NEWSWORTHY
West Japan Railway Co. said Friday it will begin operating a Hello Kitty-themed shinkansen on June 30. The interior and seats of the 500-series shinkansen, to be used for daily round trips between Shin-Osaka Station in Osaka Prefecture and Hakata in Fukuoka Prefecture, will feature ...
West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) will launch a Hello Kitty-themed bullet train on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line this summer, the railway operator says. A Kodama train featuring Sanrio Co.'s popular kitten character will consist of eight 500-series cars on the line that connects Osaka ...
Hello Kitty and Pikachu recruited to back Osaka's bid to host the 2025 World Expo
Hello Kitty and Pikachu have been enlisted to give Osaka a boost in its efforts to host the 2025 World Exposition. "I would like for you to represent Japan and proactively (promote) the attraction of Osaka inside and outside of the country," Foreign Minister Taro ...
EU launches antitrust investigation into Sanrio over product distribution
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 ...
Donors to Sanrio crowdfunding get right to 'date' Hello Kitty
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 ...
Time to watch out for those kids
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 ...
Seibu Railway cars to feature Hello Kitty characters in tourist draw
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 ...
Sanrio database leak seen covering info on 3.3 million Hello Kitty fans
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 ...
From 'samurai' to 'Hello Kitty,' search data show how the world's view of Japan has changed
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.
Hello Kitty joins cast of celebs offering Aug. 15 peace messages
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 ...
