After talking about Mario last week, we will now take a look at another extremely famous Japanese cartoon character. Sure, Mario is the mascot for the gaming industry and is beloved by young and old but there is another little kitty that made its way into the hearts of million little girls and even adults: hello kitty. 

Hello kitty is a cartoon cat, produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, created by the designer Yuko Shimizu.
Shortly after her creation in 1974, Hello Kitty greeted the world with a “Hello!” on her first product. The Hello Kitty vinyl coin purse was introduced by Sanrio in March 1975. The character was then brought to the United States in 1976. By 2010, Sanrio had groomed Hello Kitty into a global marketing phenomenon worth $5 billion a year, by 2014, when Hello Kitty was 40 years old, she was worth about $7 billion a year, all without advertising.

Originally aimed at girls, Hello Kitty’s market has broadened to include adult consumers. She can be found on a variety of products ranging from school supplies to fashion accessories and high-end consumer products. Including various diamond necklaces. Several TV shows, targeted towards children, have been produced.
The official character profiles for Hello Kitty lists her full name as Kitty White, born in London, on November 1. Her height is described as five apples and her weight as three apples. Her head accounts for approximately half of her total body mass.

Hello kitty has a whole family which lives with her, including a sister, Mimmy, and even grandparents.
Both, the hello kitty universe and the franchise are extremely large and a billboard of Japanese character design and popular culture. If you’re interested in hello kitty and you’re in Japan, be careful about your money because you can get literally everything with a hello kitty touch to it.