First things first, sorry for ruining your childhood dreams, Hello Kitty fans.
As Sanrio and Hello Kitty lovers gear up to celebrate the 40th birthday of the iconic “cat”, new findings have surfaced about her true origins.
Christine R. Yano, an anthropologist from the University of Hawaii (and currently a visiting professor at Harvard) who has spent years studying the phenomenon that is the “cat”, is suggesting that Hello Kitty is not a cat, as previously assumed by many for 40 whole years.
Oh, what?
Hello Kitty’s Family
When Yano was preparing her written texts for the “Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty” exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum, she described Hello Kitty as a cat. “I was corrected — very firmly. That’s one correction Sanrio made for my script for the show. 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 said.
She added, “She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it’s called Charmmy Kitty.”
Hello Kitty’s pet cat, Charmmy Kitty
Other findings include the facts that:
- She’s British, and not Japanese, despite being a Sanrio character.
- Her name is actually “Kitty White”.
- She’s the daughter of George and Mary White.
- She is a Scorpio.
- She loves apple pie.
- She has a twin sister named Mimmy.
- She wears a red bow on her left ear, Mimmy wears a yellow one on the right.
- She’s a perpetual third-grader (9-year-old).
- She lives outside of London.
Actually, everything that Yano has suggested is true because the following has also been stated here:
Hello Kitty (ハローキティ Harōkiti) (full name Kitty White (キティ・ホワイト Kiti howaito) is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, first designed by Yuko Shimizu. She bears the appearance of a white Japanese bobtail cat with a red bow although she is actually little girl.
Again, sorry for ruining your childhood dreams. We just got ours ruined too.
Meanwhile, here’s one childhood dream that won’t get ruined anytime soon – the chance of a lifetime opportunity to fly in a Hello Kitty-themed plane!
Deets here.
(Source)