or have sex using a Hello Kitty condom.) Sanrio, the company which owns the character, makes almost $4bn in sales annually. Kitty’s popularity is emblematic of the global craze for cute things.

Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific. “In that cute blankness, she speaks to people, and they think she’s ‘mine.’” That’s certainly true in my household, where my kids think they ...

Yano is recognized for her expertise in cultural anthropology and Japanese popular culture. She is author of the 2013 book ...

Hello Kitty, the cute, enigmatic character that adorns everything from handbags to rice cookers, turns 50 on Friday -- and is still making millions for her Japanese creators. The simple design of ...

A visitor looks at giant Hello Kitty display at the exhibition ... a misunderstanding of “kawaii,” which is Japanese for “cute” but also connotes a lovable or adorable essence.

These efforts laid what we might term the first “geological layer” of Hello Kitty’s US strategy. Over time, each generation’s collective memory of the cute Japanese knick-knacks that they ...

TOKYO — Hello Kitty, the cute, enigmatic character that adorns everything from handbags to rice cookers, turns 50 on Friday — still making millions for her Japanese creators. The simple design of the ...