She has been a UNICEF ambassador, a special envoy for Japan’s Foreign Ministry and the subject of themed restaurants, cafes, ...

Among the trash that balloons carried over the border from North were articles printed with Hello Kitty characters, badly worn clothing, and soil containing traces of human feces and parasites ...

For fifty years, her facial features have largely remained unchanged. But as Sanrio illustrator Yuko Yamaguchi, who oversaw ...

but some women see an empowering symbol in her mouthless face. “Shrewd” is how Mika Nishimura, a design professor at Tokyo’s Meisei University, describes the way Hello Kitty conquered the ...

Sanrio accomplished no easy feat, maintaining the brand as a pop culture powerhouse for over 50 years. From being featured on ...

"Hello Kitty's face is a blank canvas onto which anyone can project their feelings," says Tokyo-based author Andreas Neuenkirchen, who has written a non-fiction book about the popular cat character.

“I wanted Hello Kitty to become more energetic,” she said. “And since she was the face of Sanrio, and was born as a symbol of friendship, I wanted to make lots of friends for her.

but some women see an empowering symbol in her mouthless face. “Shrewd” is how Mika Nishimura, a design professor at Tokyo’s ...