12 kilos…of Monchichi.
At the end of January of 2022 I finally caught Covid and was stuck at home for slightly over 10 days.
It was in that stretch of physical weakness that I decided to start buying sad/dirty, and broken used dolls on Yahoo Auctions Japan and fixing them up to sell. This opened me up to the world of Showa-era retro dolls and toys of Japan with a focus on generally mass produced vinyl dolls of the 1970’s and 80’s. In fact, the dolls and toys quickly took over my apartment.
What you need to know for this entry is that one of Japan’s Showa-era toys overlapped with my own nostalgia for America’s 1980’s toys….
Monchichi
Sekiguchi Corporation released their first Monchichi toys in 1974. They’re cute, plush monkeys with vinyl hands, face and feet. Of of their hands holds a bottle that can be placed into their mouths.
In 1980-1985 they got picked up and licensed by Mattel for distribution in America.
After 1985 Sekiguchi handled worldwide distrubution themselves…they are still made in Japan and sold worldwide but in no where near the numbers they once were.
Even though the jingle haunts me to this day, I never had one as a child.
Late March, 2022, I bought my first, used Monchichi and cleaned him up.
By April 11th I was making an Instagram reel about cleaning up Monchichi
Monchichi were a huge success in Japan and America and spawned a variety of similar plush characters withing the company and a lot of imitation monkeys by competitors. Daisuke-kun was a similar monkey made by Toho corp that also included the feature of “sleep-eyes”
Soon, I found a Japanese woman, @emurin65 who’d made an online guide to customizing Monchichi and Daisuke-kun. It was complete with patterns for their new fur, which I eventually tweaked to my own needs.
So, I started…
I got such positive response to my custom Monchichi that I made, and sold, more…so much more. To say things escalated would be an understatement. These guys represent what I made in April /May 2022.
In May of 2022 I bid and won….a huge haul of Monchichi/ Daisuke-kun.
Some of my customs sold very quickly on Mercari Japan…which just embolded me to buy more damaged ones to customize.
I found the process of making a thrill…and my life was stressfull
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought of plush as a “by the kilo” purchase but in July I bid on and won…7 kilos of Monchichi.
I started being a bit alarmed by what I was doing and by the sheer number of plush and dolls entering my home but it helped me get through the days.
By my best estimates, these are the numbers of Daisuke-kun, Monchichi, and Friend of Monchichi (other animals in the monchichi family) that entered my apartment in 2022.
Monchichi: 52
Daisuke-kun: 11
Friends of monchichi: 6
At the end of August 2022, when I had an estimated 12 Kilograms/26 lbs Monchichi/Daisuke (not to mention piles of other dolls I was fixing and flipping) I decided I would move back to America in April of 2023.
This was what my dance space and sewing room looked like around the time I made that choice.
It was time to customize and sell as MUCH as possible.
Some Monchichi I sold as is or only cleaned them before selling.
But the rest? I had at least three different sizes of fur patterns for Monchichiand Daisuke-kun, a ton of fake fur, and constantly had some sort of Monchichi in progress.
6 months isn’t much to wrap up your life and move it to another country.
To give myself a sense of progress I began phone photo albums of my rooms as I decluttered them and items I sold on Mercari Japan in order to leave.
These are the dolls/toys sold on Mercari and don’t reflect the items sold directrly to dance students and fellow teachers.
Now I only have a handful of Monchichi and Daisuke-kun in my stock to customize and a few more finished items to sell but I’m in no rush.
Here’s my to-customize stock (there’s at least one more large-ish Daisuke-kune not pictured)
