Netflix Opens In-Person Experience in Japan Based on Rilakkuma Cartoon

Patrick Frater
·2 min read

Netflix is launching its first location based entertainment experience in Japan, a pavilion at KidZania in Fukuoka. It will open to the public on Sunday (July 31, 2022).

KidZania is an interactive city that combines inspiration, fun and learning through realistic career experiences.

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The Netflix pavilion will allow kids to experience being a stop-motion animator and help characters come to life, by immersing them in the world of the upcoming series “Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure.”

Kids aged three to fifteen will be able to work together in teams of six to create an original story, by placing the characters Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma in Nakasugi Land, and producing a short video using the same stop-motion technique seen in the Rilakkuma series. Their finished video will be shown on a big screen in the theater room.

The company explains that stop-motion is a film-making technique where objects are shifted slightly in each individually photographed frame. When the frames are played back quickly, the subjects of the film then appear to move fluidly.

“We are pleased that by joining KidZania Fukuoka as a sponsor, children and their families living in Kyushu will be able to feel closer to Netflix and have the unique experience of seeing what it’s like to work at a production studio,” said Masato Shimoi, Netflix’s director of business development, Japan.

Rilakkuma is a comic book character created by the San-X company in 2003 which has featured on stationery and merchandize and has been used for branding of cafes. In 2019, Netflix released a stop motion series “Rilakkuma and Kaoru” produced by Dwarf, San-X and Netflix.

The first season of “Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure” premieres worldwide on Netflix on Aug 25, 2022. In the eight-part series, characters Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, Kaoru, and Kiiroitori visit a theme park that is about to close. There, they take part in escapades and meet different characters.

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