Talk:Hello Kitty/Archive 1

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archive 1

TV series

HELLOO KITTY!!!!!!!!!!!!! don't forget the Hello Kitty cartoon series that was on in the late 1980s

I added info on one TV series, but not the one from the late 80s that people remember. You can remove it since maybe having half-right information is worse than wrong. I'm hoping it will inspire someone to track down the info for the earlier series.

How relevant is the advertising campaign for Target? If no objections will take out. (Fuzheado 10:17 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)) Ummm... There are no Hello Kitty stores in the U.S so if u want to go 2 one well u better get plane tickets and a passport!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.62.214.219 (talk) 00:56, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Trademark copyrighted?

The trademark was copyrighted? Are you sure? There seems to be some confusion of terms here. Mark Richards 21:40, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Should the link to the alt.sex group be removed

I think it is inappropriate to have the link to the alt.sex newsgroup archive under external links as this adds no value to the history or profile of Hello Kitty as intended by Sanrio. Any thoughts? Perhaps it should go under a different entry to do with 'fetishes'

I don't think so. The group added enormously to the exposure of the brand outside Japan and is an example of the influence the brand has on world culture. User:DavidFarmbrough 08:55 (BST) 10 MAY 2005
Of course, a.s.h-k was not really a sexual discussion group, it was much more of a humour thing. And indeed, it did have a lot to do with exposure in other markets. Nonetheless, it would not be accurate to suggest that Sanrio have seriously tried to cultivate a squeaky clean image. They have, after all, licensed Hello Kitty toilet paper and vibrators, Badtz Maru condoms, and so on. --iMb~Meow 08:11, 11 May 2005 (UTC)


Wait just a second... height the same as 5 apples, weight the same as 3 apples.. So Kitty's density is significantly lower than that of an apple? Good lord, that explains all the bouncing.

popularity in the US

I remember hearing in the news that anything with the Hello Kitty logo on was the most "in" thing in the US during last Christmas season. I think it would be something worth mentioning in the article if anyone can confirm that. Hello Kitty has been popular in Asia for years. Popularity in the US indicates a greater penetration into the world markets. Kowloonese 23:01, August 3, 2005 (UTC)


but what IS Hello Kitty ???

Hello kitty is the most cutest thing in the world. Wow, now I've read a whole article about Hello Kitty and still don't know what it actually is. Is it originally a comic figure or a cartoon character, or was it from the beginning created with the only purpose of printing it on all kinds of stuff in order to make loads of money? Dantams 16:16, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Kitty was originally simply a merchandising icon. She was first on a coin purse in 1974 and after that a few more items which gained cult popularity and eventually lead to the Kitty we know and love today :) :) Kitty 09:35, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

contradiction?

[Hello Kitty] is now a kein plan adorning over 22,000 products and accounting for half of Sanrio's 
$1 billion yearly revenue. However, Keroppi is rising to the top and is now responsible 
for over 70% of Sanrio's current profits.

This seems like a contradiction to me. --Jsnow 02:08, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

You're right, nice eye. Someone who knows about this should change it. --Tati 22:58, 5 June 2006 (UTC)Wikichik

What about merchandise that contains both Kitty and Keroppi? If that exists, then the figures may not be contradictory. - EmiOfBrie 02:18, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Theres a difference between revenue and profit, you know. Blackmesa 10:34, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

You know the Kitty is a high maintenance superstar. The cat food bills cut deep into the profit margin. On the other hand, Keroppi catches his own flies. Just kidding! :-) Kowloonese 02:36, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

This could all be cleared up someone could show some official documentation. Where did this information come from?
DesireCampbell 24.222.232.225 21:48, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Hello Kitty as merchandise object / popularity in Japan (Omiyage)

In my opinion, the article should emphasize more, that Hello Kitty, as most of the other Sanrio Characters have not been created to be part of a comic story or of an animation movie - as are e.g. Disney Characters -. but mainly for merchandise purpose. The biggest part of Sanrio's revenue comes actually from the licensing fees, because most of those merchandise products are produced by third parties.

Quite an important market for Sanrio's Hello Kitty license is the market for Japanese Souvenirs, the so called Omiyage. Every tourist spot in Japan has it's own local version of Hello Kitty designs. Tokyo alone features dozens of designs, e.g. showing Hello Kitty as a Goth Lolita in Harajuku, as Gogo Dancer in Roppongi or in traditional Kimono in Asakusa. Many other examples can be found on the website of the company that produces those souvenirs: [1]

Other popular characters, such as Doraemon, are also sold in the Japanese souvenir market.


Note also the special status any kind of characters has in the Japanese society. They are not only liked by kids or teenagers, but every social group has its prefered characters.

Hello Kitty's Diet

Why does she like apple pie? Cats are mostly carnivorous. Cats can't taste sweets,so why does she collect them? Dudtz 3/9/06 8:48 PM EST

You're trying to apply real world mechanics to a stylized
cartoon character. First Rule of Comics: If real world rules
make things less interesting, get rid of them. PratzStrike 13:35, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Never mind that. How does she eat apple pie, or anything else, with no mouth?

Speaking of real-world rules, how can she be 5-apples-tall and only 3-apples in weight? That would give her a density significantly less than that of an apple... which might explain the light-hearted bouncing gait. Conclusion: anime cats are made of hydrogen.

Height and weight are independent, even in the real world. I'm as tall as a standard 4-drawer file cabinet, yet weigh nothing near that of a fully-filled one. Quidam65 13:32, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

What? no they aren't. Your density should be lower than a metal cabinet filled with .. paper and such... but it's probably got more volume than you anyway. If you place a kitty next to a stack of apples of equal height, there will be an obvious volume discrepancy.. the cat would be a lot bigger, even though the same height. for it to weigh LESS is ridiculous, as vertebrates are more dense than cellulose and sugar. A 5-apple-tall cat should weigh 8-12 pounds!

OMG you guys guess what? Hello Kitty is a CARTOON. Therefore the boundaries of the laws of physics don't apply to her because she isn't real. --DancexwithxmexXx 21:24, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Hello Kitty Vibrator

Should this be mentioned in the article? They occasionally show up in Japanese porn and are popular in import businesses. Ace of Sevens 20:53, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Can you prove that such product is licensed by Sanrio? If it is counterfeit product, you should not mention it in wikipedia. The other night in Jay Leno's show, he showed a picture of Mickey Mouse drinking beer on a product made in China. Should that be mentioned in the Disney article? If someone wear a George Bush mask in a porn film, should that be a topic in Bush's article? I don't think so. Kowloonese 00:28, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Take a look at this site: http://www.jmate.com/features/article_3.html, it does appear that Sanrio actually made these, until they got too popular and threatend to ruin Hello Kitty and Sanrio's image. What do you guys think?

It could be a pen that vibrates,or it really is a vibrator for sexual pleasure. Dudtz 11/14/06 10:08 PM ET

The truth is they made a "Hello Kitty" shoulder massager. However people quickly figured out that the form and size of the shoulder massager made it possible to use it for other things than massaging shoulders. CharonX/talk 02:47, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

There was actually an article on this in the NYT the other day: [2]. I think that it's worth noting that, at least in the US context, vibrators are often sold as "massagers" in order to get around laws prohibiting their sale, or in order to reduce embarassment on manifests. But for all I know it's a cultural thing, and in Japan people have massagers and vibrators separately, and never massage their shoulders with their vibrators and never masturbate with their massagers; can anyone comment? The Wednesday Island (talk) 01:35, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
The Jmate article linked above explains things pretty well. These objects were really and truly created as shoulder massagers, which are a common product in Japan (I think due to the amount of time people spend hunched over their desks at school/work). The massager was not designed or produced directly by Sanrio, but by a company called Genyo that licenses Sanrio characters for their products. Pretty soon after the product hit the shelves, Japanese consumers started to say "Hey, that Hello Kitty shoulder massager looks more like a vibrator!" Pretty similar to the American reaction to the infamous Harry Potter broom toy, which also vibrated. Anyway, sex shops started stocking them, they were used in porn, etc. Genyo was happy at the increased sales for what otherwise would have been a pretty mundane product, but Sanrio was furious to have their character used in a sexual context. Sanrio finally pulled the license, and production of the Hello Kitty massager was permanently shut down. Anecdotally I have heard that the massager isn't even much good as a vibrator (only one speed, awkwardly shaped head), but people both in Japan and abroad are still interested in it because of the shock and kitsch value. CKarnstein (talk) 17:57, 1 July 2008 (UTC)


I can confirm that they exist. Only a few weeks ago in Tokyo, at a club called Silk, I watched (ok, did more than watched) while a girl masturbated with a Hello Kitty vibrator. It was rather weird!169.253.4.21 (talk) 21:26, 28 December 2007 (UTC)Rodeoguy

Can I add a link to my Hello Kitty website?

Does anybody mind if I add a link to my website about Hello Kitty? http://www planethellokittycom Planet Hello Kitty]

You already have a similar link: "Hello Kitty Fan - Collection of Hello Kitty pics, wallpapers, and a great Fan Forum". I believe the quality of my site is a lot better than the Hello Kitty Fan website, since I have a lot of articles about Hello Kitty and more resources (wallpapers, etc.).

Both Hello Kitty Fan and my website use Google Ads.

... several weeks later: Nobody seems to complain, so I will add a link. Please send http://www planethellokitty com/feedback contact me] if you think it's a bad idea.

Need Lockout

This website has been repeatedly vandalized in recent days, especially unauthorized edits in the Hello Kitty Official Profile. Can we place a temporary lock on this until things calm down? Quidam65 13:29, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Hello Kitty Haters

I can't belive that some people absolutely despise Hello Kitty! they must be crazy

Quite the contrary, people that only love hello kitty, because she is popular are the crazy ones. It always amuses me how stupid some people are and their motivations for liking something. I neither like nor hate "hello kitty".

Missing Hello Kitty cultural reference

On the episode "Stocks" of the television sitcom 'NewsRadio', Matthew gives Bill a backpack with Hello Kitty on it when he returns from a trip to Japan.

That entire section needs to be removed. It's gotten to be too trivial. --SeizureDog 13:16, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
Don't think so. The trivial things can always be sorted out. The profile makes little sense so me. --Klappspatier 21:45, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Pronunciation of "Sanrio"

The article said that "Sanrio" is pronounced "sun-ri-oo". That's certainly contrary to the pronunciation I'd expect from a Japanese name, "san-ri-oh". In other words, pronounced as it looks. The Japanese spelling is サンリオ, which unambiguously matches the "san-ri-oh" pronunciation. So I removed this bit from the article. (Wouldn't such a thing belong at Sanrio instead of here anyway?) - furrykef (Talk at me) 07:50, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Spam added

Here. - 152.91.9.144 06:54, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism

History Hello Kitty was given an English name (Kitty White) because British culture was popular with Japanese girls when she was created (though the name is rarely used in popular culture). Kitty's name came from one of the cats that Alice kept in the book Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. When Hello Kitty's boyfriend "Dear Daniel" was created in 1999, designers took his name from the 1971 film, Melody, which starred Mark Lester as a character called Daniel and features songs by the Bee Gees.

Hello Kitty's fictional world includes a whole array of friends and family members. Since 2004 she has even had a pet cat of her own called Charmmy Kitty and a pet hamster called Sugar. Charmmy resembles Hello Kitty but has more cat-like features. Charmmy Kitty was given to Hello Kitty by her father, George White, and Sugar by Dear Daniel.

I HAVE A HUGE OBSESSION WITH HELLO KITTY. =D

OH YEAH ME TOO HIGH FIVE!!!!!! LAWL!!

Though not the editor, I thought it might be best to remove this statement after the second paragraph in history section. Also even though I'm not an account holder, I believe that this page must be lock to only account holder to prevent vandalism. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 198.207.222.130 (talk) 23:56, 12 February 2007 (UTC).

Hello Kitty with a mouth

Do you know that there was once an animated series where Hello Kitty appears with a mouth rather how she normally looks like in merchandise? I think that series has been around since 1994. At this time, it's occaisionally being broadcast in the Philippines during Sundays. 61.9.126.41

the real show

Hello hell hole kitty was a wiggidy wiggidy coo show my peeps/homeslice/kitty humpers.

all i remember of the show is that they killed their neighbors grandpa in every episode. and that the got high and banged each other. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Uber viking (talkcontribs) 01:11, 23 April 2007 (UTC).

AyuxHK

There should still be the area for Ayumi Hamasaki x Hello Kitty.

It is a pretty big event being the fact Its Ayu, the biggest female and solo artist ever in japan .. and Hello kitty. There is a section on Ayumi Hamasaki's page, if someone wants to put it on here ...


Hello Kitty's Name

I had no idea about the Kitty White scenario until now. I had previously read and always believed that she was named Hello Kitty because the very first product she was on was a little handbag, with the word "Hello!" above her head; I have never heard of it being a mistranslation. Not that I'm disputing that. Does anyone else know anything about the hangbag scenario as relating to her name? Maybe this should be added as an addendum, since even aside from this theory there seems to be multiple explanations depending on where you look? 69.15.127.225 14:28, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

This reeks of urban legend. The jp.wiki article makes no notice of even a remote connection with maneki neko, and this sounds like somebody just went "omigod, it's Japanese, it's a cat, therefore it must be a maneki neko". I'm taking the mistranslation statement out from here and the maneki neko article until somebody can prove it with a reliable source. (btw, your explanation makes far more sense) TomorrowTime 13:57, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Typo

"mouth less" instead of the correct "mouthless". Wikipedia's hostile protection scheme doesn't want me fixing it. I KNOW! I am a grammar stickler...but it won't let me fix it. Weird. --DancexwithxmexXx 21:28, 13 June 2007 (UTC)


Cultural References GONE?

why are all of the cultural references gone????

Miffy inspired by Kitty?

"Some claim that also Miffy, or Nijntje in Dutch, created by the Dutch artist Dick Bruna in 1955, was inspired by Hello Kitty." How could Miffy be inspired by Kitty when Kitty was created in 1974? Dailyenglish 17:12, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Can we add an official external link?

Hello. We would like to add the Official Sanriotown webservice to the external links part of the article.

[3] - The official home of Hello Kitty and friends —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hokcuoglu (talkcontribs) 11:55, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

hello kittys gay, kk. errrrbody geta life. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.49.245.12 (talk) 00:21, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

This article is complete bullshit

Hello Kitty actually originates in a very old and well-known myth about a cat who saves a group of people from death. I have no idea how something this important was overlooked. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.116.137.145 (talk) 21:56, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Bad Grammar

The last sentence in "History" seems to be ungrammatical.

Archive 1

DYK?

This article, once cleaned up a bit, could probably quality for a DYK in that Hello Kitty was just named Japan's newest tourism ambassador. Interesting stuff, yeah? Qb | your 2 cents 15:33, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

DYK is only for new articles or recently, massively expanded ones. -- AnmaFinotera (talk · contribs) 02:36, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Adding sources

The articles is needing sources. I'll put them here for now. Apparently, we can't just put the footnotes in the article and then fill it up along the way.

  • Tracy, David (1999-05-29). "The Small White Cat That Conquered Japan". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • Mitchell, James A. (1999-12-25). "A very merry Hello Kitty Christmas". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • Frazier, David (1999-10-26). "In search of the next Hello Kitty". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • Hanks, Anna (1999-11-05). "Say Hello to Kitty: Welcome to the Sanrio Universe". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • "Hello Kitty strikes out with bank workers". Taipei Times. 1999-09-05. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • Parker, Ginny, (1999-12-16). "Cute is cool, and lucrative, for its many fans in Japan". Seattle Post Intelligencer. Retrieved 2008-08-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Singer, Jane (1999-01-19). "the Bento chronicles". Salon.com. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • Fass, Allison (2000-12-03). "VENTURES; Miss Kitty Sashays Into Times Square". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • Nakada, Gail (2000-11-16). "Yahoo Kitty! Yahoo teams with Sanrio". Marketwatch. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • Solomon, Karen (2000-01-25). "The Cuter Computer". Wired News. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • Seneviratne, Kalinga (2000-02-12). "Kitty kitsch turns Singaporeans into Pavlov's dogs". Asia Times Online. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • Tanikawa, Miki (2000-12-04). "Beyond 'Hello Kitty' : Life in Internet Lane:Japanese Hesitate". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • "Hello pandemonium as Kitty craze hits Singapore". Taipei Times. 2000-01-19. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  • LoBaido, Anthony C. (2000-09-30). [http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=5716 "'Hello Kitty' battles in cyber wars"]. WorldNetDaily. Retrieved 2008-08-21. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)

Signed, Kmarinas86 (6sin8karma) 19:51, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Hope you don't mind, but I cleaned those up to use the proper citation templates and make them esaier for people to see. -- AnmaFinotera (talk · contribs) 20:35, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
Excellent team work. Thanks!Kmarinas86 (6sin8karma) 21:04, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Conception and creation

I'm about to delete this whole section, since it's a copyvio of the IHT's The Small White Cat That Conquered Japan. Before reinserting anything, make sure you are not simply cutting and pasting from a copyright source. --Tagishsimon (talk) 20:49, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Wow, good catch! I didn't even think to check that kind of thing because of the age of the article. -- AnmaFinotera (talk · contribs) 23:57, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Pictures?

I'm sure it's because it's all trademarked and whatnot, but I find it somewhat odd that an article about Hello Kitty does not actually have an image of the iconic Hello Kitty herself. Is there anything we can do? As useful as a description of Hello Kitty is, people who have never actually seen the image are going to be disappointed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.113.242.5 (talk) 02:13, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Actually it does have one in the middle of the page. I do agree one of the standard animated one should be included. I'd presume one was here once and it was removed because it was not appropriately licensed and FURed. -- AnmaFinotera (talk · contribs) 02:19, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
The image referred above is under deletion discussion Commons [4]. Don't know how long it'll last, or what, exactly, the Mickey Mouse Law is referring. Does it mean "derivative works" only, or does it mean no usage of any image of the property? Yngvarr (t) (c) 16:06, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Any idea why the picture was deleted? I can find no good reason not to include a small-resolution picture of the Hello Kitty icon in a page specifically about Hello Kitty. For example, even Mickey Mouse, one of the most defended copyrights (Mickey Mouse#Legal issues), has a (relatively high resolution) picture. I don't know but is it at least allowed to link to an external site if wikipedia is not allowed to host an image itself? Can it be treated the same way as a logo for a company or web site? 68.166.37.76 (talk) 09:09, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Footnote #18

I just tried to go to the link found in footnote #18, but failed -- apparently the link is broken in some way. Does anyone know how to fix this? I'm afraid I do not. RobertAustin (talk) 17:09, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Is that the one regarding the Thai cops? I just tried it and it is working. Maybe it was a glitch? Archive.org seems to have cataloged this URL, too [5]. Yngvarr (t) (c) 21:20, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Accuracy

The Hello Kitty character was not inaugurated by a toy company -- it is the central character of an old and well-known myth about a cat who saves a family from death by fire. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.199.149.114 (talk) 01:03, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Information about Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty is the most well known of many fictional characters produced by Japanese company, Sanrio. Hello Kitty is a very peculiar and curious white cat which is characterized by a distinctive bow or some other decoration on her left ear and the absence of a mouth except in an animated series. It was created in year 1974 by Sanrio Company of Japan in Tokyo, Japan. Registered in 1976, Hello Kitty is now a globally known trademark —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.199.76.222 (talk) 02:20, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

Hello Kitty

hello kitty is a white cat with no mouth with a red bow on he left of her ear with also with a yellow button nose. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.147.248.16 (talk) 19:53, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

In the shows she haves a mouth.--Daisy18108 Talk to me here! Sign my Guestbook! 02:18, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Popular Culture

While the article provides information regarding Hello Kitty, it could still use additional information on how it affects society (Japanese, American, etc.) as well as the original creation of Hello Kitty itself. Besides the first few sentences, "Her first appearance on an item, a vinyl coin purse, was introduced in Japan in 1974 and brought to the United States in 1976," nothing in the article writes of the creation or existence of Hello Kitty. Besides being a cartoon character by Sanrio, the reader knows nothing about how it was created. More information should be given about why the kitty has no mouth, why the bow is on the left ear, etc., to further help the reader understand the inspiration and reasoning behind Ikuko Shimizu's Hello Kitty. It has no mouth because it's used to express feelings so the listeners can think what there expressions are

Not only that, a significant amount of the information is on the anime and cartoons that were played in Japan. While this pertains to Hello Kitty, the article should also focus on how it incorporates into other cultures and countries. For example, there is a mention of how Mariah Carey adopted Hello Kitty as a fashion statement. I think this can be further elaborated on how Hello Kitty has become a norm in American fashion and that it has become the design used on clothing, jewelry, etc.

Lastly, when mentioning the products that Hello Kitty has been incorporated into (e.g., Tokidoki, MAC), it should link to the products themselves, to provide the reader with a better understanding of the products. Not only that, it should write of how people (or society) responded to these changes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaptainhat (talkcontribs) 06:18, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Fixed... somewhat. At the very least I feel it's passable as a lead covering the "big picture" bits but obviously it's not perfect. The article still needs a lot of improvements, and narratives/explanations need to be formed under existing sections, though most all of what's there can likely be included or turned to proper prose or short lists formats. Should try to remember that we can't have the article to sound like pointless mentions, but one advantage in our favor as editors is the extremely large number of resources for an article of this size that have already been found. I agree there is much that can be added regarding direct influence on pop culture in various areas worldwide.
My opinion would be to work on getting rid of that pesky tone/style flagging and then grow once things are in order? daTheisen(talk) 09:02, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

I would like to incorporate more information about Hello Kitty's influence in men's popular culture and how something that was originally targeted for girls now also influences male consumers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.29.192.244 (talk) 08:11, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

As long as you bring reliable sources it shouldn't be a problem including something on that. Siawase (talk) 13:23, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Ambiguous article lead-in sentences

First two sentences of article:

"first designed by Yuko Shimizu. She is a staple of the kawaii segment"

Who or what is a staple of Kawaii? The person Yuko or the fictional character? This should be changed to either:

  • Yuko is a staple of the kawaii segment..
  • The character is a staple of the kawaii segment..

DMahalko (talk) 23:32, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Fixed. You are aware that you can edit the article yourself, right? Just want to make sure. :) ···日本穣? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WikiProject Japan! 06:21, 3 June 2010 (UTC)
I have no familiarity with this topic, don't know anything about it, so I put the talk page comment here for experienced people such as yourself to be able to fix. DMahalko (talk) 08:10, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

Products section

This section could obviously use a lot of work. It features a very small, cherry-picked list of products, when Hello Kitty is found on literally thousands of different products world-wide. The problem, of course, is finding reliable sourcing for that information. At some point in the future I'll try to find a good summarizing article that covers a wide breadth of Hello Kitty products; some sort of company history might help here. It's not worthwhile to just keep adding random products, since there are so many, but, of course, some of them are extra notable (for being unusual, for being reported in the news, or for being co-branded with other notable products). Qwyrxian (talk) 07:00, 20 August 2010 (UTC)


Edit request from Scottjmcasey, 14 June 2011

It reads that Hello Kitty is worth $500billion. It isn't. It's worth around $1billion according to the source cited (Source 6).

Scottjmcasey (talk) 13:12, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

Actually, it was more wrong than that; the line said something about licensing agreements, but the source only verified total sales. I've corrected the article to match the reference (and added a clarification that the data is from 2003). Thanks for the heads up. Qwyrxian (talk) 23:34, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

Dear Daniel

Why does Dear Daniel redirect to this page, when it doesn't even have the word Daniel in the article anywhere? 131.151.65.247 (talk) 02:02, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

According to the Sanrio site, he is a "related character" (possibly a friend or boyfriend?) to Hello Kitty. Since it's unlikely that Dear Daniel would qualify as notable enough for it's own article, this is the most logical redirect. Was there some other topic about Dear Daniel that you were trying to search for? Qwyrxian (talk) 03:31, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
Nope. I was attempting to find out who Dear Daniel was. A google image search for hello daniel very clearly indicates the two are associated (and gives nothing but hello kitty stuff everywhere, prominently including a character that I assume is Dear Daniel). I was merely perplexed that something redirected to a page that didn't mention it at all. Perhaps someone who knows about this topic should add a small section? 131.151.65.247 (talk) 05:57, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
I changed the Dear Daniel redirect to List of Sanrio characters#Hello Kitty since he's mentioned there now. Siawase (talk) 13:44, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

MORE INFO ABOUT HER ORIGIN

not so much is known about her origin, how she was created, with what purpose, etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 187.159.119.122 (talk) 00:09, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

I added a small background section that hopefully answers some of your questions. Siawase (talk) 14:07, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

Maneki neko?

"Does the Japanese lucky cat remind you of another cat character? Some people believe that Hello Kitty owes her origins to Maneki Neko which means ‘beckoning cat’. It is thought that the name Hello Kitty may be a faulty translation from Japanese." source, 2011-07-24

I have heard this, and it seems plausible. Can anyone contribute definite info on this possible connection? --Thnidu (talk) 03:04, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

Well, that source is unfortunately nowhere near WP:RS. Maneki neko is already mentioned in this article, though in vague language with no source. I did a search of google news and google books in japanese and english and came up with pretty much nothing. It's possible that (Japanese language) offline print sources might have some info, like the korega Sanrio no himitsu desu book that is used as a source in the Sanrio article. Siawase (talk) 13:39, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

Zobification by Kitty ideals

It is a horrific way of turning kids in to Japanese, consumer correlated spending machines.

Ok then Mfyui (talk) 22:28, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

"Zobification" sure, whatever you say

Miffy

Hi, Can somebody tell me why there is no reference that Hello Kitty was stolen from Miffy? (Nijntje) Thnx

And your references to verify this claim are? —Farix (t | c) 13:29, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Hello Kitty is not a cat

"Hello Kitty is not a cat. She's a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She's never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it's called Charmmy Kitty." from LA Times 74.202.236.2 (talk) 23:43, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I saw a similar article from Fox News, which mostly just cited the same LA Times article you linked to. The Fox News article specifically mentioned the incorrect information found on Wikipedia. So, I just added a small correction and cited the LA Times article. --Teksura (talk) 01:42, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

The usage of Hello Kitty (song) (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) is under discussion, see Talk:Hello Kitty (Avril Lavigne song) -- 70.51.46.146 (talk) 05:36, 17 September 2014 (UTC)

Regarding Hello Kitty's Not a Cat

Previously this read that it was the creator that said she wasn't at Cat. However, if you look better at the wording, it's Sanrio saying that she is not, not Yuko Shimizu. All articles read Sanrio, very few read "and the creator". In standing by what is verifiable, it's best to just leave this one at "Sanrio says". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Setanaoko (talkcontribs) 21:36, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Added the comment from Sanrio explaining that she is an anthropomorphic cat, per the RocketNews24 article. Basically just like Micky Mouse, the Sanrio representative told me. MaxxD (talk) 20:28, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

Now this article has inconsistencies in this matter. At the beginning states "She was thought to be an anthropomorphic white Japanese bobtail cat with a red bow until it was revealed in August of 2014, by Sanrio, that she is in fact a human girl.[6]", but in the section Character says "Following reports that interpreted this to mean she was human, a Sanrio PR representative said that the organization had "never said she was a human"". I'm only talking about it and not editing it myself because I neither know what's the actual fact nor how to edit and format here at Wikipedia. 83.40.211.67 (talk) 18:58, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

We were getting a lot of knee-jerk drive-by edits by IP, so the page was semi-protected. Now we're getting a registered user who is doing the same edits, not reading the citations, and not considering the sources (almost all the articles are sourced back to the single first claim), and not considering the chronology of the sources (he is citing a pre-clarification articles and deleting post-clarification articles refs). Sanrio clarified their view immediately that Kitty White is not a human nor is she a literal (house)cat but is an unspecified (evolved) species of "cat". There is no in-universe rationale or justification for her evolution but, as an encyclopedia article, it is the out-of-universe perspective that matters. Unfortunately this often happens to articles when they are in the middle of a media circus. I do not consider it a content dispute at this point because the editors are not consulting the Talk page, comments, nor reading the source refs or even the article. These are people who are only excited that it's a contrarian view, so they will continue to vandalize the article. I expect it will simply be incorrect for at least a few months. MaxxD (talk) 17:55, 4 September 2014 (UTC)


I feel like this article has gone too far in describing her simply as a cat without qualifications. There are three sources given to support this but none of them actually support this assertion:

The first source, the Kotaku article, quotes a Sanrio spokesperson saying "Hello Kitty was done in the motif of a cat. It's going too far to say that Hello Kitty is not a cat. Hello Kitty is a personification of a cat". The quote does not describe her as a cat. Saying that it is "going too far to say she is not a cat" is not the same thing as saying she is a cat. Neither is describing her as "done in the motif of a cat" or "a personification of a cat". The distinction the spokesperson is making is clearly (as I read it) that she is an anthropomorphic cat, rather than a cat in the animal sense.

The second source, pcmlifestyle, has two contradictory accounts from Sanrio under the headline "Is Hello Kitty A Cat? Sanrio Doesn't Know". The first states that she is not a cat (the infamous quote from the Christine R. Yano story) and the second that she is both a cat and a "personification of a cat". Again that same phrase is used.

The third source, RocketNews24 paraphrases a Sanrio representative saying that she is "not quite" a cat:

  • The PR rep calmly explained that Hello Kitty is a 擬人化 (gijinka), a personification or anthropomorphization. Basically just like Micky Mouse, the Sanrio representative told me. No one would mistake the Disney character for a human–but at the same time he’s not quite a mouse. Just like Hello Kitty isn’t a human, she’s not quite a cat either. (emphasis added)

Clearly she is not a human being, that much is clear. But the sources given to justify describing her as a cat without any qualifying adjectives do not say anything of the sort. The first does not describe her as a cat, the second describes the issue as confused and that she is both a cat and not a cat, and the third explicitly states that she is "not quite a cat". Unless other sources are found I think we have to change "cat" to "anthropomorphic cat" which is what the sources actually seem to be saying. --109.158.211.50 (talk) 00:30, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

This looks like an official profile page published by the owner of the Hello Kitty franchise

There's scant mention of the humongous popular culture surrounding Hello Kitty. e.g. Hello Kitty Con (convention) http://thoughtcatalog.com/rachel-kramer-bussel/2014/11/i-am-not-a-hello-kitty-superfan-and-other-things-i-learned-at-hello-kitty-con/ e.g. Obsession https://ricorambles.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/womans-obsession-with-hello-kitty-enrages-homeowners-association/ Widespread unlicensed use: e.g. Motorcycles e.g. Firearms e.g. Tattoos 146.115.72.215 (talk) 18:10, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Hello Kitty Con is actually organized by Sanrio, ie the owners of the Hello Kitty franchise, see the official website at http://www.sanrio.com/hellokittycon/ and the wordpress blog entry appears to be a hoax, the house depicted is not the work of an obsessed fan, but an officially licensed attraction at a resort in Taiwan, see official website entry about it at http://www.hellokitty.com/hellokittyblog/around-the-world/hello-kitty-villas/ Siawase (talk) 19:10, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Hello Kitty. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

  • If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
  • If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 12:11, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Hello Kitty. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

  • If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
  • If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 19:56, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Hello Kitty. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

  • If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
  • If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 17:19, 5 December 2017 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Hello Kitty. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

  • If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
  • If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 09:09, 21 January 2018 (UTC)

On whether the article's subject character is, or is not, a cat

The introductory paragraph points out as of this writing that "Though she appears to be anthropomorphic, according to her creators she is not a cat: she is simply a cartoon character", while the sidebar assures the reader that not only is the character a cat, but is of the species "Japanese Bobtail".

This may not be a contradiction--for example, the introductory paragraph may report that the character is not a cat "according to her creators" but it may secretly harbor the opinion that the character is indeed a cat regardless of her creators' statements, as reflected by the sidebar. Or, it may simply be an apparent contradiction, that resolves itself upon meditation.

Whatever the applicable catness may or may not be, I leave it in the hands of editors familiar with the subject matter to ponder the issue, and if any correction be needed, to design and implement same. Peace. 70.35.184.55 (talk) 02:50, 13 April 2018 (UTC)

It says right here that she is a cat. http://www.thehive.asia/2014/08/update-hello-kitty-is-indeed-cat.html The Hello Kitty Wiki claims that "As of 8/28/14 it was rumored Hello Kitty is a human girl and not a cat. However, it has been confirmed that Hello Kitty is actually a gijinka (anthropomorphic) cat and not human." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.163.62.221 (talk) 22:07, 18 June 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 00:42, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

Sorry

I used word replace and it was on while I edited this page https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=701391386. I will remember not to use word replace when editing wikipedia. Sorry. I had simply seen a keyboard mash and was trying to erase it.

Also, I'm not a racist. The kk ---> Ku Klux Klan replacement comes from an inside joke.

What does her name mean?

The article says that her Japanese name is Harō Kiti. I have a slight experience with the Japanese language and I don't think Haro means hello. I could be wrong. I was expecting the article to address this. PopSci (talk) 12:08, 23 June 2018 (UTC)

The name appears to be correct, although, most of the time, it is seen as "Haroo Kiti", and the Japanese refer to her, mostly, by her original name, "Kitty White". Whether the word "haro(o)" is a bastardization of the word "hello" is unknown to me, but many modern Japanese words borrow from English ones, so, it may be more than a coincidence. The "Hello Kitty" wiki is at http://hellokitty.wikia.com/wiki/Hello_Kitty . The Kanji and its pronounciation may be seen and heard here: https://translate.google.com/#auto/es/%E3%83%8F%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AD%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3 . Skaizun (talk) 20:44, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

ハロー (Harō) is a loanword from Dutch ("hallo", meaning hello), but it's mostly treated as coming from the English "hello" instead, so you see it written out as "HELLO" in Japanese a lot, including in Hello Kitty's name. 85.164.125.197 (talk) 05:12, 10 May 2021 (UTC)

"Birthday"

The article currently says: "Kitty and her twin sister, Mimi, celebrate their birthday on 1 November 1974." (Now without getting into a discussion about a fictional character having a "birthday", and that it's more likely the parent company and the fans doing all of the "celebrating" - lets just play along for the moment, shall we...) So the poor little things don't get to celebrate their birthdays every year?? Also let me tell you: The year I was born was the year in which I did the least celebrating of my own birthday. This unfortunate wording should be rewritten, so that it actually says what it intends to say. --BjKa (talk) 08:53, 7 June 2021 (UTC)

Outfit

When did hello kitty get new outfits 2600:1700:CEF0:C260:D85D:104F:BDD1:90CE (talk) 05:00, 6 January 2022 (UTC)