April showers bring May flowers, but June showers bring adorable paired Pikachu plushies!

Pokémon Centers embrace the rainy season, plus roll out new line of Migawari Substitute merchandise.

Ask just about anyone when the worst time to be in Japan is, and unless they grew up in L.A. and find any weather requiring a jacket to be unbearably cold, they’ll tell you that June is the most unpleasant time to be here. June is the rainy season in Japan, or tsuyu as it’s called in Japanese, and brings unrelentingly high humidity and sudden rainstorms, so you can expect to spend pretty much the entire month sweating and/or being bit by mosquitos.

So it’s nice that this year there’s also something nice to look forward to in the rainy season: the release of the June Monthly Pair Pikachus, in which two of the famous Pokémon pop open an umbrella and don charming raincoats.

It’s not clear whether or not these are meant to be the same school-uniformed Pikachus we spied holding hands back in April, but they definitely look as cozy as that young couple did. Priced at 2,600 yen (US$24), the doubly huggable stuffed animal will be available at Pokémon Center megastores, as well as through the Pokémon Center Online shop and the Amazon Japan Pokémon Store.

▼ These Pokémon know that June is also the best time to go out and see Japan’s beautiful hydrangeas.

If you’re after more two-in-one Pokémon goodies, there’s also a new line of Migawari merchandise coming out, starring the decoy Pokémon create for themselves using the video game’s Substitute technique.

For starters, there’re the 2,200-yen Pikachu Migawari stuffed animal and 1,300-yen mascot straps seen above. Those are just the tip of the Migawari iceberg, though, which also includes the following.

▼ Gachapon capsule toy vending machine figures

▼ Acrylic straps (500 yen)

▼ Rail pass holder (1,150 yen) and character pouch (730 yen)

▼ Earrings and ear clips (each 600 yen)

▼ Knapsack (2,400 yen) and zippered pouch (1,200 yen)

There’s also a collection of Migawari stationary and towels, plus, most appropriately, Migawari T-shirts (3,000-3,200 yen), socks (500 yen), and caps (2,500 yen), so that you yourself can feel some Migawari-style safety and security.

The raincoat Pair Pikachus go on sale May 21, while the Migawari collection makes its debut a week earlier on May 14. While that means that both should be available shortly before the official start of the rainy season, we still recommend checking the weather forecast before you head to the Pokémon Center, just in case.

Follow Casey on Twitter for more reasons why the rainy season is better than winter.

Source: Pokémon official website (1, 2)
Images: Pokémon official website (1, 2) (edited by RocketNews24)

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