Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty is a fictional character created by Yuko Shimizu and designed by Yuko Yamaguchi. She is owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. The character is an anthropomorphic white cat with a red bow.

Anthropomorphic means she has human-like qualities. Sanrio describes her as a little girl named Kitty White. She lives in a London suburb with her family. This character is a symbol of friendship. Sanrio uses her to foster connections between people across the world.

Designing Hello Kitty involves specific artistic choices. She has no visible mouth on her face. Sanrio explains this so people can project their own feelings onto her. This allows people to be happy or sad together with her. Another explanation is that she speaks from the heart. This means she is an ambassador not bound to any one language. Designer Yuko Yamaguchi has led the design since 1980. She uses fashion, movies, and television to inspire new themed designs.

The character has a detailed backstory and family. Kitty White is five apples tall and weighs three apples. She has a twin sister named Mimmy. Mimmy is shy and wears a yellow bow on her right ear. Hello Kitty wears a red bow on her left ear. Their father, George, is described as dependable and humorous. Their mother, Mary, is a good cook. They also have grandparents named Anthony and Margaret. Kitty has several animal friends, including mice, bears, and a raccoon.

The history of the brand began with Sanrio founder Shintaro Tsuji. In 1962, he sold rubber sandals with painted flowers. He noticed that cute designs increased his profits. He began hiring cartoonists to create characters for merchandise. Hello Kitty was created in 1974. Her first product was a vinyl coin purse in 1975.

In her first appearance, she sat between a goldfish bowl and a bottle of milk. She arrived in the United States in 1976 through a store in California.

Hello Kitty's popularity has changed through different stages. Originally, she was marketed to pre-teenage girls. In the 1990s, the brand expanded to include teenagers and adults. This included items like laptops and purses. This growth happened alongside the rise of kawaii culture. Kawaii is a Japanese term for cuteness. While her popularity peaked in Japan in the late 1990s, she grew internationally. By 2010, The New York Times called her a "global marketing phenomenon."

The scale of the Hello Kitty brand is massive. In 2008, there were over 50,000 different branded products. These products exist in more than 60 countries. By 2008, the character was responsible for half of Sanrio's $1 billion net income.

The character has even appeared on large airplanes like the EVA Air Airbus A330-200. She has also been a children's ambassador for UNICEF. The Japanese government appointed her as an ambassador of tourism. There are even theme parks like Sanrio Puroland in Tokyo.

Hello Kitty connects to many different cultural ideas. Some believe she is an example of mukokuseki. This is a Japanese term meaning "stateless" or "nationless." It refers to characters that lack a specific national background. Others speculate she relates to Maneki Neko, which is a traditional Japanese cat figurine. The name "Hello Kitty" is a back-translation of Maneki Neko, which means "beckoning cat." Regardless of these theories, she remains a major part of global media. She appears in animated series, comics, video games, and music albums.