Hello Kitty may look just like a cat, but according to Sanrio itself, that assumption about the character could not be further from the truth.

Born from the trauma of World War II, this bow-wearing cartoon icon became a powerful ... The beloved character ushered kawaii (which roughly translates to “cute” or “adorable”) culture ...

boosting Sanrio’s sales in just two years and bringing her cute “kawaii” style to coin purses, diaries, stationery and notebooks. The childlike Sanrio cat quietly made its way to the United ...

Not a cat, nor Japanese ... She’s an icon. The CEO of cuteness. An $80 billion franchise. And the breadth and longevity of her success makes her one of history’s greatest marketing phenomena. The ...

From Labubu to Jellycat, as the plush toys craze continues, for cat lovers, here are some interesting things to know about Mofusand kitties.

Manufacturers capitalised on cute. Hello Kitty, the poster cat of kawaii and Japan’s biggest pop icon, was sketched in November 1974 by designer Yuko Shimizu for creative agency Sanrio ...

It started with cats. When Tim Berners-Lee ... Integral to the global phenomena of cute, the exhibition asserts, is “kawaii,” a Japanese word which literally translates as “cuteness.” ...