10 Interesting facts you may not know about Hello Kitty

1. Hello Kitty’s real name is Kitty White and she was born in the suburbs of London, England on November 1^st.  Sanrio decided to make Hello Kitty British because at the time when she was created in 1974, foreign countries, in particular Britain, were trendy in Japan.  In addition, Sanrio already had a number of characters set in the US and they wanted Hello Kitty to be different.

2. In Sanrio Town, they measure your vital statistics in apples. Hello Kitty’s height is around three apples high and her weight is three apples heavy. Go figure.

3. She is good at baking cookies and loves Mama’s homemade apple pie. She likes to collect cute things and her favourite subjects in school are English, music and art.

4. The name Kitty comes from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, where in a scene early in the book Alice plays with a cat she calls Kitty.  Sanrio’s motto is ‘social communication’ and Tsuji wanted the brand name of the cat to reflect that.  He first considered ‘Hi Kitty’ before settling on ‘Hello’ for the greeting.

5. The other cats and animals included in Hello Kitty designs aren’t extras—they’re Hello Kitty’s family and circle of friends who each have their own names and distinct personalities. She has a pet cat named Charmmy Kitty from her Papa and a hamster named Sugar from Dear Daniel. They, too, have their own line of Sanrio items.

6. In 2010, Hello Kitty entered the wine market with a collection made up of our wines available for purchases online, continuing an expansion of products targeted at older audiences.

7. In 2008, a Hello Kitty themed maternity hospital opened in Yuanlin, Taiwan.  Hello Kitty is featured on the receiving blankets, room décor, bed linen, birth certificate covers, and nurses’ uniforms.  The hospital’s owner explained that he hoped that the theme would help ease the stress of childbirth.

8. Hello Kitty has her own branded album, Hello World, featuring Hello Kitty inspired songs performed by a collection of artists, including Keke Palmer and Cori Yarckin.

9. Spokespeople for Sanrio have said that Hello Kitty does not have a mouth because they want people to ‘project their feelings onto the character’ and ‘be happy or sad together with Hello Kitty.’  Another explanation Sanrio has given is that she ‘speaks from the heart.  She’s Sanrio’s ambassador to the world and isn’t bound to any particular language’.

10. Nintendo DS is one of the many companies getting into the spirit of her birthday celebration this month by launching Hello Kitty Birthday Adventures, a game where you can “collect stamps and stickers for Hello Kitty’s birthday book by playing mini-games, helping friends, and finding special objects.”

Sources: portalbrain, Sanrio