49 Fun Facts About Hello Kitty

Who was the original designer who created Hello Kitty?

Yuko Shimizu left Sanrio only two years after drawing her, to start a family, so the Kitty that conquered the world was shaped by other hands.

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

White: her full name is Kitty White, and in 2014 Sanrio caused a stir by describing Kitty White as a little girl rather than simply a cat.

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

A London suburb: Hello Kitty arrived in the 1970s, when Britain was in fashion in Japan and stood for an idealised childhood, so Sanrio made her English.

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

Mimmy is written as Kitty's opposite: shy and bashful where her twin is outgoing, and happiest with her embroidery and patchwork.

Hello Kitty's November birthday makes her which star sign?

Scorpio: her official birthday is November 1, and the first Hello Kitty Con, a four-day party for her 40th anniversary, was held around that date in 2014.

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

Five apples is her official height, and Sanrio never lets her grow up: Kitty is a perpetual third-grader, still at school decades after her 1970s debut.

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

So fans can project their feelings: Sanrio says a mouthless Kitty looks happy when you are happy and sad when you are sad, and has also said she 'speaks from the heart'.

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

Through the Looking-Glass: Alice's Kitty is the black kitten she scolds in the opening chapter, a mischief-maker quite unlike Sanrio's well-behaved namesake.

According to her official profile, Hello Kitty dreams of becoming a poet or a what?

A pianist: she already has a gift for music, one of her best subjects at school, and playing the piano is listed with baking cookies as her favourite hobby.

Sanrio's 2014 remark that Hello Kitty was 'not a cat' was first made to whom?

An anthropologist: Christine Yano was scripting a museum retrospective when Sanrio corrected her, though the company later said that calling Kitty 'not a cat' went too far.

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

Dear Daniel is Kitty's childhood friend, who left for Africa with his photographer father and travelled the world before coming back to her.

Hello Kitty's superhero alter ego, Ichigoman, takes her name and look from which fruit?

A strawberry: ichigo is the Japanese word for it, and as Ichigoman she fights monsters born from wicked hearts in a red suit with strawberry ears.

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

Persian: Charmmy was a present to Kitty from her papa, and got her name simply because she was so charming.

Hello Kitty reached America in 1976, when Sanrio opened its first overseas Gift Gate shop in which state?

California: the shop opened in San Jose, and Kitty spread first through Chinatowns and Japantowns before reaching American department stores.

Which international organisation named Hello Kitty a children's ambassador, first for the US in 1983?

UNICEF made her its children's ambassador to the United States in 1983 and to Japan in 1994, years before Japan's own government gave her an official role.

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

China and Hong Kong: Japan's tourism ministry had never before picked a fictional character, and chose her because she was wildly popular with young women there.

Which airline launched a Hello Kitty-painted passenger jet in 2005?

EVA Air painted an Airbus A330 with Sanrio characters in 2005, down to pink boarding passes and luggage tags, and the idea stuck: it later added more Kitty jets.

The Hello Kitty electric guitar that Fender's Squier brand launched in 2005 is which model?

Stratocaster: Squier sold the Hello Kitty Strat in pink or black with her face on the pickguard, pitching a rock legend's guitar at young girls.

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

Apple Arcade named it Game of the Year at Apple's 2023 App Store Awards, and the cosy island sim stayed exclusive there until ports to Switch, PC and PlayStation 5 in 2025.

What was the 1987 American TV cartoon starring Sanrio's mouthless cat called?

Furry Tale Theater aired on CBS, with Kitty and friends acting out spoofs of fairy tales, though one critic complained her head was so huge she could hardly walk.

In the 1990s, Sanrio re-marketed Hello Kitty to teenagers and adults as what kind of brand?

A retro brand: women who had carried Kitty pencil cases at eight were sold her satchels and make-up mirrors at twenty, and her popularity in Japan hit its peak.

Sanrio's founder ran it for 60 years before handing over to which relative?

Grandson Tomokuni Tsuji took over at 31 because the founder's son had died in 2013, ending the 92-year-old's six decades in charge.

Sanrio was founded in 1960 under a name taken from which fabric, its first product?

Silk: the Yamanashi Silk Center changed course after its founder noticed that rubber sandals sold better with a cute picture on them, and cute design became the business.

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

Snoopy and other licensed characters cost Sanrio royalties, so its founder hired his own artists to draw characters the company would own, and its home-grown cast followed.

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

The Mr. Men and Little Miss joined Sanrio in December 2011, a turnabout for a company whose founder had created his own characters to avoid paying royalties to outsiders.

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

Tokyo: Puroland opened in Tama, in the west of the capital, in 1990, designed for Sanrio by an American firm, Landmark Entertainment, with every ride and show under one roof.

Sanrio's annual Character Ranking, held since 1986, is decided by what?

A fan vote: the poll began on the pages of Sanrio's own newspaper and now takes online ballots from around the world, crowning a favourite character every year.

When Sanrio's rabbit My Melody first appeared, she was dressed as which fairy-tale character?

Little Red Riding Hood: hence the hood, which her official profile calls her treasure, a present made by her grandmother.

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

A pink skull marks her as the cast's troublemaker, but her profile gives the game away: behind the tough look she is girly, keeps a diary and reads romance novels.

What kind of animal is Keroppi?

A frog: 'kero' is how a croak sounds in Japanese, and Keroppi was popular enough in the early 1990s to rival Hello Kitty herself in merchandise.

Cinnamoroll, Sanrio's flying puppy, stays airborne by flapping which part of his body?

His long ears: he was born on a cloud and drifted down to a café, whose owner named him for a tail that curls like a cinnamon roll.

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

Golden retriever: purin is Japanese for custard pudding, which he was drawn to resemble, and his mama's puddings are, naturally, his favourite food.

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

Egg yolk: the name joins gudegude, Japanese for limp and listless, to tamago, egg, and Sanrio says it can be boiled, fried or left raw and still won't care.

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

Singing death metal at karaoke is how the 25-year-old accountant lets out the rage she can't show her pushy bosses, alone in a booth after work.

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

Wrong-right: batsu is the X that marks a wrong answer in Japan and maru the O for a right one, so his name is often written XO.

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

December 24: the Christmas Eve twins are stars sent to Earth to learn how to shine, with big sister Lala the cook and little brother Kiki the curious one.

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

February 29: born in a leap year, he has a true birthday only once every four years, and his name comes from pocha pocha, Japanese for chubby.

Chococat gets his name from what feature?

His chocolate-coloured nose named him, and his whiskers work like antennae, which is why this black cat always hears the news first.

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

Kawaii, Japanese for cute, became official business: in 2008 Japan's government named Hello Kitty a tourism envoy and the robot cat Doraemon its anime ambassador.

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

Kuromi shares the billing because 2025 was her 20th anniversary as well as My Melody's 50th, and the series sends the two rivals on an adventure through their home of Mariland.

What was the very first product to carry Hello Kitty's image?

A vinyl coin purse came first: released alongside six other cute designs, Kitty's far outsold the rest, and by 2008 her face was on some 50,000 products.

Which designer took charge of Hello Kitty in 1980 and went on to lead her look for 46 years?

Yuko Yamaguchi, who often dressed like Kitty at events, kept her fresh with new themed looks until Sanrio announced in 2026 that she was passing the baton to a younger designer.

How does the bow worn by Hello Kitty's twin sister differ from Kitty's own?

Yellow, on her right ear: Sanrio mirrored the bows, Kitty's being red and on the left, so that the otherwise identical twins could be told apart.

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

George and Mary: papa is the family's dependable joker and mama the apple-pie expert, while Anthony and Margaret, the tempting wrong answer, are Kitty's grandparents.

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

$8 billion in a single year, Sanrio said at her 40th-anniversary convention, earned by licensing her face onto some 50,000 products.

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

Yoshiki unveiled 'Hello Hello' at the first Hello Kitty Con in 2014; by then Sanrio had already turned him into a Kitty doll of his own, called Yoshikitty.

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

Taiwan: the hospital in Yuanlin put Kitty on its blankets, birth certificates and nurses' uniforms because the owner hoped she would ease the stress of childbirth.

The first Hello Kitty Con, held for her 40th anniversary in 2014, took place in which US city?

Los Angeles: some 25,000 fans packed a downtown contemporary art museum over four days, and Sanrio said only the fire marshal stopped it selling more tickets.

Besides indoor Puroland, Sanrio also runs which open-air theme park?

Harmonyland opened in Ōita in 1991, a year after Puroland, as a joint venture between Sanrio and the local government, laid out by the same American designers.