspective. To a child, the extra gadgets are playable items too, one that can be exchange in the sacrifice of the pleasant touch of fumofumo san.

All images taken from http://www.shinada.net/

Monochromatic Rules

Don't get confuse and think I am showing you a black and white picture. What makes it look black and white is actually the fumofumo san themselves. In fact, this is the "black" collection of some of the previous launched fumofumo san. They are most likely popular among the fumofumo san, that's why they were made into special editions. Other editions included the white, pink, blue, sepia, pastel, and rainbow.

What I really like about their approach to these special edition is that everything has a story that goes with it. For example, the pink edition we see in the picture above came from a story like this: On one lovely Spring day, the frog, monkey, and rabbit went to the so called Pink World to pick flowers, and then somehow they got themselves pink. The story ends abruptly here as these creatures found themselves a little bit cold, so they decided to go home.


Pink Theme

These stories although is short, but it is a perfect way to give little hints of where the inspiration of the design came from. In return, the users now knew the design intention, would be able to appreciate the product more. Finally, because these stories are very short and without much details, the user can then use their own imaginations to complete their own stories. The use of your imagination towards a product, can potentially increase your attachment towards the product. That's why we all love them so much!

Blue Theme: This time it seems like they went to the blue world...

Sepia Theme - these fumofumo san comes from a sepia world.

In the description of the discovery of Blue world, it said since there is a pink world, it is likely there will be blue world and others. So, we can expect to see more colour themes coming! What other themes would you like to see?

(All images are taken from http://www.shinada.net/)

Size Matters

Fumofumo san come in many different sizes. The LL size, which is roughly around one meter tall is my favorite. I believe this is the most perfect and balance size that accentuated the characteristic long arms of these lovely stuffed animals.

Here are all the possible fumofumo san sizes and their approx. measurements:

S - 10 cm
M- 20 cm
L- 35 cm
1L- 50 cm
ML- 70 cm
LL- 100 cm
Fumo King (フモ王) - 140 cm

Not every fumofumo san are made into all the available sizes. In fact, only the most popular ones- frog, rabbit, cat and monkeys (also see post on Who is Your Favorite Fumofumo San.) get the privilege. This is a very effective way to reuse old design while giving the customers a new experience. Who doesn't want to collect them all?

The ML and King sizes of frogs and others appeared in Fall 2009, seven years after their first launch.

Usually, new fumofumo san only comes in three different sizes. The LL (100cm), L (35 cm), and M (20 cm). There are however exceptions when only size was made or as much as five different sizes were available at launch. So what determines these variables? Cost? Market research? Design issue (i.e. if it looks good at that particular size)? Or other reasons?

fuku (ふく) in LL, L, and M.

Let's consider the LL size (~100 cm). First of all, the cost of the LL size is 5000 yen, a reasonable price for a stuffed animal of this size and quality, but it is definitely not an everyday purchase. Secondly, a LL size fumofumo san do take up some space. If you have a double size bed, you may allow two or three of them on your bed, but in fumofumo san's major market - Japan, where living space can be scared, how many fumofumo san can they allow?

In my opinion, the M and L size is perfect for gifts exchange among children since it only cost around 580 yen and 980 yen, and it goes well with the Japanese tradition of gift giving. While the LL size, like I said before, is the best among of all the sizes. For anyone who wants to understand how charming these stuffed animals are, you definitely needs to hug one of the big guy.

What sizes of fumofumo san do you like the best?

(images are taken from http://www.shinada.net/)

Who is your favorite Fumofumo san?

In the summer of 2002, Shinada company launched the magical fumofumo san in Japan. Since then, their design team have continued to create many many more fumofumo san. ありがとうございます.

At first, there were only six different fumofumo san. They are the monkey, tiger, bear, rabbit, cat, and panda. The tiger, bear, and cat looks rather similar in my opinion, but if you pay enough attention to the details, you can tell the nuance differences in them.



Over the next many years, Shinada continues to launch new designs regularly. Today, there are at least 50 different types of fumofumo san, and this number does not included the special additions they created for some of their existing fumofumo san. Most of these fumofumo san draw inspirations from animals (frog, penguin, kangaroo, giraffe, mole, owl, pigs, etc) but in some rare cases, you will also see imaginary creatures such as the kappa (河童), the snowman, the cloud where the fumofumo san are suppose to reside and many more. The funniest one, also the one I never understood is the hatena? (はてな？) and misuhatena (ミスはてな？). My Japanese friend told me this means question and unknown... So, for now I guess I just will leave it as that..


Keroonyo (けろーにょ)


fufu (ふふ), makemo (まはも), momosuutsu (モモスーツ)


mugugu (もぐぐ)

So, who is your favorite fumofumo san? My favorite is mugugu (むぐぐ) the mole. If you haven't found your favorite one or the animal you like is not out there yet, there is a very high chance that the Shinada company is working on it right now, so stay tune!

In the mean time, I highly recommend the following link: http://www.shinada.net/fumofumo/report/report.html. It's a very interesting link where people share pictures they have taken with their fumofumo san. The theme usually evolves around traveling. This really reminds me of the movie Amélie and the gnomes that were brought around the world.



Side note: The more I look at the snowman, the more I think it looks like mugugu, don't you think?

(All the images are taken from http://www.shinada.net)

Why are they called FumoFumo san

I am really curious in why these lovely stuffed animals are called fumofumo sans, so I went and asked a Japanese friend. Well, first of all, "san" is the title for the name of the person, it's similar to Mr. or Miss in English. And for "fumofumo", it's the feeling of something really soft. Which makes a lot of sense since fumofumo san are made out of some really really soft materials.

However, I really want to know the authentic reason for why they are call that, so I went to the Shinada website and found this out in their description of fumofumo san:

ふわふわ　もこもこしたもの.
fuwafuwa mokomokoshitamono.

Do you see the connections now? Fuwafuwa means fluffy, while mokomoko means pure tofu (by goggle translate). So basically fumofumo san are fluffy and pure tofu thing. From this, the Shinada company derived a short form to name lovely creatures, and that's why they are known as fumofumo san now.

(image taken from http://www.shinada.net/)

Fumofumo san - long arms stuffed animals

Have you ever heard of fumofumo san? They are a line of stuffed animals designed by the Japanese company Shinada. These cute stuffed animals have characteristically long arms that you will never forget about. At first, I thought these out of proportion arms have no functional use other than just a design form. But very soon, I discovered that you can easily wrap the soft arm around your neck to keep yourself warm at night. Is this serendipity? I really want to know too!

(image taken from http://www.shinada.net/)