Hello Kitty

**Hello Kitty** (Japanese: ハロー・キティ, Hepburn: *Harō Kiti*), also known by her full name **Kitty White** (キティ・ホワイト, *Kiti Howaito*), is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, created by Yuko Shimizu and currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as a young female *gijinka* (anthropomorphization) of a Japanese Bobtail cat with a red bow and no mouth. According to her backstory, she is a perpetual 3rd-grade student who lives outside of London. Kitty and her twin sister, Mimi, celebrate their birthday on 1 November 1974. Since the cartoon character's creation, the Hello Kitty media franchise has grown to include clothing, accessories, toys, games, books, manga, anime series, and music albums, along with other various product lines and media productions.

Shortly after Hello Kitty's creation in 1974, the Hello Kitty vinyl coin purse was introduced by Sanrio on 5 March 1975. Sanrio brought the character to the United States in 1976. By 2010, Sanrio had groomed Hello Kitty into a global marketing phenomenon, worth $6 billion a year. By 2014, when Hello Kitty was 40 years old, she was worth about $8 billion a year. *Hello Kitty* has become one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

Hello Kitty is a staple of the *kawaii* segment of Japanese popular culture. First marketed toward pre-teenage girls, Hello Kitty's image found commercial success among not only her original target audience but adolescent and adult consumers as well. A variety of products ranging from school supplies to fashion accessories to motor oil have featured the character over the years. A number of Hello Kitty TV series targeted towards children have been produced, as well as several manga comics and anime films. There are Sanrio theme parks based on Hello Kitty: Harmonyland in Hiji, Ōita, Japan; Sanrio Puroland in Tama New Town, Tokyo, Japan; and the former Sanrio Hello Kitty Town in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia.

# Background

In 1962, Shintaro Tsuji, founder of Sanrio, began selling rubber sandals with flowers painted on them. Tsuji noted the profits gained by adding a cute design to the shoes and hired cartoonists to design cute characters for his merchandise. The company produced a line of character merchandise centered around gift-giving occasions. Hello Kitty was designed by Yuko Shimizu and was added to the lineup of early Sanrio characters in 1974. The character's first appearance on an item was on a vinyl coin purse sold in Japan, where she was pictured sitting between a bottle of milk and a goldfish bowl. She first appeared in the United States in 1976.

Sanrio decided to make Hello Kitty British because foreign countries, including Britain in particular, were trendy in Japan at the time of Hello Kitty's creation. Sanrio already had several characters set in the US, and it wanted Hello Kitty to be different. Shimizu got the name *Kitty* from Lewis Carroll's *Through the Looking-Glass*; during a scene early in the book, Alice plays with a cat she calls *Kitty*. Sanrio's motto is "social communication," and Tsuji wanted the brand name to reflect that by including a greeting. He first considered "Hi Kitty" before finally settling on "Hello Kitty," her current name.

Spokespeople for Sanrio have confirmed that Hello Kitty has no mouth, as they want people to "project their feelings onto the character" and "be happy or sad together with Hello Kitty." Another explanation Sanrio has given for Hello Kitty's lack of a mouth is that she "speaks from the heart. She's Sanrio's ambassador to the world and isn't bound to any particular language." Representatives for Sanrio have said that they see Hello Kitty as a symbol of friendship, which they hope she will foster between people across the world. There has been speculation that Hello Kitty has her origins in *Maneki Neko*—the name "Hello Kitty" is a back-translation of *Maneki Neko*, meaning "beckoning cat" in English. Despite this, no definitive statement supports that speculation.

# History

Hello Kitty sold well immediately after her 1974 launch, and Sanrio's sales increased sevenfold before they slumped temporarily in 1978. New series involving Hello Kitty with different themed designs are released regularly, following current trends. Yuko Yamaguchi, the main designer for most of Hello Kitty's history, has said that fashion, movies, and TV inspire her in creating new designs.

Originally, Hello Kitty was only marketed towards a child and preteen audience. In the 1990s, the target market for Hello Kitty was broadened to include teenagers and adults as a retro brand. Marketing to those who could not get Hello Kitty merchandise as children, and those who fondly remember items they had, Sanrio began selling Hello Kitty branded products such as purses and laptops. The 1994–1996 *Face* series was the first to be designed specifically for mature consumers.

According to Sanrio, Hello Kitty was appearing on 12,000 new products each year as of 1999. By 2008, Hello Kitty was responsible for half of Sanrio's $1 billion net income, and there were over 50,000 different Hello Kitty branded products in more than 60 countries. Beginning in 2007, following trends in Japan, Sanrio began using darker designs for Hello Kitty with more black and less pink and pulled away from *kawaii* styles.

Hello Kitty and Mimi celebrated their 40th Anniversary on 1 November 2014. The "Arigato Everyone Birthday Celebration" took place in Sanrio Puroland in Tokyo for several days.

On 1 January 2020, Sanrio Hello Kitty Town in Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia permanently closed down due to lack of attendance. On 21 February 2020, the Sanrio Puroland theme park (also known as *Hello Kitty Land*) in Tokyo closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Park officials hoped to have it reopened in early April 2020. In June 2020, Sanrio issued a statement that its founder, Shintaro Tsuji, would retire from his position as Sanrio's chief executive on 1 July 2020, and his grandson, Tomokuni Tsuji, 31, would take over to "ensure efficient decision making."

# Products

Originally aimed at the pre-adolescent female market, the Hello Kitty product range has expanded from dolls, stickers, greeting cards, clothes, accessories, school supplies and stationery to purses, toasters, televisions, other home appliances, massagers, and computer equipment. These products range from mass market items to high-end consumer products and rare collectibles. As of 2014, more than 50,000 Hello Kitty product lines were available in over 130 countries.

### High-end

Sanrio and various corporate partners have released Hello Kitty-branded products, including the Hello Kitty Stratocaster electric guitar (since 2006, with Fender in the US)  and an Airbus A330-200 commercial passenger jet airliner, dubbed the Hello Kitty Jet (2005–2009, with EVA Airways in Taiwan). In late 2011 and early 2012, EVA Air revived their "Hello Kitty Jets" with their three new A330-300s. However, due to high demand, the airline added two more alongside their existing A330-200s in mid-2012. A year later, EVA Air introduced one of their 777-300ERs as another Hello Kitty Jet, which featured other Sanrio characters as well as Hello Kitty.

In 2009, Hello Kitty entered the wine market with a collection of four wines available for purchase online, continuing the expansion of product lines targeted at older audiences.

### Jewelry

In Spring 2005, Simmons Jewelry Co. and Sanrio announced a partnership. "Kimora Lee Simmons for Hello Kitty" was launched exclusively at Neiman Marcus, with prices ranging from $300 to $5000. Designed by Kimora Lee Simmons and launched as the first in a series of collections, the jewelry was hand-made and consisted of diamonds, gemstones, semi-precious stones, 18 karat gold, sterling silver, enamel, and ceramic.

In Fall 2008, Simmons Jewelry Co. and Sanrio introduced a collection of fine jewelry and watches named "Hello Kitty® by Simmons Jewelry Co." The collection launched with Zales Corporation to further expand the reach of the brand, developing accessories for a wide variety of Hello Kitty fans. Meant to attract a youthful audience, the Hello Kitty-themed designs consisted of colorful gemstones set in sterling silver.

### Establishments

There is a themed restaurant named Hello Kitty Sweets in Taipei, Taiwan, which opened in 2008. The restaurant's decor and many of its dishes are patterned after the Hello Kitty characters. Another restaurant called the Hello Kitty Diner opened in the Chatswood area of Sydney, Australia, and a Hello Kitty dim sum restaurant opened in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Hello Kitty cafés have opened around the world, including in Seoul and other locations in South Korea; Bangkok, Thailand; Adelaide, Australia; Irvine, California; and the Santa Anita Mall in California.

In 2008, a Hello Kitty-themed maternity hospital opened in Yuanlin, Taiwan. Hello Kitty is featured on the receiving blankets, room decor, bed linens, birth certificate covers, and nurses' uniforms. The hospital's owner explained that he hoped that the theme would help ease the stress of childbirth.

Hello Kitty is included as part of the Sanrio livery at the Japanese theme parks Harmonyland and Sanrio Puroland.

### Clothing

In January 2018, Puma collaborated with Hello Kitty to create the new Puma X Hello Kitty For All Time collection, which features the company's signature sneakers for both children and adults.

### Musical Instruments

In 2006, Fender partnered with Hello Kitty to create the Hello Kitty Stratocaster under its squire sun-brand. While initially aimed at pre-teen girls, the Hello Kitty Stratocaster has since been used by famous guitarists including Zakk Wylde, John5, and Slash.[*citation needed*] The guitar's cult following has caused prices to rise, with second hand guitars going for over £660 in 2020.[*citation needed*]

# Media

### Animated series

There have been several different Hello Kitty TV series. The first animated television series was *Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater*, an anime series that was 13 episodes long and aired in 1987. The next, an OVA titled *Hello Kitty and Friends*, came out in 1993 and was also 13 episodes long. *Hello Kitty's Paradise* came out in 1999 and was 16 episodes long. *Hello Kitty's Stump Village* came out in 2005, and *The Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends* came out in 2006 and has aired 52 episodes. A crossover series under the name *Kiss Hello Kitty* (that paired animated versions of the members of the rock band KISS with Hello Kitty) was announced in March 2013. Produced by Gene Simmons, this show was supposed to air on The Hub Network (now Discovery Family), but it never came to fruition.

*Hello Kitty's Paradise [ja]* was a long-running live-action children's program that aired on TXN from January 1999 to March 2011. It was the longest-running weekly kids' television program in the network's history. In January 2011, the show's creators mutually agreed to end the series after twelve seasons, with the final episode being broadcast on 29 March 2011.

In August 2018, Sanrio began streaming a CGI animated series on YouTube. It features Hello Kitty talking to the camera about her life in the style of vlogging YouTubers.

Sanrio began streaming the newest 2D animated Hello Kitty series *Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures* on YouTube on 26 October 2020.

### Comics

Hello Kitty had two manga comics serialized in *Ribon*, a shōjo manga magazine - *Hello Kitty Doki* (ran from May 2007 to April 2008) and *Hello Kitty Peace* (released in June 2008).

In March 2016, Sanrio launched a webcomic featuring Hello Kitty as a strawberry-themed superhero called "Ichigoman" (*ichigo* meaning strawberry), who fights monsters with the help of her giant robot. The webcomic is created by Toshiki Inoue and Shakua Sinkai and updates once a month. The Ichigoman alter-ego originates from a 2011 exhibition of Yuko Yamaguchi's artwork.

### Music

Hello Kitty has her own branded album, *Hello World*, featuring Hello Kitty-inspired songs performed by a collection of artists including Keke Palmer, Cori Yarckin, and Ainjel Emme under Hello Kitty's Lakeshore Records record label. Hello Kitty was also chosen by AH Software to be the basis of the new Vocaloid Nekomura Iroha (猫村いろは, *Nekomura Iroha*) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sanrio.

Hello Kitty was mentioned in the parody song "Another Tattoo (parody of Nothin' On You by B.o.B and Bruno Mars)" from "Weird Al" Yankovic's 2011 album Alpocalypse.

Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne has written and recorded a song called "Hello Kitty" for her fifth studio album, *Avril Lavigne*, released in 2013.

Musician Yoshiki unveiled the Hello Kitty theme song "Hello Hello" in November 2014 at the first Hello Kitty Con. Yoshiki, who was the first celebrity to have his own Hello Kitty doll, "Yoshikitty," was approached by Yamaguchi to compose the song seven years prior. Yoshiki dedicated the anthem to Tsuji Kunihiko, the son of Sanrio founder Shintaro Kunihiko.

### Video games

There are numerous *Hello Kitty* games starting with the release of the first title for Famicom in 1992; however, the majority of these games were never released outside of Japan. Hello Kitty also has made cameo appearances in games featuring other Sanrio characters, such as the Keroppi game, *Kero Kero Keroppi no Bōken Nikki: Nemureru Mori no Keroleen*. Special-edition consoles such as the Hello Kitty Dreamcast, Hello Kitty Game Boy Pocket, and Hello Kitty Crystal Xbox have also been released exclusively in Japan.

Hello Kitty appeared as a guest character in Sega's *Sonic Dash* in 2016, as part of Sega's partnership with Sanrio. Hello Kitty and My Melody (another Sanrio character) appeared together in *Super Mario Maker* as unlockable Mystery Mushroom costumes.

### Partial list of Hello Kitty video games

* + *Hello Kitty no Hanabatake* (1992, Famicom): a platformer
	+ *Hello Kitty World* (1992, Famicom): a Famicom port of *Balloon Kid* co-developed by Nintendo and Character Soft.
	+ *Hello Kitty's Big Fun Piano* (1994, PC): a piano simulation
	+ *Hello Kitty's Cube Frenzy* (1998, Game Boy Color, PlayStation): a life simulation/minigame collection
	+ *DDR Hello Kitty* (1999, Bemani Pocket): a handheld *Hello Kitty* game in the *Dance Dance Revolution* series
	+ The *Hello Kitty Simple 1500* series (PlayStation): a series of specifically low-priced games
	+ *Gotouchi Hello Kitty Sugoroku Monogatari* (2003, PlayStation): a sugoroku-based game
	+ *Hello Kitty: Happy Party Pals* (2005, Game Boy Advance): an action/adventure game
	+ *Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue* (2005, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2): an action/adventure game
	+ *Mainichi Suteki! Hello Kitty no Life Kit* (2007, Nintendo DS): a puzzle game
	+ The *Hello Kitty Simple 2000* series (2007, PlayStation 2): a series of specifically low-priced games
	+ *Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams* (2008, Nintendo DS): an adventure game published by Empire Interactive developed by Sanrio Digital. In the game, Hello Kitty moves to the Big City where she meets other Sanrio characters and makes new friends.
	+ *Hello Kitty Daily* (2008, Nintendo DS): a PDA application featuring a diary, calendar, alarm clock, money managing system and school planner
	+ *Hello Kitty Online* (2009, PC): an online MMORPG developed by Sanrio Digital and Typhoon Games. The game allows players to create and customize characters, then use them to battle monsters, socialize with one another, mine for ore, do domestic chores like farming or cooking, and participate in quests.
	+ *Hello Kitty Parachute Paradise* (2009, iPhone/iPod Touch): an iPhone game with tilt-based controls
	+ *Apron of Magic* (2010, Arcade): An Arcade Card Game developed by Examu to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Sanrio. The game features Hello Kitty and other notable Sanrio Characters.
	+ *Hello Kitty Seasons* (2010, Wii): A game in which the playable character is appointed as Deputy Mayor to help Sanrio Town.
	+ *Hello Kitty Kruisers* (2014, iOS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch): A kart racing game featuring *Hello Kitty* and other Sanrio characters

### Films

Three *Hello Kitty* anime films were released in Japan. *Hello Kitty: Cinderella* released in 1987, *Hello Kitty no Oyayubi Hime* released in 1990, and *Hello Kitty no Mahō no Mori no Ohime-sama* released in 1991.

On 3 July 2015, Sanrio announced a full-length Hello Kitty theatrical feature initially planned for 2019. In early 2019, it was revealed that New Line Cinema will be teaming up alongside Sanrio and Flynn Picture Company for an “English language film based on the venerable kid brand.”

# Reception

The Hello Kitty brand rose to greater prominence internationally during the late 1990s. At that time, several celebrities, such as Mariah Carey, had adopted Hello Kitty as a fashion statement. Newer products featuring the character can be found in a large variety of American department stores.

Hello Kitty's popularity in Japan peaked in the late 1990s when she was the country's top-grossing character. In 2002, Hello Kitty lost her place as the top-grossing character in Japan in the Character Databank popularity chart. In a 2010 survey, she was in third place behind Anpanman and Pikachu from *Pokémon*. In 2010, *The New York Times* attributed the character's relative decline in Japan to her biography not being "compelling enough to draw many fans." The newspaper later wrote that analysts called the characterization "weak," and that Hello Kitty not having a mouth has dampened her success as an animated TV character. Hello Kitty has nevertheless remained one of the top three highest-grossing characters in Japan as of 2013.

Overseas, her global popularity has increased over the years, with worldwide annual sales reaching $8 billion in 2013. She has been particularly popular in other Asian countries for decades, such as in China, where her cultural impact is comparable to that of Barbie in the Western world. In the United States, she is recognized by more than 80% of young adults in the 18–23 age group, as of 2016.

### Accolades

In May 2008, Japan named Hello Kitty the ambassador of Japanese tourism in both China and Hong Kong (where the character is exceptionally popular among children and young women), marking the first time Japan's tourism ministry had appointed a fictional character to the role. Dr. Sharon Kinsella, a lecturer at Oxford University on Japanese sociology, called the selection of Hello Kitty "a bit farcical ... as if a dumbed-down cultural icon ... can somehow do something significant to alter the gnarly and difficult state of China-Japan relations."

UNICEF has also awarded Hello Kitty the exclusive title of *UNICEF Special Friend of Children*.

### Controversy

In July 2008, the Dutch artist Dick Bruna, creator of Miffy, alleged that Hello Kitty is a copy of Miffy (in Dutch: *Nijntje*), being rendered in a similar style. He stated disapprovingly in an interview for the British newspaper *The Daily Telegraph*:

'That,' he says darkly, 'is a copy [of Miffy], I think. I don't like that at all. I always think, "No, don't do that. Try to make something that you think of yourself."'
Mercis, the firm that managed copyrights for Bruna, took Sanrio to court over their Hello Kitty-associated character Cathy, a rabbit which made her first appearance in 1976 and which Mercis argued infringed the copyright for Miffy. A court in Amsterdam ruled in favour of Mercis in November 2010 and ordered Sanrio to stop the production and sale of merchandise featuring Cathy in the Benelux countries. However, in June 2011, the two companies announced that they had reached a settlement agreement to end their legal dispute. Sanrio stopped using the Cathy character, and the two firms jointly donated €150,000 for reconstruction after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Musti, a cat character created by Belgian cartoonist Ray Goossens, was also cited as an inspiration for Hello Kitty.

# Sculpture

In 1994, artist Tom Sachs was invited to create a scene for Barneys New York Christmas displays and titled it *Hello Kitty Nativity*. In the scene, the Virgin Mary was replaced by Madonna with an open Chanel bra, the three Kings were all Bart Simpson, the stable was marked by a McDonald's logo, and the Christ Child was replaced by Hello Kitty. This contemporary revision of the nativity scene demonstrated Sachs' interest in the phenomena of consumerism, branding, and the cultural fetishization of products. Many audiences instead took offense to the artwork, which received backlash from Catholic organizations for its misuse of Christian symbolism.

In 2009, Tom Sachs' *Bronze Collection* was shown at the Public art space in Manhattan's Lever House, as well as in the Baldwin Gallery in Aspen, Colorado, and the Trocadéro in Paris. The collection featured white bronze casts of a foam core Hello Kitty sculpture – a style distinctive to the artist. As of April 2010, the *Wind-Up Hello Kitty* sculpture is still on display at Lever House. Although Sachs did not seek permission to use the character in his work, a brand marketing manager for Sanrio was quoted as saying "You know, there was Marilyn Monroe and Andy Warhol, and then Michael Jackson and Jeff Koons. When you're an icon, that's what happens."

In 2015, a 9-foot tall pearlescent Hello Kitty sculpture by artist Sebastian Masuda was exhibited at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York City, as part of the Japan Society's exhibition: *Life of Cats: Selections from the Hiraki Ukiyo-e Collection*.

# See also

* Japan portal
* Anime and manga portal