Hello Kitty loves to learn about the world around her. Witness her fondness for books and travel! Here are some of the interesting tidbits about Hello Kitty.

Celebrity fans of Hello Kitty include:

Christina Aguilera, Drew Barrymore, Big Boi of OutKast, Cameron Diaz, Mariah Carey, Carmen Electra, Calista Flockhart, Heidi Klum, Lindsay Lohan, Mandy Moore, Kelly Osbourne, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kimora Lee Simmons, Raven Simone, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Steven Tyler and Miley Cyrus.



Sanrio has 400 outstanding lawsuits against sellers of knockoff Hello Kitty merchandise, according to Oregon's Portland Herald. The faux-feline merchandise is an $800 million industry.

In 1999, the real-life "Hello Kitty murder case" shocked Hong Kong. Gangsters killed and dismembered a young girl before hiding her skull inside a large Hello Kitty doll.

Singer Lisa Loeb featured Hello Kitty on the cover of her 2002 album Hello Lisa. She also promoted the album with a concert at the Sanrio store in New York's Times Square.

Hello Kitty's favorite snack is her mom's apple pie, ideally "served with honey vanilla ice cream topped with cookie crunch," according to Hello Kitty Hello Everything.

Hello Kitty's favorite bedtime story is Mysterious Forest.

An inside source reveals that employees of the Sanrio store in New York's Times Square must address the company mascot, "Hello, Hello Kitty," and under no circumstances just, "Hello, Kitty."

In 2004, near England's Stonehenge, New York art collective Surface to Air created a crop circle in the shape of Hello Kitty's face. The group chose the location partly because the design, the size of half a football field and below a well-traveled flight path, would be visible to aircraft en route to and from London's Heathrow airport.



Five couples get married each year at Tokyo's Sanrio theme park Puroland.

Sociologists note that Hello Kitty has both benefited from and helped fuel a cultural shift in Japan during the past generation that has encouraged greater spending and relaxation.

Boyfriend Dear Daniel was named after a character in the 1971 English film Melody.

In 1984, UNICEF named Hello Kitty children's ambassador of the organization's American arm. In 1994, she became ambassador of the Japanese branch as well.

In 2004 to mark her 30th birthday, English department store Harrods sold a box-set of DVDs featuring an animated Hello Kitty starring in such classic children's tales as Alice in Wonderland and Snow White. Though not the character's first appearance on film, the programs did depict Hello Kitty with a mouth, in order to deliver dialog.

Artists from around the world, including French Fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and American graffiti artist Ryan McGinley, contributed to a 2004 exhibit of Hello Kitty-inspired subversive art. Many of the artworks are available to view here.








See also:

• About Sanrio
• Hello Kitty Biography
• Hello Kitty Products

• Kitty Kaboodle
• Kitty Kute
• Why I Love Hello Kitty