She let's you feel how you feel without forcing you to question why.” “Hello Kitty represents the deep desire among all people, regardless of nationality or race, to feel joy and happiness, without having to qualify it at any deep intellectual level,” Sanrio’s public relations manager Kazuo Tohmatsu tells BBC Culture. “We project upon that mouth-less, expressionless kitten, making her the perfectly interactive toy or doll or marketing tool in an age where interactivity is not only desired, it's expected.” As one of her designers told me: ‘Kitty feels like you do,’” explains Roland Nozomu Kelts, the author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the US. “Kitty's appeal is that she's an emotional blank slate. So, why have we all become such pushovers for the feline? The company that holds the copyright, Sanrio, makes around $759m in annual revenue off the cat alone. Now Hello Kitty appears on over 50,000 products that are sold in more than 70 countries, and is a brand worth $7bn. Remarkably, such world-domination has been achieved with little advertising relying instead on word-of-mouth. The famous feline, originally drawn by designer Yuko Shimizu to appeal to kindergarten children, has been adopted as a style icon by the likes of Lady Gaga. Kitty-shaped guitars and even Hello Kitty tombstones abound. Search Hello Kitty, however, and you’ll find the kitten, which is basically just a narrative-free, trademarked drawing, garners 10 million more. Googling Mickey Mouse reaps about 23 million results. From Marrakech to Honolulu, the ubiquitous red-ribboned cat now stands top-tier in any toy display. Hello Kitty turns 40 this autumn, and we can now see that she was the Trojan Horse that led to the global domination of Japanese ‘cute culture’. Now, what is left of our species, children and adults alike, have succumbed, making ‘Kitty chan’, as she is better known in Japan, one of the most recognisable graphics on Earth. Seven people were injured and three taken to hospital for treatment. In 2000, a shortage of toys displaying the beloved cat at one of the city’s McDonald’s restaurants led to the unleashing of darker, violent instincts when a riot ensued. After Japan, Singapore was the first to suffer an outbreak.
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