Hello Kitty in Taiwan

At the Hello Kitty store Taiwan (airport), Hello Kitty is big business. In fact, the popularity of Hello Kitty has become worldwide. Although Hello Kitty originated in London for the Japanese company Sanrio in 1974.

front of Hello Kitty store at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
photo by shari smith dunaif © 2016

Hello Kitty is a gijinka, an anthropomorphism or personification of an animal –

white Japanese Bobtail ca

in this case a white Japanese Bobtail cat,

with a red bow.

Hello Kitty with red bow
photo by shari smith dunaif © 2016

In 1962, Shintaro Tsuji, founder of Sanrio, began selling rubber sandals with flowers painted on them. He noted that by adding cute designs on the sandals, they sold even better, so he hired illustraters to design Kawaii (a Japanese marketing approach that permeates cuteness into Japanese consumer culture). Sanrio wanted to add to it’s early characters of a dog, a bear and a strawberry (???) for Sanrio’s new product: coin purses. The result was Hello Kitty, designed in 1974 by Yuko Shimizu.

Yuko Shimizu, original designer of Hello Kitty.

Hello Kitty purses and coin purses, Taiwan Hello Kitty store photo by shari smith dunaif @2016

Hello Kitty’s first appearance on a product, was in Japan on the vinyl coin purse:  she was pictured sitting between a bottle of milk and a goldfish bowl.

She first appeared in the United States in 1976.