The European Commission said Wednesday it has launched an antitrust investigation into whether Hello Kitty owner Sanrio Co. is illegally blocking the sale of licensed products across borders and online. In addition to Tokyo-based Sanrio, the commission has started probing sportswear giant Nike Inc. and ...
Sanrio Entertainment has said it will offer the right to "date" its popular character Hello Kitty to people who donate ¥100,000 each through crowdfunding for a summer festival to be held at the firm's Sanrio Puroland theme park in Tama, Tokyo. Contributors to the online ...
Dutch artist and illustrator Dick Bruna, creator of the beloved children's character Miffy the white rabbit, has died at age 89. The author, who penned 124 picture books during a career that spanned six decades, died in his sleep late Thursday in his hometown of ...
Get ready to answer the cat phone Aimed at kids — or even adults who love all things kawaii (cute) — the Hello Kitty Figurine KT-01 smartphone, created by Japanese startup Ola, is just as the name suggests: a cute palm-sized figurine that flips open ...
Hello Kitty characters will be featured on some Seibu Railway Co. train cars from Saturday in a bid to draw visitors to the Chichibu mountainous area where the operator serves. Under the campaign, dubbed "Hello Kitty meets Chichibu," a four-car train bearing the Sanrio Co. ...
The company that owns the Hello Kitty brand said it has fixed a security leak in an online fan site for the character that compromised the personal information of 3.3 million users. Sanrio Co.'s digital arm said Tuesday that it "corrected" a security vulnerability on ...
A database for Sanrio, the Japanese owner of the Hello Kitty brand, was breached, putting the data of 3.3 million of its users at risk, according to security website CSOonline.com's report. The leaked data include information such as users' full names, email addresses and encrypted ...
Analytics data suggest Japan is better known abroad as the land of Hello Kitty than as a country full of swaggering samurai and mincing geisha.
As the entire nation gears up for the 70th anniversary of the day Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, various celebrities are lending their support for sending out messages of peace. The latest big name is Hello Kitty, Sanrio Co.'s globally popular character. "All of us ...
Character goods business Sanrio Co. said Thursday it aims to globally release a film featuring its famed Hello Kitty character as early as 2019 through a wholly owned subsidiary it set up in the United States. With the project cost expected to total ¥20 billion ...
Anti-itch cream and Hello Kitty may seem like an unlikely pairing, but these days it seems that cat can sell anything. This time, however, she has enlisted Akihabara-based idol group Dempagumi.inc to help. The group, PokeMuhi Motta Dempagumi.inc to Hello Kitty (Dempagumi.inc that has Pocket ...
For anyone raised in the West, the year-end holidays in Japan can be a jarring experience, at least for the uninitiated. Decorated trees, illuminated boulevards and carols in convenience stores coincide with Colonel Sanders statuettes remade into Santa Claus and mini-skirted chorus girls in ...
