Hello Kitty (ハローキティ Harōkiti) is one of the many fictional characters produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, and has long been the most popular one out of the company's characters. The character is a very geometric, anthroporphized white cat, with a distincitve bow or some other decoration on her left ear. Copyrighted in 1976, Hello Kitty is now a globally known trademark.


History

Hello Kitty was originally created by Sanrio designer Ikuko Shimizu in 1974. Shimizu left the company about a year later. The second designer, Setsuko Yonekubo, took over for five years until 1980 when the task was given to Yuko Yamaguchi. who still holds the position. The character originally appeared on small novelties for young girls, such as coin purses.

Hello Kitty was given an English name because British culture was popular with Japanese girls at the time of her creation. Kitty's name came from one of the cats that Alice kept in the book Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. When Hello Kitty's boyfriend "Dear Daniel" was created in 1999, designers took his name from the 1971 film, Melody, which starred Mark Lester as a character called Daniel, and features songs by the Bee Gees.

Hello Kitty's fictional world includes a whole array of friends and family members. Since 2004 she has even had a pet cat of her own called Charmmy Kitty, and a pet hamster called Sugar. Charmmy resembles Hello Kitty but has more cat-like features. Charmmy Kitty was given to Hello Kitty by her father, George White, and Sugar by her boyfriend Dear Daniel.


Visual style and possible origins

Like most Sanrio characters, Hello Kitty is drawn in a cute style (see: Kawaii). She has all the normal facial features except she has no mouth. The official answer from Sanrio as to why Hello Kitty has no mouth (see external links below) is that she speaks from the heart, in no one particular language. The current designer, Yuko Yamaguchi, has said the lack of mouth allows her to expresses no emotion. In animated versions Kitty does gain a small mouth when speaking. Hello Kitty usually wears a bow beneath her left ear but she can often be seen with a five petal flower instead. Rarer variations feature other accessories such as strings of flowers.

There has been some suggestion that Hello Kitty has its origins in Maneki Neko, and that the name Hello Kitty itself is a translation of Maneki Neko, which means beckoning cat in English. It has also been noted that the character shows a resemblance to the character Miffy, designed in 1955 by Dick Bruna and that the line drawing style is not original.


Hello Kitty's rising prominence

Hello Kitty has been marketed in the United States from the beginning and has held the position of U.S. children's ambassador for UNICEF since 1983. She really came to her own during the late 1990s when several celebrities such as Mariah Carey adopted her as a fashion statement. Now products featuring the character can be found in virtually any American department store. Hello Kitty was once featured in an advertising campaign of the retail chain Target. Many American celebrities have contributed to the character's popularity: Mariah Carey, Cameron Diaz, Heidi Klum, Steven Tyler, Carmen Electra, Mandy Moore, and Nicky Hilton have all been spotted with Hello Kitty goods. Singer Lisa Loeb has admitted to being a fan, and has even dedicated a whole album in homage to Hello Kitty, called Hello Lisa.


Merchandise

Although originally aimed at the pre-adolescent female market, the Hello Kitty logo now adorns almost every product that one can imagine to have its logo on it. Though a large proportion of the merchandise are stationery products, other goods range from foods and clothing to computers and cars, and in Japan, its popularity has penetrated every aspect of Japanese daily life.

The very first product bearing Hello Kitty's image was a small clear vinyl coin purse which sold for 240 yen (today, roughly US$2.27, or €1.77). She is now a phenomenon adorning over 22,000 products and accounting for half of Sanrio's $1 billion yearly revenue.

Electronic games
Several electronic games have been produced where Kitty appears as the main character. These are some of them:

* Hello Kitty: Happy Party Pals (Nintendo Game Boy Advance, THQ / Webfoot Technologies)
* Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue (Nintendo GameCube)
* Hello Kitty World (Famicom)
* Hello Kitty no Ohanabatake, a Hello Kitty's Flower Shop (Famicom)


Hello Kitty as a character

Several Hello Kitty cartoons/animes targeted towards young children have been produced. On Japanese television, Hello Kitty (and pals) have starred in at least one anime series of their own. Hello Kitty's Paradise ran for 16 episodes between 1993 and 1994. It was first released in English in November 2002.

On USA television, the American-produced Hello Kitty and Friends aired 13 episodes on CBS in 1991.

Since 2004 the little cat has been featured on a MasterCard debit card from Legend Credit Inc. The card was released to teach young girls how to shop.


Official profile of Kitty


* Name: Kitty White
* Birthday: November 1, 1974
* Blood type: A (Negative)
* Place of birth: Suburban London
* Height: That of five apples
* Weight: That of three shiny apples
* Good at: Baking cookies
* Favorite food: Apple pie made by Mama (A.K.A. mum or Mary)
* Favorite word: "Friendship"
* Collects: Small cute things like sweets, stars, goldfish, etc.
* Best school subjects: English, music, visual arts, and pie eating
* Description: A bright and kind-hearted kitten. Very close to her twin sister Mimmy.