50 Fun Facts About Hello Kitty

In what year was Hello Kitty created?

The first product, a vinyl coin purse showing her between a milk bottle and a goldfish bowl, went on sale in Japan in March 1975.

Who was the original designer who created Hello Kitty in 1974?

She left Sanrio in 1976; Yuko Yamaguchi took over as lead designer in 1980 and has held the job ever since.

According to Sanrio's official profile, what is Hello Kitty's family surname?

Her papa is George White and her mama is Mary White; grandpa Anthony tells stories and grandma Margaret likes sewing.

Where does Hello Kitty's official backstory say she lives?

Sanrio describes her as British, and her official birthday is November 1.

What is the name of Hello Kitty's twin sister?

The twins are told apart by their bows: Kitty wears red on her left ear, her sister yellow on the right.

On which date is Hello Kitty's official birthday?

Sanrio Puroland held a multi-day 40th birthday celebration for her in November 2014.

According to her official profile, how tall is Hello Kitty?

Her weight is given as three apples, which is as precise as Sanrio gets.

What reason has Sanrio given for Hello Kitty having no mouth?

The company has also said she 'speaks from the heart', though her lead designer has claimed she does have a mouth hidden in her fur.

Hello Kitty's original designer took the name Kitty from a cat in which classic book?

Early in Lewis Carroll's sequel, Alice plays with a kitten she calls Kitty.

What breed of cat is Hello Kitty a personification of?

The word for such an anthropomorphised character in Japanese is gijinka.

In 2014, headlines claimed Hello Kitty was 'not a cat'. Who had Sanrio told this to?

Sanrio had told Christine Yano that Kitty White was a little English girl, not a cat depicted on all fours; the company later said calling her 'not a cat' went too far.

Hello Kitty's boyfriend, introduced in 1999, is called what?

Later additions to her world include her pet cat Charmmy Kitty and hamster Sugar in 2004.

What is the name of Hello Kitty's superhero alter ego, introduced in 2011?

Ichigo means strawberry in Japanese, a fruit that runs through Sanrio's history, from its Strawberry Newspaper to the Strawberry King character.

Hello Kitty's pet cat, Charmmy Kitty, is what breed?

She was a gift from Kitty's papa, and since her real birthday is unknown the family celebrates October 31, the day Kitty received her.

In which US city did Hello Kitty make her American debut in 1976, at a Sanrio Gift Gate store?

By 2008 there were more than 50,000 Hello Kitty products on sale in over 60 countries.

Which international organisation named Hello Kitty a children's ambassador and 'Special Friend of Children'?

The titles came in 1983 for the US, 1994 for Japan and 2004 for the special title.

In 2008 the Japanese government made Hello Kitty its ambassador of tourism to which two places?

It was the first time Japan's tourism ministry had given the role to a fictional character.

Which airline flies Airbus jets painted with Hello Kitty liveries?

The Taiwanese carrier's Hello Kitty jets have themed boarding passes, meals and cabin crew aprons.

Since 2005, Hello Kitty has appeared on a Stratocaster guitar made under which brand?

The pink guitar became a cult item, and Sanrio's high-end tie-ins have run all the way up to Louis Vuitton.

The 2023 game Hello Kitty Island Adventure won Game of the Year on which platform?

The cosy social simulation set on an island of Sanrio characters later came to Switch, PC and PlayStation 5.

What was the first animated TV series starring Sanrio's mouthless cat, from 1987, called?

It ran for 13 episodes; critics have said her lack of a mouth has held her back as an animated character.

Which pop star adopted Hello Kitty as a fashion statement in the late 1990s, boosting the brand among adults?

The 1990s repositioning as a retro brand for teenagers and adults took Hello Kitty to her peak in Japan.

Who founded Sanrio in 1960?

He ran the company for 60 years before handing control to his grandson Tomokuni in 2020.

What did Sanrio's founding company originally sell before it moved into cute characters?

In 1962 Tsuji added rubber sandals with painted flowers, noticed how a cute design boosted sales, and the rest followed.

Which American comic-strip character did Sanrio license in Japan before creating its own?

Tsuji then hired in-house designers so the company would not have to pay outside royalties; its first original character, Coro Chan, arrived in 1973.

Which British children's characters did Sanrio buy the rights to in 2011?

The company also still owns the Japanese licensing rights to the Peanuts characters.

Sanrio Puroland, the indoor Hello Kitty theme park, is in which Japanese city?

It opened in Tama New Town in December 1990 and draws more than 1.5 million visitors a year; Sanrio's outdoor park, Harmonyland, is on Kyushu.

The annual Sanrio Character Ranking, in which fans vote for their favourites, began in which year?

It started in Sanrio's Strawberry Newspaper and now takes votes online from around the world.

When My Melody debuted in 1975, she was dressed as which fairy-tale character?

The rabbit's popularity faded in the late 1980s and revived in 1997 when fans voted her back and her red hood returned.

My Melody's rival wears a black jester's hat decorated with what?

She first appeared in the 2005 anime Onegai My Melody and has also been drawn as leader of a biker gang called Kuromi's 5.

What kind of animal is Keroppi?

'Kero' is a frog's croak in Japanese, and the first Keroppi items in 1988 were a rainy-season promotion.

Cinnamoroll, created in 2001, is a white puppy whose curly tail resembles what?

His long ears let him fly, and his official birthday is March 6.

Pompompurin, who wears a brown beret, is what kind of dog?

He was designed to look like a pudding, and his friends are named Muffin, Scone, Bagel and Custard.

Gudetama, who debuted in 2013, is a lazy anthropomorphic what?

The name combines the Japanese words for lazy and egg, and Netflix gave the character its own show in 2022.

Retsuko, the star of Aggretsuko, is a red panda who relieves office stress by doing what?

The 25-year-old accountant's Netflix series ran for five seasons from 2018.

Bad Badtz-Maru, the spiky-haired penguin, has a name that figuratively means what?

Batsu is the X for a wrong answer and maru the O for a right one, so he is often written as XO.

The Little Twin Stars, Kiki and Lala, share which birthday?

They were created for a 1975 Christmas promotion, and their designer also drew My Melody.

Pochacco, the sporty white dog with black floppy ears, has an official birthday on which unusual date?

His name comes from pocha pocha, meaning chubby, and he was born in Fuwafuwa Town.

Chococat gets his name from what feature?

His whiskers supposedly work like antennae, so he is always first to know the news.

The Japanese cultural phenomenon of cuteness that Hello Kitty came to symbolise is called what?

The culture flourished in the 1970s alongside youth handwriting styles and manga, with Hello Kitty as its poster child.

The 2025 Netflix stop-motion series for My Melody's 50th anniversary paired her with which character?

The pair are friends and rivals, and Kuromi's sidekick My Sweet Piano turns out in the show to be able to talk rather than bleat.

What was the first Hello Kitty product, sold in Japan in March 1975?

The design showed her sitting between a bottle of milk and a goldfish bowl.

Who has been Hello Kitty's lead designer since 1980?

She says fashion, movies and TV inspire her new themed designs.

How does Mimmy's bow differ from Hello Kitty's?

Hello Kitty wears a red bow on her left ear.

What are the first names of Hello Kitty's papa and mama?

Grandpa Anthony likes telling stories and grandma Margaret likes sewing.

Roughly what were Hello Kitty's worldwide annual sales in 2013?

By 2008 she was responsible for half of Sanrio's $1 billion net income.

Which musician composed the Hello Kitty theme song 'Hello Hello', unveiled in 2014?

He was also the first celebrity to get his own Hello Kitty doll, Yoshikitty.

A Hello Kitty-themed maternity hospital opened in 2008 in which country?

The owner in Yuanlin hoped the theme would ease the stress of childbirth.

Which artist's 1994 'Hello Kitty Nativity' display at Barneys replaced the Christ Child with Hello Kitty?

In the scene the Virgin Mary was Madonna and the three Kings were all Bart Simpson.

Besides Puroland, Sanrio's Harmonyland theme park is in which Japanese prefecture?

There is also Hello Kitty Shanghai Times in China.