Japanese plushie brand Monchhichi makes big comeback amid Labubu craze

When Australian influencer Sam Todd travelled to Tokyo earlier in 2025 to shop the Japanese capital’s famed vintage clothing scene, she had a side quest – to find a fuzzy Monchhichi keychain to dangle off one of her many designer handbags.

After some unsuccessful hunting, she finally “hit the Monchhichi jackpot” at a toy store in the touristy Harajuku neighbourhood, capturing the gleeful discovery in a TikTok video, which has since racked up more than 300,000 views.

The store had implemented a purchase limit on the popular plush accessories, but Todd managed to snag double by having her boyfriend stock up too. Sure, the characters are also for sale back home, but for more than twice the price and with far fewer options.

“It was so nice to finally be able to find it,” says Todd, 30. “The popularity has just been growing and growing, so everybody wants one.”

Shoppers like Todd are breathing new life into Japan’s Monchhichi brand, which is undergoing a demand surge rivalling that of the toy’s heyday in the 1970s and 1980s.

Sales of Monchhichi – stuffed animals with monkey bodies and childlike faces – more than doubled in the year ending February 2025 to 4.6 billion yen (S$39.9 million), according to the creator and licence owner Sekiguchio.

Overseas sales in the fiscal year grew faster than the domestic market, with international buyers behind about 40 per cent of Monchhichi revenue. The company recently increased its manufacturing capacity in China and is looking into expanding its licensing business.

“We just want to flood the world with Monchhichi,” says Sekiguchi’s president and chief executive Toshitaka Yoshino.

Designer toys, cute trinkets and collectible accessories have been hot-ticket items lately, thanks in large part to social media’s trend machine.

More the purview of fashionistas, content creators and collectors than of the children that toys were traditionally marketed to, brands such as Sonny Angels, Smiskis, Jellycats and Labubus have been flying off shelves around the world for tens or sometimes hundreds of dollars each.

The global keychain pendant market, an active part of the overall accessory industry, is projected to be worth more than US$28 billion (S$36 billion) by 2033, up from less than US$18 billion in 2023, according to researcher Spherical Insights.

Sekiguchi launched the line of toys in 1974, when the company was led by Mr Yoshino’s uncle. In addition to being popular at home, the Japanese dolls and plushies took off in Europe and the US in a rare example of pre-internet virality. Monchhichi even inked a licensing deal with Mattel and had an animated cartoon.

But the boom was short-lived, and as sales declined, Monchhichi exited most markets for more than a decade.

Interest has returned in fits and bursts in the years since – a revival in the 1990s, especially in Germany, and a Chinese boom a dozen years ago – but it was not until the past year or two that it made a full-fledged comeback, starting in Thailand and South Korea.

In June, singer Lisa of K-pop girl group Blackpink, who is often credited with sparking the Labubu frenzy, posted a picture of herself shopping for Monchhichi merchandise in June.

“On top of the weaker yen, which boosted inbound demand from Europe and the US, everything else happened all at once,” Mr Yoshino says from the company’s headquarters in Tokyo, where the walls are lined with hundreds of rare Monchhichi from past collections. “Sales have been extremely strong.”

Mr Yoshino – whose family company has seen the peaks and valleys of more than 100 years of toymaking – is trying to remain grounded.

Although the company is ramping up output in China, which makes 95 per cent of Monchhichi items, he is trying not to hire faster than he needs to, steadfast in his philosophy that “what’s selling today will stop selling one day”.

He hopes to keep the family business thriving for another century.

One of the biggest threats: US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which complicate matters in Monchhichi’s largest market for overseas revenue.

“Orders from the US retailers were going well earlier this year, but in May, everything completely stopped,” Mr Yoshino says. While orders from the US have somewhat recovered since then, they have not got back to the pre-tariff levels, he adds.

Intimately aware the popularity could all come to an end, Sekiguchi is doing things a little differently this time around. Most significantly, it has refocused its attention on adults, who have longer attention spans and money.

When the brand previously catered to children, especially in the US, Monchhichi struggled with intense competition from characters including Spider-Man and the princesses from Frozen. “There’s a growing understanding when it comes to adults buying those toys for themselves,” Mr Yoshino says. “People are finally starting to recognise Monchhichi as a character rather than a toy.”

Sekiguchi has started selling its fuzzy accessories at US retailers such as Urban Outfitters and Barnes & Noble.

A recent tie-up with Hello Kitty spurred sales, while collaborations with brands including French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain have charmed new fans and kept the Monchhichi world unpredictable.

Classic Monchhichi keychains sell for about 2,200 yen in Japan. Urban Outfitters is offering a “fruit beanie plushie” in the US for US$24 (S$31) each.

One Tokyo-based fan of the brand, who goes by Yuma Kardasian on social media, says he almost never leaves his house these days without a pair of Monchhichi keychains.

Yuma, who shares fashion content on Instagram and TikTok and asked not to be identified by his real name, is drawn to Monchhichi’s unchanging expression and nostalgic feel. He estimates he has spent about 300,000 yen on the brand’s merchandise in the past two years.

“It’s an essential fashion item,” he says. “Going out without Monchhichi is like going to work without socks.” BLOOMBERG