“I wanted Hello Kitty to become more energetic,” she said. “And since she was the face of Sanrio, and was born as a symbol of ...

She wears a big red bow on her cat-shaped head, her face has whiskers, and her name is Hello Kitty. But once again the iconic character’s parent company is saying she’s no feline.

but some women see an empowering symbol in her mouthless face. “Shrewd” is how Mika Nishimura, a design professor at Tokyo’s Meisei University, describes the way Hello Kitty conquered the ...

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