Copyright Cl) 2004 by .lohn Wiley & Sons (A~ia) I'll' l..

td

Published in 2004 by John Wil ~~y & Sons (Asi11) Pte Ltd
2 Clementi Loop 1102-0·1, Singapore 129809

All rights reserved.

No p<lrt of thb publication may be reproduced, stored in a retri ev<1 I system or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or
otlwrwise, except <lS expressly permitted by law, without either the prior written permission
of the Publisher, or authoriz<1tion through payment of the appropriate photocopy fo(~ to
the Copyright Clearanl~e Center. Requests for permission should be addressed to th (~
Publisher, John Will~Y & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd, 2 Clementi Loop, #02-01, Singapore 129809,
tel: 65-64632400, fox : 65-64634605, em<1il: enquiry@wiley.com.sg.

This publication is designed to provide general information in regard to the subject matter
and it is sold with th.e understanding that neither the Publisher, Editor or Author are engaged
in providing legal, accounting or other professional advic~~ or sen'kes and do not· in any
way warranty the accuracy or appropriateness of an y of the formulae or instructions
discussed in thf~ Publication nor provide any warranty that use of any of th(~ same may not
cause injury, illness or damage to the user. Readers should seek appropriatl~ advin~ from
s uitable qualified profossinnals or obtuin independent advice or verification of the relevanct~
and appropriateness of th<, use l)f any formuh1 or instructions prior to use of these in rdation
to any of their activities.

Olltt!I' Wiley Editorial Ojjlces:

111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ, 07010, USA
The Atrium, Southern Cate, Chichc,;tcr 1'019 8SQ, England
John \.Yiley & Sons (Canada) Ltd, 22 Worn·~t('r Rl><1d, Rexdale, Ontario M9V\l 1Ll,Canadn
John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd, :n !'ark Road (PO lfox 1226), Milton, Queensland 4064,
Australia
Wiley - VCH, Pappdci llee 3, 69469 Weinhcim, Cermany

Li/Jrnry of Congri~s$ C111·11/ogi11g i11 l'u/!liml io11 /)11111

ISBN 0-470-82094-2

Typeset in 12/14 point, l'al<1linn by M.C. Dnrl'tt.

l'rinted in Sing<1porc by S.1ik Wah l'n!s~ I'll' 1.td .
Hl98765 •13 2 I
 ~c9ntents
fbcl-<newle(}gements VII

lntrerJuctien

'fJect9nstructing ~ell& f(ittg

ne @&rJ a/ 'f<..awaii !2.,9

Tire Cat Cames rfhlive 59

'f(fttg @&es <fb6r&arJ 87

f(jttg 'f<._ulture ii'7
Vefiling :Pfellt9 f<ittg i'67
t3ranrJing :Pfelle 'f(fttg i'<01'

~elle !<ittg anrJ tire ZrJe&l&jjj. e/?Pleasure i87

lnrJex ~t97
Crowing up on Long Island in the 1970s, I discovered that my sister
was hooked on a new set of toys: 1-icllo Kitty. She had pencil~, pads,
purses, all girlish cute yet somehow appealing. Best of all, th e stuff
was affordable - a dollar here, $1.50 there. With 1T1oney ea rned as
a babysitter, I could buy some of the stuff to give her as gifts.
Flash forvvard to l 994, vvhcn n1y s ister visited Japa n. \!Vhile
wand ering through a department s tore, I found her doubled over
laughing in fr ont of a Hello Kitty display. Like Arnold in the
Terminator , Kitty was back.
Kitty ren1ained our inside joke until 20lrl, when Wiley
approached m.e to vvr.i tc this book. I vvas intrigued about the vvorld 's
rnost fan1ous cat, but had little ti.rnc to organ ize s uch a project.
Brian Bremner, my forn1er boss at Business vVeek, convinced me
otherwise. He d idn't just encourage m e, he took on half the project.
Dual authorship is no easy m.attcr. Egos get in the way, vvriting
styles di ffer and parh1ers get sick of each other. None of that \.Yas
the case \.Yith Brian. Not only is he a great vvriter, but he is a
th.o ughtful friend and a serious th in ker \.Yith a qui ck 'Nit. His
mellow demeanor ba lanced n1y fren z ied pace. I can not imagine
a better ,,vriting cohort.
We vvere for tunate to work vvith the folks at Wi ley, especially
Nick VValhvork who vvas the driver of the project, and Malar
Ma.noharan , \vho was a reassuring a nd s teady editor. Thanks to

..
Vll
Vll l Hello Kitty

Paul ine Pek, ,,vho also help ed us searc h for Nick. CJ Hvv u did a
grea t job bang ing the text .in to sha pe. Chri s New son and his tl'<ltn
helped us vvith the m arke ting.
K.azu hid e Yone yam a at the Sanr i o head quar ters dese rves speci al
1nent.ion. Fron1 the tiine vve first m et in Augu st 2001, he hand led
tny ret1u ests for inforn1ati on a nd inter vievv s prec isely , quic kly nnd
serio usl y. We r ece ived excellent coop erati on fro m Tsuji -shac ho on
dovvn. At no poin t did Sanr io try to vet our inte rviews or pre vent
us from vvriting anyt hing.
Thou gh I \vork ed on this proje ct in the even ings a nd on the
\1Veekends, than ks go to my co lleag ues at the New York Tin1e s.
They were not invo lved direc tly \-Vith the book, bu t their help with
n1y \-vork at the nevvspap er rnad e doin g both proje cts possible.
Spec ial than ks go to Ch ieko Tsun eoka , who did a first- ra te job
trans la ting seve ral cruci al Japa nese texts. I-fer dilig ence , knc.n-v ledg e
o f anim ation and expe rienc e work ing on book s were both help ful
and valu able .
Ther e arc too m any frien ds to than k here for the ir enco urag e1nc nt
and ideas (and p ron1iscs to buy the book !). My fa1niJy, too, s tood
by me even \·v hen \.v e vvcnt long perio ds \N.ithout meet ing, tin1e that
I can not repla ce. My sister, in parti cular , vvas a cons tant inspi ratio n
a nd grea t help vvith conta cts and ideas . My niece, Enun a, vvith her
close t ful l of H ello Kitty, prov ed ou r poin t that this cute cat has
univ e rsal a ppea I.
My vvife , Haru mi, not only endu red my endless hour s in fron t
of the com pute r, b ut p ut up vv ith nly obse ssion \-vith Kitty . Sh e \·v as
com pass iona te and supp ortiv e far beyo nd \-vhat I can possibly offer
1n return. T bi s book is dedi c<'l ted to h er.

Ken Belso n
 A cknouJ/edgerne11 /'s lX

My fascination vvith all things H.ello Ki tty comes from a different

perspective than Ken. I had been va g uely a1;vare of the Moon-faced
one over the years, but had never real ly given the cat a passing
thought. TI1at all changed \vith the arrival of n1y h.vo daugh ters-
M arie and Elena- during the latter h a lf of the 1990s. My education
begaJi vvi th the arrival of Kitty-chan baby spoon s, n appies, bibs,
and t-shirts.
With each passing yea r, though, a d eluge of Sanri o artifacts
s tarted shovving up across our household. Then one Xmas Eve, on
a Jast-n1inute s hopping excursion vvith 1ny v.r ife, Yuki, I found
111yself shelling out $20 or so for a pink, Hello-Ki tty-festoone d
vacuum cleaner for the little ones. It w asn' t the shrevvd est purchase
of my life. But I knew the girls \.Vould be enrapttu·ed, for they \'\'ere
hooked on the brand and, in a vveird \vay, I \Vas, too .
Sorting all that out, plus the larger puzzle of \.Vhy cuteness is
son1e thing close to an aesthetic value in Japan, really got n:ie thinking
about 1-lello Kitty in a serious vvay. Deciding to work vvith Ken \-Vas
a no-brainer. Sin1ply put, he is one of the classiest acts that I have
ever had the pleasure to work with . H e is a top-flight journalist
and a va lued friend.
l second Ken's acknow'lcdg ment to the team at Wil ey and the
generous access that Sanrio granted us for this book. f'd like to
th ank Naoko N ishivvaki for her fin e research work and also
Bus inessWeek Editor-in-Ch ief Steve Shepard for al lo\.ving n1e to
ta ke on this project. 1-'i nally, I'd like to ded icate this book to the
cu ties tha t bring much joy to m y life: Yuki, ·M arie and Elena.

13rian Brernner
 %ntre~uctien

•••
•
First tin1e visito rs to Japa n are, in ma ny \Nays, all
alike, vvhethcr they come from the U.S., Germ any or
Chin a. At firs t glance, they see Toky o, the n1 ost
frequ ent g<ite\.vay for trips to Japan , as n buzz ing
yet orde rly c ity cra mme d vvith offic es, apa rtme nt block s,
resta uran ts and. thou sand s of store s. The coun try's con1mercial
n1ight is on displ ay: the stree ts are filled vvith truck s, taxis and
cars, a 1.1 seen1ingly fiJJed 1-Vith polite, purp osefu l drive rs; legions
of office 1,vorkers dutif ully file out of pack ed subw ay cars and
into pack ed eleva tors that take them to their offices; the stree ts
a re spotl ess a nd the taxi driv e rs even wear white gloves.
EverythLng seem s to vvork.
Scra tch a bit deep er, thou gh, and you'll find a rauco us
medi ri \Var going on. Tt's the fight for peop le's Cltten tion.
Ever ywhe re in this narro'i.v coun try, citize ns are bom bard ed.
with signs, symb ols and all mann er of come-ons . Som e pitch es
arc subtle and obliq ue, like pictu res of famo us pop stars
plast ered on billbo a rds endo rsing a prod uct. Ever yone know s
they don't actua lly use it, but th eir face somehovv lends the
prod uct some credibility. Wor ds aren 't need ed, im.a gcs seem

3
 Introduction 4

nic,
to be eno ugh. Som etimes, the pitc h is uni nten ti onall y iro
ered
like the "Sm oki n' clea n" log o of a smi ling sala rym an p last
it's
on sn10Jdering pub lic ash tray s. Wh a teve r the med iun l,
es
clea r Jap ane se are exp ose d to tho usa nds of the se mes sag
r1,
eve ryd ay. In n1a ny way s, they have beco1ne obli vio us to ther
pas t
n1o stly out of nec essi ty, like th e gra ndm as wal kin g
of
scre ami ng bai1ds of s tree t havvke rs h and ing ou t packets
ny
tiss ues \.Vith adv ertisers ' messag es insj de. 13 ut wit h so ina
h
com pan ies put ting so mu ch ene rgy into gett ing their pitc
the
across, it's fa ir to say that Japanese hav e becon1e so1n e of
ls.
wor ld 's mo st sop hist icat ed con nois seurs of signs and sy n1bo
n
Thi s mak es sense in a cou ntry wl1ere non-ver bal co1 nmt micatio
's
is often the pre ferr ed means of com mu nica tion and the cou ntry
wit h
lan gua ge is a series of pictogran'ls called kanji. It also fits
lls,
Jap an's long trad itio n of g rap hic arts - eve ryth ing from scro
ks)
to water co]ors to woo dbl ock prin ts, to n1n1Lga (comic boo
ges ,
and anirne (Clni1nated vide o) - Japane se love usin g ima
artistic or otherw ise, to com mtt nicate.
lt mak es sen se then , tha t Jap an has also pro duc ed one of
the \vor ld's inos t su ccessfu l com mer cial ima ges , a d e1nu rc
ccit
re
CC\ lled Hel lo Ki tty. Mickey Mo use and Snoop y n1ay be mo
ney
fam ous and luc rati ve cha rac ters, than ks to a stri ng of Dis
e llo
rno vies and the lon g-ru nn ing Pea nuts com ic stri ps. But H'
at
Kit ty is pur e in1agcry. Wit h fe\v excepti ons , h er crea tors
San rio Ltd . hav e pur pos ely s hied av.ray from develop ing
any
eye s
stor y to h er life , inst ead leClvi.ng her per son alit y to the
and m inds of the behol der . This Zen -like tech niq ue,
inte n-
cess
tion ally or not , has allo\ved Kit ty to beco me at onc e the prin
and
o f purjty to tod dle rs, a cud dly pla ymate for you ng girls
the r
a wal k d own mem ory lane fo r adults yea rnu 1g for ano
fied
taste of chi ldh ood . At the sam e ti1ne, .Kitty has bee n vil.i
by a nnrch o-fe min is ts, Cl n ti -con sun 1er cr itics and oth ers
who
jun k in <l
sec her as pa r t' of ,1 dev ilish plo t to SL' ll vvo rthl l'SS
s.1cch<lr i nl' swe et p.1 ck.1gc.
\Nh .1lL'\'t• r s id e l 11' t ht· .1 rg11 n1l'nl \l(lll Lill
<111 , lht•rl''s np
1\ 1th1111gh
dl' ll Vi11 g th .it "ill y n11·.ins b11 s int•s s hig h1 ts i Ill ·ss.
 Introduction 5
Sanrio has a lineup of n1ore than 400 d ifferent characters,
Kitty, vvho vvas created in 1974, generates about half of
Sanrio's $1 billion in an.nual sales. She is stuck on more than
20,000 products, about one-third produced by Sanrio and
the rest licensed to outsiders (generating billions in inore
revenue) in every n1ajor economy on the globe. Her inoon-
shaped face h.a s been slapped on every imaginable product:
clothing and toys, of course, but also toasters, trashcans and,
for a while, automobiles. She has spawned films, television
sho\NS and a newspaper, and has beco1ne one of the Ln.o st
coveted brand i.m.a ges in the world. Bill Gates thought so
highly of Hello Kitty that he reportedly \Vas w illing to pay
$5.6 billion to acquire her copyright.
f(itty is also part of Japan's gro'\ivi.ng - c.u1d iI1creasingly
global - entertainment industry; .one that is worth behveen
$400 billion and $500 billion a year, or up to lOtYo of the country's
gross dom.e stic prod.uct in 2002. 1 Whether it b e nlanga, anhne,
video gan1es or dozens of other media, Japan has been turned
into a national Toon Town, a giant petri cli.sh for the graphic
«1rts. Manga alone generates $6 billion a year in sales, and 60°/o
of the world's animated videos are produced in Japan.
c:ompanies like Sega, Nintend.o and Sony have carved out a
huge chunk of America's 1nulti-billion dollar video game
n1;1rket. Sanrio, Bandai, Kona1ni and others are d.oing the
s,1 1n1:~ in the toy n1arket.
This book attempts to explain ho'"' all tl ·s came to be, and
to posit where it is all headed. By looki11.g at Hello ... ~itt_v, we hope
I<> s hovv that Sanrio stumbled onto one of the inost mg<-'Tlious
f1 >rrn ulas in the h istory of n1odern branding. By sticking her cu'-"
Lice on practica lly everything, Sanrio has crea ted an entire
1 ·on1n1crcial category vvhere cute and consumers converge, often

in unexpected vvays. Though Japan is Kitty's home, her brand

11 1>WL'r has < 1lluvved her tn spre;1d th roughou t Asia a11d, tnore
r1 'CL'nll y, tn the U.S. Dnd Europe. \!Vl•'ll find out vvhy.
This t-r;1ns f11rrn;1ti11n vv;1s ncit s in1pl y the res ult of sl;1v is h
1 11ns u1111·rs gt·t ting s t 1r kl'd in tll .i c 11111 1111· rci.ii 111<1 w. Kill y's s u CCL'SS
 Introduction 6
is part of lhl' rise of \Vh cl t Wl' (\ lii the "cu l tu re Of Cllll'," ,)
un iq ue blend of post-1nodern desire and infanti le c1ffccl<ltion.
This, too, grew up first in Japan in the 1970s an d 1980s Cl nd
is now spreading overseas. Sanrio's founder, Shintaro Tsuji,
vvas one of the first businessn1en to tap into this market and
one of the n1ost skilled practitioners at m.i ning his characters
for millions.
Thou gh Kitty remains hugely popular, she, like zill brands,
m.ust be managed and 1nassaged to remain profitable. And as
she nears the end of her third decade in the public eye, there
are signs that her appeal is starting to fade in some corner's.
Sanrio, like many companies, is scrambling to come up with
alternative strategies for grovving its business. In this way,
Kitty represents c.m engaging and ongoing study in brand
manage m E:~ nt. For decades, Scin rio has been steered by Tsuji's
heavy hcind. Born in 1927, Tsuji is nearing retire1nent and
questions are emerging about whether the compa ny ha s a
strategy to replace his instil1cts and charisma. Indeed, how
Sanrio deals vvith these challenges '"'ill help determine whether
Kitty will remain one of the world's most recognizable images,
or whether she v.1ill turn into ca t litter an d seguestered to the
cartoon trash heap.

ENDN.OTES
1
Rona ld Ylor~e. 1>,iul I. Tcrasaki Chair in U.S.-Jilp11n Rt•l,1tions at CCLA. L:CLA A~i,1 ln~tituh·:
The Battll' for the Clobal Ente r ta inment l nd u~try: Japa n's G rowing Strength in l)igi ta l
Cultun-, Jan. 2003 published article.
 Vecenstructlng :kelle 1<1®

•••
•
You'd think Hello Kitty and the \.vhole cutie-pie
routine vvould be pretty ephen1eral stuff, hardly
vvorthy of discussion to commentators of Japan's
intellectual l ife. or n1arketing pros interested in
product design, branding and just plain selling a lot of stuff.
Pop icon? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, aren't \Ne
basically talking about a fluffy feline whose basic preoccupation
in life is to have tea parties and make friends all over the vvorld?
That is precious, but so v.rhat? T.h is isn't exactly Harvard
Business School case-study n:ia.terial. Nor is Kitty by any stretch
of the imagination the only, or even most interesting, cultural
export. Surely Japan's premier animator Hayao Miyazaki,
director of the critically acclaimed Spirited Ai:vay, fashion
designer Issey .Miyake, or perhaps the classical music maestro
Seiji Oza"lva better reflect Japan's emergence in recent decades
as a cultural superpower as \Vell as an economic one. This is
Japanese high art, not cute camp.
And yet, and yet, it is Kitty that fascinates and somehow
hovers n1ost visibly above the non-stop ,,vindstorn1 of ideas,
fads, buzz and motifs that drives and shape Japanese popular

7
 Deconstructing Hello Kitty 8

cultu re. Kitty beguiles on sever,1 1 levels. The n1ost obvious

one: I-low did a cartoon characte r so sin1p le in design - <i
round head, button nose, a red ribbon and no mouth -
ach ieve near cult-like sta tus in ternation ally as a fashion icon.
Kitty lacks the pedigre e, nostalgi a factor an d body of
s upportin g televisio n and filn1 work going back to 1927 that
g ives one a pretty good idea of what Mickey Mouse is Gill
about. Charles Schulz la unched his Peanuts newsp<lper cartoon
in 1950 and Snoopy emerged as a cleverly ironic characte r that
one could track in a globally syndicated comic s trip as V\rell
as televisio n and filn1. Kitty by contrast was devised in 1974,
and though there are assorted books and videos about her,
the storyline has ah·vays been minimal ist to the extreme . Also,
for decades sl1e wasn't inuch of a standou t in the global
characte r goods business .
The ti.pping point of her popularity in Japan didn't con1e
until "1996 and in the n1id 1990s her popular ity surged in Asia
and more recently in the U.S. and parts of Europe. NoV\1 by
most metrics such as brand avvarcness and licensing fees,
l<itty currentl y reigns as one of the w1dispu ted leaders of
Japa11's $"16 billion (2 trillion Yen) ch aracter goods business.
There is somethi ng, dare vve say it, so post-mo dern about
Kitty. Surely, some enterpri sing cultural anthrop ologist at
this very n101nent is dcconstr ucting Kitty for an upcon1in g
doctoral disse rtation entitled , Tr1111sfonning The Boundaries:
Sy1nbolic Values and the Tn1ngined Con1n111nity of Hello Kitty. A t
the risk of enraging French-i nfluenced literary theorists the
world over, vve'Jl take a s tab at a boilerpl ate definitio n of pos t-
moderni sn1 as it applies to Kitty. Basically , the PoMo set
believes that there are no ulti.mate truths about things. That's
an illusion. Tns tead, how one vievvs sometl1i ng - a piece of
litera ture, history or vexing question s such as vvhy Kitty and
her t\,vin s is ter Mim 1ny appear \.vith n1ouths in videos, but
sans n1ouths on store shelves - is heavily influenc ed by
his tory, prevaili ng ideologi es or otherwis e socially construc ted
by bias, yearning s or whateve r.
 Deconstructing Hello Kitty 9

l<iu y's des igne rs ilt S<1nrio in Tokyo g<1ve her <1 birthplace
i11 I ,ondun. She vveighs the s,1111e Cls th ree apples, likes to play
i11 the fo rest, p r<1ctice pi<1no or bake. To ordinary Japanese,
t hl'sl' <l re <1 ssociations vv ith vvhat the y imagine to be provincial
1:11gl ish li fe . But to kids in Tai\van or Hong Kong, 'ivhere Kitty
i:-. .il l the rage, the fur ball is decidedly Japanese. Political an.d
I ringt' groups on the World Wide Web have hijacked l<.itty's
in1dge for all sorts of reasons. l)ne site entitled Hello Kitty:
/1

/\ n in1al I~ights for Beginners" tells its visitors that, "If you
luvc 1-lello Kitty so n1uch, you are ready to explore the deeper
tho ughts on all the other real fluffies." One is then encouraged
lo click on related links and view sto1nach-churning i1:nages
1
l lf <1 nin1 al vivisection and the horrors of factory far1ning. This

is n't cute - trust us on this one.

Kitty's global success also debunks the entire notion that
the globalization of culture automatica)ly means "made in the
U.S.1\." To noted Japanophile1 Douglas McGray, vvriting for
the <1ugust Foreign Policy journal in n1id -2002, Kitty is proof
positive that Japan's cultural influence and relevance globally
is on the rise. Ja.pan's ability to project military force abroad
n1ay be he1n1ned in by a \.\rar-renouncing constitution, and its
economic provvess greatly diminished since the 1980s, but
Kitty and other cultural exports represent \>Vhat foreign-policy
\Nizards such as Joseph S. Nye Jr. of Harvard University call
;,soft power." McGray tips his hat to Kitty as an inspired b.it
of cultural fusion and suggests it's en1ble1natic of the "genius
behind Japanese cultural strength in a global era that has
n1anv 2
, countries nervous about cultural erosion."
()thers see her in a less flattering light. The cute chic Kitty
c 1nbodies is encouraging Japanese wo1nen to play a submissive
role. Fen1inists deplore the fa.et that Japanese teens, with their
pink lipstick, butterfly hair bcu1ds and pastel colored threads,
affect squeaky voices, pout their lips and stan1p their feet
vvhen they are angry and purposely act clueless. All this is
really abou t the male cultural domination and exploitation of
vvomen in Japan. Tt encourages girls and young \Vomen 'ivell
 Deconstructing Hello Kitti;
10
in l u tli v ir I.ill' 2 ()..; lo tl t'l :-. ubn1i s:-. ivl', V\' L'<lk ,1 nd innucL'nl r;1 thcr
th.1n 1n.1l urL', ,1s~c r live ,1nd indep enden t. /\nd there is no
dL• n ying th<1t ultro -c uti e g irls, espec ially those sport in g
Pruss iC1 n -style s choo l unjfor n1s oddl y enou g h, are a s tead y
s taple in Japan ese porno graph y.
The fascin ating thing about Kitty is that for a cat vvith n o
mout h, she m an ages both to speak to a globa I zr udience and
szry di ffe rent thing s to differen t people. And from a strate gic
m.ark eting point of vievv - at least in this case:~ - sayin g less
is defini tely n1ore \vhe n it come s to devel oping this brand .

JAPAN AS TOO N TOW N

Vieived fron1 a different perspe:~c tive, I-Tello Kitty also szrys a lot
about the count ry from -vvhich she emerg ed - Japan . But to
understC1nd just how deep the connections run, you rezrlly need
to delve into Ja pc.u1's uniqu e cute culture or \vhat tht:~y call kaiuaii
bunka. The Japan ese worsh ip cuten ess in all of its for1ns . What
Kitty is really emble matic of isn't just a passin g fash ion statem ent,
but so1nethll1g closer to an aesth etic value that ru.ns extrem ely
deep in the societ y and gende r roles, partic ularly an1on g vvomen .
So take an insuli n shot and read on.
Any visito r to Ja pan circa 2003, at least not one on heavy
n1ediczrtion, could n't help but notice that "cute " is a n om ni -
prese nt fo rce in Japan . The every day lands cape of Tokyo -
the ad banne rs o n the subvvays, storef ront sign , d i.gital displa y
scree ns and va rious for1ns of mass n1edia Ii ke .. u111:<n and
fashio n rnaga z ines - <ire just oozin g vvith the stuff. Son1eti1nr-5
it is the forn1 of ea rtoon chara cters that a re often used zi s
pitch men for all rnann er of Japan ese produ cts. A b road array
of consu mer-p roduc t corn panie s, fi nancia 1servic e outfit s, even
the gover nmen t, has licens ed czi rtoon characters to jazz up
their adver tis ing. On the p acked Keio train line that takes
thous ands of co1nn 1uters bti ck and forth every d8y fron1
down town to Toky o's s prawl ing vveste rn subur bs, I-Tell.o Kitty
 Deconstr11ctin:z Hello Kitty 11

\\',1rns s lr.iph.i n gc rs not to k·,111 ;1g,1ins l lhe door. All Nippo n

1\i n1v<1ys d l'cP r<
1 tcs th e l'Xtl' ri o r of so n1e of its Boe ing 747s vvith
1 h,1r,1ctc rs fro n1 Poken1 on . Pol ice stJlio ns in the Ginza
look
Ii kl' g ingerb read ho uses.
Th e re nrc love hotels in Tokyo , d esigne d like littl e fairy
kingd oms, vv hich chC1rge by the hour and are a 1neeting point
nf ch oice fo r sexua l lia isons. Middle -aged iN01nen \·v orking at
ril1.y, upscale clep<-1rt1nent s tores such as Takas hi1n.a ya and
rvlits ukoshi don Pikach u and Miffy p ins . And it is n 1t unus ual
LP see Jap a n's corpora te w arrior engros sed in an adult n1anga
ll'.1turi ng rin ultra-c utie hero ine chJrac ter in some ni ildly
p ornogr aphic storyli ne. The coterie of cuddli ness even extend s
lo Japan' s Defens e Agency, w hich h as baby-fa ced soldier s as
111<1sco ts in its pron1o tional lite rature. O ne h alf expects thC1t
Kitty ivill some d a y shoiv up on the s ide of one of Japnn' s
/\egis-class destro yers .
The typical artatom y of cute ch aracters such as Kitty, in the
vvords o f o ne author ity on the subjec t, is "sn1all, soft, infan tile,
n1 a tnn1a li an, round , \.vitl1 o ut bodily appen da ges (arms) ,
vv ithout bodily orifice s (n1outh s), non -sexual, mute, insecur e,
helples s or bcvvild ered."J Spend fi ve 1ninute s in high-in tensity
re ta il centers like Shibuy a and Shinju ku, and you almost feel
like you arc in toon tovvn. C ute sells b ig time in Nippo n. A nd
there is just no escapi ng this sl ig htly surreal "''orld of Ja panese
c ha ra cter IC1 nd. For Ja pan is kind of a rnarke ter's paradi se, the
popul ation densit y and space con1pr ession of the cotu1tr y's
maj or urban center s s uch as Tok yo, Osa ka, Nagoyl'I <l nd
Yokoha1na mean Jap a nese get bomba rded \,vith c ute messa ges
ju s t about everyv vhere th e y turn. One ob server put it
p<i rticular l y \-\'ell:

Japanese have n1ore inform ation thro\vn at thcni. than

any other group of peopl e in history. The 'vvo rd "blitz"
d oe:; not adequately desc ribe the situation. Along 'vvith
national, regional and local ne\·vspapcrs , there arc several
hundre d \.veekly and monthly rnagazi nes; a quarter
 Deconstrucfineb r Hello Kittlj 12
'

111ill1, ,11 11 1il1l il 1111" \''- .1nd lr.1i n ,·.ir s 1\·itl

1 hu11dn·ds nt
f'llsll•rs; h.d l 111ill ion l.1:-.i,·,1bs 1vil h pl.1 ct•s
for .1tl vl'r lisin g
brP chu rl's; bi ll boa rd t r uc ks llh1l exi st onl
y for ,1dv c r-
lis ing ; p ubl ic add res s sys ten1s in rno st larg
e dep artn1en t
s tore s; nnd 1norc ligh ts, s ign s, fl<ls hi ng ann ou
nce.1nents,
<l nd e lect rica l d ispl ays thr oug h the (-;in za,
Ro ppo ngi,
Sh inj u ku, Shi.buy a, 1\kas<lka, [ke buk uro, or Asa
kus a, nil
wit h the und erly ing me ssa ge, buy , buy, buy . 1

JAPA N' S CULT OF CUTE

Na turalJy eno ugh , cute fas h ion an d val ues a re

heavily rei n-
for ced by m ass n1arket fas hio n and gla mo ur m.a
gaz ine s tha t
car ry m ess age s (sh ape d by the ir ma jor adv ert
ise rs) of how
Jap ane se \VOmen ought to loo k a nd ma nip ula
te the ir bod ies
thr oug h die t exe rcis e, pla stic sur ger y and so on
. lf you \Vant
to qui ckly gra sp wh at cute c hic .is all abo ut in Ja pan
, jus t pick
up any one of the 30- plu s m aga zin es dev oted
to teen fas hio n
or pe rha ps a 1na11grz, wh ich fea tur es fe1n ale h ero
in es. On e of
the bibles of Japan 's cute chi c is Cn1uaii! 1na gaz
ine . Th e nan1e
is a play on the Jap ane se 'v\rord for cut e, kaz
uaii. Tt has a
circulatio n of abo ut 300,000 a nd it ta rge ts 15- to
·19-yea r-o lds .
Th ere is a sis ter pub lica tio n cal led S Cazonii
! (as in Senior
Ca1.uaii!) to rea ch the old er rea ders in the ir ear ly
20s. After
rea din g thr ou gh sev eral iss ues , it is n ot h a rd
to c'1 tch on to
-
the for mu la. On the cover is a p op div a lik e Ayu
1Tli .H am asa ki
or fashio n mo del s of the mo me n t Like Mayun
1 i Sad a. Th ey
loo k the p art of g irl sed uct res s, gazing dir ect ly int
o the ca me ra
wi th lips slig htl y par ted . Th ey a re thi n a nd us
ual ly cla d in a
h eav y dos e of pas tel col ors and acc ess ori zed to
the .ma x w ith
son1e sor t of cu te mo tif, be it b utterfli es or ted
dy becirs .
So1nevvh at sur prisin g ly, the e di tor -in -chief a t
C1nv11ii! isn 't
Cl woma n, bu t a ba ldi n g mi dd
le- age d gu y nan 1ed Ka zuh iko
Sat o. I--le 's in his lat e 40s , a11 d wa s a soc iol
ogy ma jor a t
WasE~ da u ·n ive rs ity du rin g the 111i
d-'1970s. Ba ck in tho se
 Decon stru ctinx Hello Kitty 13
d .1v -., lhl ' ( llll' lop!-_ did n ' t l'\ i :-. t ,1nd S,1
\u dn•,1n1L·d ul bl· ing
. 1 Sl'ri1)L1S \Vl'ill'r of nu ll'.
In llJ6H ,1nd ll)fil), J.1p.1n ' s l'n lir l'
t1 n i \'l' rsi ty sy s h,·111 vv<1s pll
r<l t yz ed by il r<1d ic.1 I s l ud l'n t
1110\'l'ITl l'n t, wh ich nu do ub l dr ew ins p
in1 tio n fr nrn thl ' U.S .
.1nd l ~ urop l'. T he JT1ov1:·111enl svvep t thr ou
gh ·15 2 un ive rs ities
.111d res ult l'd in ·10,000 arr es ts . St ud en
ts Clt W os ed a un d
l' lsc w he re rc1g cd ag a ins t Am eri ca n inv olv
em en t in Vi et nC'lm,
" hik e in t ui ti o n fee s an d all eg ed co rru
pti on by un ive rs ity
ll',1ders. Bu t the n1 ov en 1e nt too k an
ug ly tur n . Stu d e nt
pro tes ter s s tar ted to ge t ide nti fie d vvith
the te rro ris t Japanese
l< l'd Arn-1.y, wh ich lau nc he d a se r ies
of bo mb ing s an d
hij<1c kin gs in the ear ly 1970s. W he n it be
ca me cle ar Co rp or ate
J.1p<1n vv ou ld blackba1J s tuden ts \vi th
a pr iso n rec ord 01:
r,id ica l po liti cal vievvs, Sa to' s ge ne ra
tio n los t i1 1te res t in
po litics. "E ve ry on e be ca me int ere ste d
in te nn is, " h e sai d. 5
Th ese d ay s Sa to fin ds hin1self ord eri ng
up pi.e ces for his
l'('(1d e rs on sk in car e, tip s for bre ast en
ha nc em en t an d the
f,1sh ion tre nd of the 1n om ent , w hi ch in
the sun1ffier of 20 02
~L·e n1ed to be the ex po sed 111icl-
ri ff loo k. !-To w the cu te loo k
h<1s en du red an d ad ap ted to ch urn -an d
-bu rn fas hio n cyc les
;1111on g Jap an ese tee ns int rig ue s Sa to. Ov
er the las t 10 yea rs,
sl· ve ral fash ion ma nia s ha ve co me a nd go
ne . A rou gh , and by
no n-1eans inc lus ive , Ii.st vvould inc lud e
the ur ba n rap or hip -
ho p loo k, the no nc ha lan t J-\ me ric an d eni
1n loo k, the bl eac he d
blo nd e Clnd ov erl y tan ne d loo k, th e ret ro
19 70 s loo k \vi th be ll-
bo tto ms an d on an d on . Bu t the re is alw ay
s so me cu te elen1en t,
n1 od ific ati on or a cce sso ry tha t ma ke s it dis
tin ctive ly Jap an ese .
" It ah va ys floa ts ab ov e seve ral fas hio n
tre nd s," mu se d Sa to.
()n e inte.restin g fea tur e of Cozva ii! ed ito
ria l op era tio ns is
tha t mo st of the mode ls are rec rui ted dir
ec tly fro1n the stree ts
of fas hion en cla ve s lik e Sh ibu ya , H ara
juk u or Yoy ogi Pa rk,
w he re ten s of tho us an ds of Ja pa nese tee ns
cir cul a te ev ery da y.
Cozuaii! s po tte rs in v.ite gir ls wi th jus t the rig
ht loo k to po se in
the ma ga zin e. Ot he rs con1pete in co ntests
in vvhich the ir ph otos
ore sel ect ed in a ma ssi ve ino d el au dit ion
. An y giv en iss ue of
Cazuaii! ha s 20 0 or so am ate ur mo de ls an d the
y are clu ste red
 Deconstr11ctin~ Hello Kitty 14
.in 11111tl l'l• rl,1in l.1 s hiun Lhl'n1cs s uch .1s H ippiL' ( ~ irl , Love ly
(; i rl l >r Su 111 n1l'r l~L'sort (~<1 I.What's striking though is regardless
of w hether they a re vvc<1 ring bikinis o r a traditi o nal sun1mer
robe ca lled a y11kntn, the girls tend to be w earing g lossy lipstick
and striking cu te poses in front of the can1era, such as poutin g
dran1uti cally, placing a finger on one's chin, wrinklin g up
the ir noses and so on. Sa to, for one, thinks cute pc.nver vvill
be around Ja pan a ver y long time, and he doesn ' t think there
is C1nything unhealth y or subvers ive about any of this. He
re jects the concern s of ferni.nist s and has a unifying theory of
his own about why cute is so powerfu l an1ong Japanese girls .
His take: "1 don't think they are actin g in a submiss ive \-vay
at all. They arc trying to be cute to get more attention from
the bovs." ...
Keiko Horiki, the ed.itor-i n -chi e f at AnA n m.agazin e,
suggeste d that Japanese women prefer a fknvery and cute
look to the overtly sexy look of their counterpc:irts in Europe
and the U.S. "Japanes e \-VOrnen are shy,'' s he pointed out1 "we
don't go out with Japanese men to buy undervv ear together
like thev... do in the \/Vest."6 H.oriki added that cute fashion,
or a t least a kind of androgy nous look, has also ta ken grip of
Ja panese boys and you ng men. In the s ummer of 2002, the fad
a1nong Japanes e guys i.nvolved shaving one's .legs for the
short-pa nts season. A.nAn boasts a circulati on of 400,000 and
its target readersh ip is \VOmen bet\v een the ages of 18 to 30
or so.
Of course, money is the rocket fuel of cute culture in Japan.
lt t21rgets c:i trend-ha ppy and relative ly affluent sector of th E~
fe1nale consun1er market. As of Japc:in's 2000 popul ation census,
there \.Vere 64 million women und w ithin tha t universe o f
consun1 ers, there \Vere 16.9 million, or some 26'Yo of the total,
b E!tween the ages of 15 and 34. ln the 25 to 34 age cohort, 54'Yo
of the women national ly and 65tYo in the Tokyo metropo litan
c:irea are singl e. The trend tovvard Japa nese women marryin g
later in l ife has been under.,,v ay for the las t decc:ide or so. C ute
fashion has a broad consu1n er market to live off of in Japc:in.
 Deconstr11 cting Hello Kitty 15

Wl-I ER E l) ll) T H E MADN ESS C OME FllOM?

/\nd ye t, the cu le c1«1ze W<ls n't necessar il y dren n1ed up by

:-;on1c clever n1a rketers al Sa nri o 0nd other con s ume r-goods
co rn panies <1nd then irnposed by so rne all-pcyvverful and
n1 nnipula tive n1ass 1nedia on unsu specting Japanese girls. Tn
<l vvay, it \Vould be nice to think so. H e llo Kitty cri.tics, perha ps
those \.vith a leaning for 1nind-co ntrol conspira cies cooked u p
by advertis ing c reative types and n1agazin e editors1 v..rould
hnve someone to blame. Then1 the mys tery of Kitty's popular ity
\vou ldn' t be n1uch of a n1ystery at 811. Instead, it looks like
.J <1 pa n's vvhol e knzuaii cultura l inoveme nt began kind of in a
b urs t o f spontan ei ty in the earl y 1970s, spawne d from
handvv riting and linguisti c fa ds.
Perhaps the best and n1ost original analysis of th e history
of nil things kazoaii in Japan came in 1.995 courtesy of Sharon
Kinsella , a Ca mbridge University rese8 rcher who publishe d
a p iece en titled Cuties in Jnpan ii1 a n1uch overlook ed book of
l'Ssays ca11ed Wonzen, Medin and Cons111nption in Japan. It starts
o ut with a p re tty fascinati ng poi nt about the word kazvaii.
Kn1uaii is one of those rar e a ll-purpo se words that is repeated
<1 linost robotica lly day in a nd day ou t. The posi tive meaning s
of the vvord - cute, ador8ble , lovable and s1na ll - are vvhat
1..:r<:.Ho Kitty is a ll about. Fven foreign Jap anese s peakers start
to say it refl exively after living in Japan fo r a w hile. It is
probably the most w idely used, o r overused vvord, in modem
Japa nese. (By the \.vay, its variant krnuaiiso n1eC1ns pathetic,
poor or great discomf ort.) But w he n Kinsella consulte d
J<1 pan.ese dictionClries from the first ha lf of the 2oth century, she
noticed the vvord didn 't exist in its current fonn. Back in those
d<lys, the best \-Vord for cute and adorable was ka1uayuslii
vvhich la ter n1orphe d into Jcaivayui. l<a1uaii didn't really con1e
of age until the ea rly 1970s, when Japa n's evolutio n as a r ich
and consume r-driven econon1 y vvas in1possib le to deny.
Back then , someth ing weird started to happen to Japanese
gi rls, a t least fro1n the conserva tive vi e\.-vp oint of Japanes e
 Deconstructillg Hello Kitty 16

L ultur,d gu.1rdi c1n:-,. l'in1L' \v,1s, J.1p,1ne!->L' k ids spl'nl 1no!'>t of the
pr i n1,1 ry school y e<1rs IL'arning the three sets of syn1bo ls th<it
co n1prise the jap0nesc language, l1irngn11n, kataka11n a nd at
le«1s t 800 to 1,000 of the basic Chinese ch.aracters ca l.le cl kanji.
(By the ti1ne they g ra duate from high school, students are
expected to have mastered closer to 2,000 ka11ji chzi racters.)
Japanese kids spend cou ntless hours \ivri ting a nd revvriting
these linguistic building blocks to exact specification. There
are established rules for the sequence of strokes, their arc and
so on. Even to this d ay, sloppy p en manship will dra w sha rp
rebukes from eld erly Japanese of a conservativ e bent. It is
considered somewhat boorish a nd even disrespectf ul to depar t
from the script.
So imagine the reaction vvhen a n entire genera tion of
Japa.nese girls about 30 years ago s ta rted to defile the language
with cute and purposely di sto rt E:~ d Japanese ch a racters.
Explained Kinsella:

Previously Japanese writing had been written vertical ly

using strokes that vary in thickness along their length.
The new sty.le vvas vvritten laterally, preferably using a
n1echa nical pencil to produce very fine even lines. Using
extremely styll:t:ed, rounded characters vvith English,
kntaka11a and little ea rtoon pictures such as heel rts, stars
and faces inserted rClndomly into the text, the new style
of hand\.vriting was d istinct and its cha racters difficult to
read. In n1iddle and high schools across the country, the
craze for vvriti ng in the nevv style caused discipline
problems. !_n so1ne schools the vvriting was ban ned
entirely, or tests, which \.-vere co n-lplcted using the new
cu te sty le, vvottld not be rnarkcd.7

lf this so-called burikko (fake-child writing) movement ,,v asn't

subversive enough to the old guard, the baby-talk c raze that
kicked off around the sa me time really set the1n off. Kids
started deliberately m ispronouncing Ja panese vvords to make
the sound cuter. As Kinsella noted, nobody better represente d
 Deconstr11 cti1Z:? Hello Kitty 17

t h.11 t 1L•b,1sing PI LhL· J.111.11H'SL' l,1n g L1tlgL' Lh,1n I LJ80s pop idol
~ .ik.ii Noriko, who k ickL·d off,, fad ca ll ed 1\Jorippig o in vvl.1ich
lhl' l,1s t sy ll<1ble of comn1on l'verych1 y adjective s was subbed
for the "pi" sound. For instCl nce, the word for h<l ppy, ureshii,
bL ("t1n1e 11 rcppi. It sounded cuter tha t 'vay. Even ne'vv sexual
1

s l,1 ng einerged : 1'he childish phrase nynn nyan suru (to meo'i-v,
lll L' Dwlike a little kitty ca t) took on the meaning of having
sexual inte rcourse. Norippigo has d ied ou t, but n o t the practice
of n1 an ipula ting la nguage to make it sound m ore adorable .
These days a t primary schools around Tokyo, it's not
uncornm on for schoolva , rd crushes to be described as lub-lub-
y 11 a bit of Ja plish to say "l love you" in an innocen t, child-
l ike w a ,v.
And though Japanes e p o pular music, or J-pop as it is often
s ho rt-ha nded, is q uite a broad waterfro nt of s tyles - from the
n1ildly punk look of the n1ale hard-rock group Glay to the
sou lfu l diva Misia - record co1npan i'e s continue to rely on
u lt ra-cute formula girl g ro ups and female solo acts. They
ofte n feature d olled-u p singers barely past pubesce nce i.n some
rn ildly sexual! y suggesti ve outfit b eltin g out overly sen.tin1ental,
bubble-g um love songs w ith each cuti e d ancing out some
choreog raph ed routine. Even in 2003, g irl groups like Morning
Musu1ne 'vvere striking the scu11e sort of cute poses that would
not see1n u nfC11nilia r to someone now in tl1eir 40s who grevv
up listening to a duo like Pink Lady in the 1970s or Seiko
Matsud a, another piece of J-Pop ca n dy fr om th e 1980s.
(Ma tsuda, howeve r, beca n1e less of a cute idol among the
goss ip magaz ines in the l990s fo r h er extra marita l acti vities
and hvo divorces .)

A YEN FOR CUTENESS

Perhaps there is son1ething in the dri nking water in Japan that

fosters a fasc ination, if n o t obsession, \.Vith all things cute
among girls of a certai n age. This certainl y isn't unique to
 Deconstrllcting Hello Kitty 18
Jt1~1 .1 n , li ul i t is hnrd to thin k of ;1ny p,1 r;1lll'ls in thL' ri ch 1.Norl d
th;i t n1dtches this k ind of intensity. A nd vvhil e this trend sprung
fron1 son1evvhere deep in the psyche of Japan's 1970s youth
culture, it vvasn't long before con1n1erce and market researchers
caugh t on and sta rted con1mercially exploiting this trend.
And no con1pany has done that better than Sanrio under the
direction of its founder and President Shin taro Tsuji.
From 1960s, Sanrio started infusing cute designs on kid's
stationery and then n1oved on into drea1ny schoolgirl diaries,
pens and 1,..vhat later became known as fancy goods in Japan.
They vvere inexpensive, ultra-precious knick-knacks that young
girls could buy for then1selves or perhaps give a\vay as gi.fts.
But to really juice up the sugar levels, you really needed
cartoon characters, he figured. And Tsuji over the ensuing
decade (and still into the present) ordered his team of designers
to crank them out prodigiously in the hope of spa\.vning a
comn1ercial phenomenon. So year after year, out of Sanrio's
centrc.11 casting department, can1e a vvhole legion of adorable,
cutesy--vvootsy, itty-bitty creatures such as Stra\-vberry King,
Cheery '
Chums, Button Nose and, of course, Hello Kittv.
Though Tsuji, like any good businessman, is in the business
.
of n1aking tons of money, he -vvould cast his strategy as one
of pron1oting "social corn.1 nunication" in Japan.
By that he p rimarily meant creating an array of relatively
inexpensive fan.c y goods - priced at no n1ore than $10 and
sn1all tokens of friendship that are fun to have around - that
vvill play to the natural human instinct to n1ake son1e sort of
personal connection vvith others or perhaps fulfill a social
obligation. By the start of the 1990s, Sanrio and a host of other
con1panies such as toy1naker Bandai and o ther consu.m er-
goods n1akers that licensed co1nic characters fro1n Japan and
abroad had inade a profound i1npact on Japanese n1arketing.
Walk into the home or condo of any typical Japanese nuclear
family -vvi th one or t\VO kids, and you'd likely see a household
bri1nming with cute iten1s - stickers, pens, stationery, toiletry
items, toothbrushes and cups, saucers, chopsticks and scads
 Deconstrllcting Hello Kitt!j 19

111 lllVS ,1 nd kid s c il 11 hi ng - prun1ul ing Piil' ch;1 r;1cter or d no ther.

l · uu·nl'SS represented <1 bn..',1 k through product design
1lcvl'iopn1cnt for Corpor<1tc Japan . It vvas kind of Japan's
.1nswer to the f<1ct thnt \.Yith the a rrival of an industri<1lizecl,
111;1ss consu1nption econon1y life gets faster, less connected to
11dture rnore depe rsonalized and son1e\-vhat alienating.
1

Surrounding yourself vvith cute things could offset that a

Ii ll le, bringing some whimsy and comfort into one's life,
lendi ng a subjective quality to other\vise sterilized products
Ii kc a v acu LUU cleaner, n1icrovv ave oven or rice cooker. Modern
co nsumers, adult men and \vomen, and not just the kids,
s tarted to incorporate son1e of this vvhi1nsy and humor into
their everyday purchasing habits.
ln asking vvhy this eruption took place in Japan , two
Lh ings stand out. At the take-off stage of any cute character,
.l <1 panese youths are key. And in Japan, starting in the early
1970s, kids growing up in fairly affluent fa1nilies in major
urban cen ters such as Tokyo; Osaka and Nagoya \.Yere
i<1vished, e1notionally and finan.c ially. ()n the first point, a
sur vey of one private high school in Tokyo, conducted by
the Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living in the late 1990s,
fou nd that students received allovvances ranging from $50
to $200 a inonth. l)n top of that, P" rents, grandparents and
other close relatives often present cash gifts, known as
otoshidarna, during the New Year holidays. Naturally
enough, Japanese kids, like their counterparts in the U.S.
<'Ind Europe, tend to spend that loot on items promoted as
c ute, cool or other\.vise d esirable by the rnass 1nedia.
Secondly, Japc.u1 h as a very deeply entrenched gift-giving
c u lture that serves as a motivating force to buy and exchange
f<1ncy goods. And for a long-running character such as Kitty,
there is also a nostalgia factor that drives its sales among
nlothers and other lvon1en. As for gift-giving occasions, they
a re aplenty. Japan is in many ways a giant favor bank . Every
small act of gener osity must later be paid back in kind. And
vvoe to the ingrate \vho takes n1ore than he or she gives back.
 Deconstrllcting .Hello Kitty 20

l1npo rll·d \Ncs lcrn holid <1ys likl' Christ1T1e1s t1nd Valentine's
IJ ,1 y ,1rl· c1 ctue1lly sccond <1ry g ift-giv in g occasions but still
in1portant. The re <i re yea r-end (seibo) and n1id-year (c'111gen)
corpora te present-swapping seasons. And in polite society,
there are gifts for the sick or victi1ns of misfortune (n1inu1i);
souvenirs brought back from trips (n1iyage); and presents for
happy developments like a big promotion (shugi). There a re
even funeral gifts called koden, typ.ica1Jy cash tucked into a
decorative envelop. The bereaved fa.rnily is required to
return a gift equivalent to one-third to one-half the value of
the koden, according to Japanese etiquette 1nanuals. True, yot1
probably \.Vouldn't \Nant to present matching f-Iello Kitty hand
tovvels at a funeral, but the cheer-me-up quality of many cute
goods does seem to work well in a nun1ber of Japanese social
occasions as well as required paybacks for small favors
rendered such as \-Vatching a neighbor's daughter for a fe\.v
hours or celebrating the birth of a baby and so on.

HELLO KITTY AND GIRL POWER?

By no\v, son1e mjght be wondering if there isn't something

a little over the top about all this. Hello Kitty is precious and
all that, but \.vhy would that n1atter to, say1 anyone past the
age of 10? In the U.S., little girls value cute things. They are
also more interested in developing communication and
socialization skills just like Japanese girls and identifying
themselves by a brand like Hello l(itty, a particular look, pop
idol and so on. But, generally speaking, by the age of 10 or
so, they start to experilnent \Vith different looks and leave
Hello Kitty i11 the toy chest. In Japan, by contrast, aspiring to
some sort of cute look extend s \vell into the rnicld]e-school
and high-school years. Even young \vomen 1.-vell into their 20s
sometimes take their voice up a half octave, affect innocent
express.ions and childish en1barrassment when interacting vvith
n1en or in the vvorkplace.
 Deconstructing Hello Kitt!/ 21
Nol surp risi ngly, nol t'\'L' ryt inL' SL'L'~ 1-l ello Kitty ,1 nd the
,·,1 iuvs thi s c,1t reprl 'sl'nl s .1s in the bL·st in teres t of Japa nese
~uc i L•tv. C ultur <
J
1I cri tics since th <:~ i<1te 1980s ha ve linke d the
t·uti..· <ll'Sth cti c w ith cri.'lss cons u me rism, the deba seme nt of the
vvor k ethic, the infan taliza tion of Ja pane se yout h, and a gene ral
rvhcl Iion <lg<~ inst the whole post- war Jap anese socie tal compact
l h,1tvn 1ues con for1n ism, disci pline , self-s acrifice and defer ence
l o <1uth ority . Back in 1986, noted Univ ers ity of Toky o-tra ined
~oc i ologist Osam u Naka no publ ished a scath ing critique of
)il pa nese yout h cultu re in a piece e ntitled ".A Sociologic al
/\nill ysis of the N ew Breed " in the conse rvati ve journ al Seiro11.
In it, he raged again st a gene ratio n inebr iated vvith child ishness
, 1 nd cons tune nsm:

ln consi deri ng the perso nality traits of the ne\v breed ,

the first chara cteristic we note is they arc '111oratori u1n
peopl.e ' - that is, they do not \.va nt to grovv up. It is not
that they cann ot but that they do not even try. They
repud iate the m aturit y dema nded by the norm s of adult
society and prefe r to rema in kids - a dram atic contr ast
with the me1nbers of. the previ ous gener a tion, vvho
became anxio us to attain ful l-fledged adulthood , when
they reach ed the age of 20 or so. To be sure, the ability
to rema in kids presu ppose s the overp rotec tion made
possi b le by affluence, but it seen'ls to m.c tha t the
m.ora toriu m psych ology also signifies rcpu1:;nance to\va rd
the values un derlying and creat ed by 1nodern socicty.8

Tho ugh N akan o wasn 't talki ng specifically abou t Japa nese
wom en, he migh t as \Nell have been . Becau se, as h e w rute, a
trend was w ell unde rway in vvhich Japa nese vvon1 en conti nuea
to dela y gett ing ma rried , livin g at hom e or in near by
,1 partm ents, s pend ing 1noney not just on fancy good s but also
forei gn tra vel and prett y 1nuch living the hi gl1 life. You ng
wom en came to dom inate and drive forvv ard pop cultu re
trend s, not surp ris.in.g given tha t th.e y kep t spending "i.-VhiJe the
econo1ny genera ll y s tagna ted cl uring th e 1990s. Single Japan ese
 Deconstr11cting Hello Kitty 22
vvo nll'll ,dso L' tlllll' tu be son1 e\vh,1t l'l'Sl' llted for enjoy ing the
frees t ,1n d 1nost unencum be red lifesty les o n the archi pelcigo.
They rep resen ted a threa t to the vv hole post- \vcu· d efini tion of
fe n1ale gend er roles in Japa n. Th e idealized visio n of you n g,
urba n 20-so meth ing Japa nese wo1nen went so111ething like
this: Work as an "offi ce la dy" d oing low- level clerical vvork,
merely a tem porary ar range men t until on e could find a suita ble
ma te. In the n1ean ti1ne, youn g ladies vvou ld inaster the so-
callc d " brida l arts" such as h ighly ritualiz.ed tea cerem onies ,
flowe r arrangeme nt, cook in g and 111.ain ta ining and wcar111g
kimo nos. Sum med up on e observer:

For youn g n.ud dle-cl ass 'vvom en, brida l arts have also
p rovided tuition in the 'good \·v ife, vvisc moth.er' ideal
\.vhich contr ibutes to the ir value on the marri age ma rket,
at the same ti1n e prepa ring them for a n1arr icd life of
idle boredon1 and the bliss of .Japan ese-ness. 9

Yet son1e wher e along the \vay, you ng Japa nese "''Om en
start ed to renege on the deal. Hello Kitty and the cu te
move n1ent; devo ted as they are to cscapisn1, cons u meris m.,
wh in1sy a nd nosta lgia, clear ly repre sente d a threa t to reign ing
ideology that won1en best serv ed th eir soc iety and fami lies by
atten d ing to their kid s' ed u catir' n and ru nning hous eh olds in
such a way their spou ses coul d 1 'evotc then1selve s to \.York
a nd late-n igh t drink ing sessions in GL1za. lncre asing ly, youn g
Jap an ese \No n1en preferred to cove t the ir inde pend ence for as
long as biolo gically possi ble - say, \-ve il into their 30s -
befor e havi ng to make a life-a lterin g choic e abou t \vh ether to
p ursue mothe rhoo d or not. By 2000, Jap anes e consPi:-vat ives
coined a new phrase for Jap anes e v-vomen in th e ir late 20~ and
early 30s who h ad gone com plete ly AWO L on the vvhole ic..2a
of bein g inarried \-Vi.th kids - at least until they w ere good
and ready . A best.seller by Toky o Gaku gei Un ivers ity profe ssor
Masa hiro Yam ada \-Vas entit led Parnsaito Srling uru No jidai, or
the Age of the Parasite Single.
 Deconstructing Hello Kitty 23
Suund:-. li"-l' ,1 l ~- gr.t dl' hurrur fli c k, doesn ' l il? And to
1.q1.i ncsc.· dc rnog r<1phc rs, it n1ight ;1 s \-veil be. The ph1-.1se refe rs
111 "s poilc.·d s ing les" livi ng < lt ho n1e V\'C ll into yo u ng a d ulthood ,
l'•1y ing little in thc.· way of rent, a nd jetti ng off to Ma ui for a
\ \'l'l'" of i ndole ncc on the beach in.s tc <id of d oing son1cth i ng
pn iductive like changing nap pies. As ide fr on1 the mo ralists
\vho th ink these kids are 'vvorld -cl<iss slackers, the governmen t
'-l't's the trend as a big reason behind Japan 's d ecli ning bir th
r.i lv. For instance, the .percenta ge .
o f ~-vornen 'vvho a re unmarried
in lhL' 25- to 29-yea r-old age group, n1a ny of w h on1 live vvith
the ir parents, h as do ubled over the past 15 years, to 48°/.1 in
I LJ98 . Unless m o re youn g Ja p anese ch oose m a r riage a n d
t·h ildrearing, the theory goes, Japa n \·vill face so n1e tough
1 ·hoices. W ith the country's i-vorkforce rap idly aging, ed ito-

ri ,1I is ts are already ca11ing for a r adical ne vv approach to

in1 111ig ration . Th a t woul d indeed be a shocker for Japan.
Stil l, this blow to knioaii cultu re and the tend en cy of Japanese
\\'omen to valu e th e freedom and comforts of staying s ingle
fpr <1S lon g as possible primarily comes from a circle of older
,1nd somewha.t einbittered inte ll ectuals cloistc rE~d awav at ;

unive rsities, and con servat ive journa ls \.vho a rE~ c:i ppalled by
lhc d irection Japa n is head i.ng. Th ey a lso d on't get the joke.
'vV ithout quite knowin g it, Japan h as experien ced the subtle
1.·n1ergence of a girl -poV\rer n1ovcment over th e last several
dl'cades and H ello Kitty, at the symbolic lev el, is leading the
\V-<1Y . Sure, Japanese n1en con trol the political a nd economic
~ tru c tures and a ll th e trappings of pow er that come with that,
b ut it is the young una ttached, u rban worki ng woman vvho
t•njoys the rnos t perso nal freedo1n in this h ighly s tructured
soc iety. She floats fr om job to job, travels often and typically
hc1s the kind of disposable incon1e to buy a Gucci ha ndbag.
He llo Kitty a nd c u te or friv olous con su1nption arE~ abo ut feeling
good and carefree. In that se nse, Hello Kitty is a m.enace, a
Bolshevik \"lith a bomb, a th re<it to the establish ed va lue system.
/\ nd yet Japanese girls just want to have fun. To som e,
this is really all about the love of cuteness in an d of itsel f.
 Deco nstn1cfing Hello Kitty 24
In I :t ·b r u.1 rv 2002, Tiil' Nei l' York Ti1111's 1\1111'\a: i111 · f<1:-,h io n ed
- '
/\n1 y M. Sp in dler , rn adc n surp ri sin.g cl<1i 1n that Tok yo,
itor
n ot
New Yor k, Mi lan or Par is, is the true inte rn a ti.on a l fash ion
capi tal N ot by the usua l m.et rics of doll ar volu rne, the d e ns ity
of d esig ners , sup plie rs, n1o dels , med ia focu s and so on, but
by the shee r d evo tion of the soc iety to the eph cn1e ral, floa tu1g
...vorl d of fash i on. Japa nese con sum ers hav e a spec ial tale nt for
rapi dly imp or ting one inte rnat ional fash ion tren d afte r ano ther,
strip ping it of any poli tical or rebe lliou s mea ning , infu sing i t
with kaivaii v alue s and crea ting a n enti rely differ ent fash~ on
state m.en t of thei r own . Mar vele d Spin d ler:

Unlike the Lond on pun ks o r the mods, or the Nevv York

rapp ers "vho so insp ire dres s in the stree ts of Japan's
capi tal, there arc no poli tics behi nd the Tok yo fash ion
n1ov en1e nts. The plu1k moveme nt, whe n it catn e, \Vas on ly
abou t fashion. The hip- hop 1nov en1ent has nothing to do
w ith rebe llion. Boys tylc has noth ing to do \Nith v.'om en's
righ ts. Tf you ask girls vvhy they are vveari.ng it, it's beca use
'it's cu te.' Wha t are thos e sarto rial move men ts vvith out
ange r? Well, they 're happ y clothes, they 're knumii.10

AM BA SSA DO R KITTY

For an executiv e like San rio patr iarch Tsuji, ka1vaii val ues that
Hel lo Kit ty en1 bod ies - inn oce nce , sen tim enta lity and
harm ony - als o be in somevvhat with the current ideology
in Ja pan a bou t its role in the wor ld or at leas t th<:~ ima gine d
or idea lize d i1nage it wou ld like to port ray in the wor ld.
Pe rhap s bec ause of his tryi ng chil dhood and psycholo gica l
mak e-u p, Tsu ji is bas icall y an idea list at hea rt. Just as Kitt y
desi res dee ply to be love d, trus ted and respecte d, so does
Japa n, h e argu ed. "In the bub ble era, whe n Jap an mad e mon ey
on an unp rece den ted sea.le, it d idn' t rece ive inu ch resp ect
from peo ple of the world," h e said . 11 In fac t, dur ing the 1970s
 Deconstructin:z Hello Kitty 25
. 111d l9K0s .1 s J.1p<1n Louk il'.id l' rship pPsitio ns 1n Olll' core
111 .1nllf,1 cluring indu s try ,1fll' r <1noth c r vv h il c keepin g its
1·1 onon1y rl'l,1tiv el y closed to in1ports, the Wes t v iew ed the

1 p 11ntry ns < 1 thrc0t. Jc1p<1n seeme d to have perfec ted a ne iv

l1H·n1 of capital is1n based on Japanese values of consen s us,
-.. Lil e -direc ted le n d ing, qualit y circles and g overnm e nt
in ll' rventi o n th0t the U.S. couldn ' t match. Back then, it wasn't
I lc llo Kitty that syn1bo lized Japan, but Godzil la. Worse , all
l hv s uccess bred a certain nationa l svvaggerthat created anxiety
.i nd mistru s t abr oad . One only has to recall the near-ra cist
11u r trayal of Japan e se busine ss and society in Micha el
C..'richt on's caricat ure-dri ven murde r thriller Rising Sun.
( )f course , Japan' s bubble econom y a nd the wh ole riff about
l he s uperio rity of the Ja panese way ended in tears . For Japa11,
l he 1990s ndded up to a dreary decade of recessi ons, politic al
1: n rr u ption and p a ralysis , a nxiety about the econo mic
.iscc ndance of China and hec to r.i ng from the U.S. and other
.1II ies about its sick ba nking sector and ineffec tua l policie s. But
it vvas also 8 period when Japc:inese culture - once routine ly
rid iculed for its unriv ale~ insular ity - started to ha ve a
l.'0 1ning- out party of sorts. Film directo rs su ch as Takesh i
(Beat) Kitano develo ped a follow ing in Europe , while J-Pop
s ta rs such as Na1nie Amuro and others cli.mbe d the music
chc:i rts in I lo ng Kong, Taiw an and Singap ore. Hello Kitty,
l)okem on, kZ1raoke a nd Ninten do video gan1es dravvin g from
J<1·pan' s rnanga genre made big in.road s into the U.S. Turns o ut
J<1 pan does have sotn ething else to offer the vvorld other than
n1anag erial doctrin es a bout q uality Zlnd just-in- time deliver y.
It has deve loped a vibran t pop culture that can more than
ho ld .its ovvn in the global rnarke tplace for ideas, buzz and
ft1shion . Hello Kitty is perhap s the n1ost obviou s example, but
sca rcely the only one. Summ ed up McGra y quote d elsewh ere
1n this chapte r:

Gradu<'t lly, o ver the cour~e of an othenNisc disn1al decade,

Japan has been p erfectin g the art of transm itting certain
 Deconstr11cti11:s Hello Kitty 26
kind ~ PI 111.iss
cult11rL' - ti l vchniqu v th.11 htis n inlrib u tL·d
111ightil y to US. hl'ge1nuny ;1rou nd thL' vvurld. If J<1pnn
sorts ou t its eco no1nic 111L'SS ;1nd n1ilitary ci n gst, nnd if
younge r Japcinesc becon1e scctu·e in nsscrtin g their O'vvn
v al ues and traditio ns, Tokyo can rega in the role it briefly
ass un1cd at the turn of the 19 1h centu ry, vvhen it
si1nultn neousl y sought to engage the West cind to becon1c
a militar y and c ulturcil p ovver on its ovvn te rrns.

Wheth er Jap an \Nill reach the sunny uplands of confid en t

na tiona I identit y and long-t erm eco nomic prospe rity that
McGra y pictu res, could vvell be the subjec t of anothe r book,
but there is someth ing to th e case that Japanese culture h as
grovvn more, not less, compe titive. And H ello Kitty seems
very much in sync with the cu rrent na tional mood. Japan isn't
consid ered a. hegem ony on the \.vorld stage, it has a wa r-
renoun cing constit ution and likes to see itself ns a force for
peace and harmo ny aroun d the globe. Indeed , month s nfter
the Septe1nber 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., Hello Kitty was
portra yed as a peacen1aker in a very sen timental musica l
staged at Sanrio Purola nd, a compa ny-ow ned theme park in
suburb an Tokyo. fn the story line, which Tsuji person ally
signed off o n, costum ed and stereotypical figures represe n ting
the U.S., the Middl e East, Europ e and China con1e to b lovvs
nnd then resolve their con flict after Hello Kitty stamps her feet
and sings - a song. about friendshi p.
Add it all up. The mind-b oggli ng thing about I-Tello Kitty
is ho\.v such a nlinim alist format and message can have so
n1 any meanin gs, delight ing some and perhap s revolti ng others .
Whether 'H ello Ki tty ·\.vill be sho\·vin g up on a ll manne r of
knick-k nacks, consun1er goods an d m8rita l aids 50 years from
now is an open question. Bu t the Hello-K itty wnve does offer
up some fascina ting guestio11s about vvhy some global brand s
thrive and others don't. To rea lly un dersta nd the roots of her
global success so far one m ust go beyond traditional n1arketi ng
concep ts nbout brand manag ement a nd start thinkin g about
 Deconstr11 cting Hello Kitty 27

hovv culture is tra nsm itte d acr oss bo un da ries, not

jus t physical
bu t als o inental. There is som eth ing abo ut Hello
Kit ty tha t
has tra ctio n . Say vvhat you vvant abo ut her, bu
t thi s is one
deep cat.

EN DN OT ES
IThe webs it~· for r lt>llo Kitty J\nim al Right ior Bcginncn
;can bt> foun d at http:/ / geocities.com /
ri pa na / hello ki tty .htm l.
: Dou g las McCrC1y, "JC1pan's Gros s Nati onal Coo
l," Fore ign Pl•licy, May /Jun e 2002.
' Shar on Kins ella, "Cuti t!S in Japa n," \;\'om en Med
ia and Con sum ptio n in Japa n, ed. List>
Skov & Bri <1 n Mne ran ( Horn)lulu: Univ ersit y n
4
t H.nv aii J-'rl'SS, 1995) 224
Colin Ducolon , "Sm all and Cute Sells: The Mar ketin
g of Toy s and Cam es in Japa n," ·1999.
Th.is Keizai Kolw f e ll o wsh ip es;;ay can be foun
d at http :/ / kkcf ellow ship s.nc:ss.or g /
I999a rticlcs.
; KazuJ1i kn Satn , Ed itor-in-C hief, Cuwaii! mag<1Line
, persl>nal inte rview , June 12, 2002.
" Ke iko Hori ki, Edit or-in -Chi ef, An! \n, pl'rson a
1 inter view , June 12, 2002.
"See Kins clla' s "Cut ics in Japa n," 222.
'Osa mu J\i,lkano, "Shi njinr ui Gen ron, " publ ishe
d in Seir nn, Nov . 1986. "J he article WilS
tra nsla ted aHd late r pub lishe d in 1988 by Japa
n F.cho , Vtilu me XV.
" l.ise Skov & Brian Moc ran, " Hidi ng in the Ligh
t," 25, in \-Vnmen Med i,l and ConsL1 mpt inn
in Japa n (Ho nolu lu: Univ~rsity ~·f ffo w,1ii Pres
s; ·1995).
i•• Amy M. Spindlt!r, "1X> You Otak u?,''
The Nl'W York Tim es Maga;.-.ine, f't>b. 24, 2002
11
Tran sla ted from Shin ta w Tsuji, " Kore ga San rio .
no Hi mit:;u Desu " (The S.:.crets of Sanr io),
Mar ch 2002 by Fuso sha, roky o, 36.