Hello Kitty merchadise targeting men is on Sanrio designers’ radar, despite previous attempts that stumbled, Japanese character designer and illustrator, Yuko Yamaguchi, told delegates in Seoul today on opening day of this year’s Asian Leadership Conference (ALC).  

Meanwhile, Yamaguchi said, “I am certain the day will come when men are no longer embarrassed to carry around Hello Kitty merch… I am putting a lot of thought into ushering in that day as soon as possible”.

Yamaguchi has been in charge of Kitty’s design since 1980 and is responsible for putting Kitty on the world's most popular character list.

In a session titled, “Hello Kitty 50th Anniversary: The secret behind Kitty”, Yamaguchi talked about developing the brand across 50,000 kinds of Kitty products now sold in more than 130 countries, and the meaning of Sanrio’s ideology that “everyone gets along well”.

She said Kitty’s super-powers included an early and ongoing commitment to fan events and international merchandising. Sanrio started exploring merchandise in 1976.

“Back then our secret was offline events,” she said. “Since I held these various fan events, I could see with my own eyes how Kitty was applied on the ground”.

“It’s important to be as accessible as possibly globally, to make frequent appearances, to make the presence of Kawai characters felt around the world. Characters are basically a culture.”

Underpinning all that is the die-hard belief in authentic, relatable, distinctive stories as the engine driving character development.

“If the story is not in place, you cannot create distinctive characters that will be loved,” she said, adding that she draws inspiration for new characters from a wide variety of sources, including travel.  

Yamaguchi said children were critical for a character’s success. “Success is about creating a character that children will like,” she said.

“If not successful among children, you cannot call that a character. Children decide whether they like the character based on the appearance”.

Asked about the possibilities for introducing girl- and boy-love into the Hello Kitty universe, Yamaguchi said Hello Kitty was a female-first character.  

“I hoped that men would love Hello Kitty as well. I tried to develop a Hello Kitty for men to fall in love with as well. But it had a little trouble settling in. This is something I am still putting a lot of thought into,” Yamaguchi, who joined Sanrio in 1973 and is Hello Kitty’s third designer, said.

Another mistake she shared was the decision – quickly reversed – to give Kitty a mouth as she entered the world of animation.

Yamaguchi talks about her misgivings at the time, which she squashed in deference to the director of animation.

“I really feel bad about how I couldn’t say out loud that Kitty should not have a mouth,” she says, adding that when the mouth was unveiled, “fans were upset”.

“We have those failures. It’s important to listen to fans’ voices and to be able to go back to the way it was if they are not happy with the result”.