Japan (23) - Hello Kitty

19 July 2010 - She is everywhere, and yet I have not written about her yet ... Hello Kitty. Without any doubt this is Japan's favorite character, and it seems almost every tourist shop sells Hello Kitty dolls, t-shirts, pencils, stickers and one zillion other gadgets. Kitty was developed by Yuko Shimuzo of the Japanese company Sanrio in 1975, The 'Hello Kitty' trademark now earns worldwide annually more than USD one billion, also through its two officially licensed theme-parks Harmonyland and Sanrio Puroland (both in Japan). The Dutch artist Dick Bruna (wie kent hem niet?) has claimed that 'Hello Kitty' is a copy of Miffy (Nijntje), but he never took Sanrio, Shimuzo or Kitty to court. There is also a darker side to Hello Kitty. I was told that in 1999 a brutal murder took place in Hong Kong, named the Hello Kitty Murder. The popular name of the murder derives from the fact that the murderer inserted his victims head into a Hello Kitty doll after decapitating her. You won't find it in Hollywood ...

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