Japan has given the world lots of amazing gifts. Sushi, Anime about high school swim teams (which is more entertaining than it should be), giant robots. The most famous gift Japan has given the world is Hello Kitty.
Hello Kitty is a mascot character from Sanrio which embodies everything cute. She can be found on every sort of product from toothbrushes to toasters to cars. Hello Kitty is everywhere and on the eve of her 40th anniversary the real truth has been revealed.
Hello Kitty is not, infact, a kitty. Hard to believe.
Christine R. Yano, an anthropologist from the Univesity of Hawaii is curating a Hello Kitty retrospective at the Japanese American National Museum in October. She discovered that Hello Kitty is not a cat when Sanrio corrected her written texts for the exhibit.
Hello Kitty is not a cat. She is a little girl eternally stuck in the 3rd grade. Hello Kitty is many things, she is a friend, a girl, she’s British but she is not a cat. This explains why Hello Kitty (her full name being Kitty White), has her own pet cat. Charmmy Kitty. Hello Kitty wears clothes and walks on two legs while her pet cat does not wear clothes and walks on four legs. I’m sensing a Goofy and Pluto situation here.
So there you have it. Even though Hello Kitty is not actually a cat, she still brings cuteness wherever she goes.
And if you’re asking why Hello Kitty doesn’t have a mouth here is your answer: “Hello Kitty speaks from her heart. She’s Sanrio’s ambassador to the world and isn’t bound to any particular language.”