Choi Yik HengNational University of SingaporeCentre for English Language CommunicationIEM1201F- Asia & Hollywood

The Curious Case of Hello Kitty: Locating the global felineicon

Hello Kitty mania is Japan’s greatest cultural export to

the world for the ubiquitous feline without a mouth has

garnered strong followings around the world. In the

Western hemisphere alone, the billion dollar feline

empress of “kawaii” (cute) adorns more than 50,000

products1; is a float at Macy’s annual Thanksgiving Parade

in New York, and ‘in 2002, 83% of American 18-23 year

olds recognised Kitty’2. “Kawaii” is ‘small, soft,

infantile, mammalian, round, without bodily appendages,

without bodily orifices (e.g. mouths), non-sexual’3.

However, the West’s attraction to “kawaii” has underlying

connotations of orientalism, for Edward Said argues that

the ‘Orient exists for the West, and is constructed by

1 Retrieved from: http://san-x.cupped-expressions.net/p/beyond-hello-kitty.html2 Retrieved from: http://www.japanreview.net/review_hello_kitty.htm3 Kinsella, Sharon. (Eds.). (1995). “Cuties in Japan” in Moeran, Brian,Scov, Lise. (Eds.). Women, Media and Consumption in Japan. Chapter 6. USA: HawaiiUniversity Press. P 7.

Choi Yik HengNational University of SingaporeCentre for English Language CommunicationIEM1201F- Asia & Hollywood

and in relation to the West’4. Charges of Kitty’s “Japan-

domination” are also problematic for she is merely a

metonym of Japan-ness, stereotyped by her kawaii-ness on

the international stage. In this essay, I will explore

Japan’s capitalization of cuteness to the West, and in

turn, their responses to “kawaii”. The notions of Hello

Kitty as a global product, and representational, will

also be problematicised.

The Occidentalist roots of Hello Kitty

In the 1970s, Japan’s obsession with “kawaii” fanshi

guzzu (fancy goods) that appropriated the West’s

“refined” lifestyles grew. Since English associations

were popular with the Japanese then, Kitty fanshi guzzu

allude to Japan’s (positive) occidentalist desires in

images of a fantasised and idealised West5. Peter

Lawrence, an anthropologist, accounts this to Japan’s

‘desire for the material culture of the European, and4 Said, Edward. (Eds.). (1979). Orientalism. UK: Vintage Books. P 12.5 ‘The symbols and images of the West packaged by depato [department store]for domestic consumption do not necessarily reflect the reality of any partof the Western world. More often they are blurred refractions,decontextualized fragments of various Western traditions and practices thathave been culled and then altered to fit the Japanese cultural context andthe expectations of Japanese consumers.’ Tanka, Akio. (Eds.). (1995). Tokyo asa City of Consumption: Space, Media and Identity in Contemporary Japan. Master’s Thesis.University of British Columbia. P 129.

Choi Yik HengNational University of SingaporeCentre for English Language CommunicationIEM1201F- Asia & Hollywood

hence for economic and social equality with” the

Occidental6. The names “fanshi guzzu” (in katakana, a

Japanese syllabary that incorporates foreign words) and

“Hello Kitty” already signify the aping of the West. In

fact, the official narrative for Kitty’s specifies her

birthplace to be Britain rather than Japan. Disney also

‘had a big influence both on Japanese animation and

comics’7 by introducing ‘the modern cute aesthetic into

Japan’8. The style of “fanshi guzzu” is also borrowed in a

‘European or American- style, dreamy, frilly and fluffy’9.

Yuko Yamaguchi, the creator of Hello Kitty, explains that

‘there was an idea that if Kitty-chan spoke English, she

would be very fashionable’10. Thus, the goods were also

adorned with ‘cute slogans (that) were more often written

in fractured English or pseudo-French than in Japanese’-

‘a toilet bowl called petit etoile’11. 6 Carrier, G, James. (Eds.). (1995). Occidentalism: Images of the West. USA:Oxford University Press. P 38.7 Kinsella, Sharon. (Eds.). (1995). “Cuties in Japan” in Moeran, Brian, Scov,Lise. (Eds.). Women, Media and Consumption in Japan. Chapter 6. USA: Hawaii University Press. P 22.8 Ibid.9 Ibid. P 8.10 Retrieved from: http://www.japansociety.org/resources/content/2/0/5/4/documents/gross national cool.pdf11 Kinsella, Sharon. (Eds.). (1995). “Cuties in Japan” in Moeran, Brian, Scov, Lise. (Eds.). Women, Media and Consumption in Japan. Chapter 6. USA: Hawaii

Choi Yik HengNational University of SingaporeCentre for English Language CommunicationIEM1201F- Asia & Hollywood

The Capitalistion of “kawaii”

As can be seen from such merchandising, Hello Kitty’s

branding rather than traditional ancillary media

products, creates her primary narrative. From a Hello

Kitty Statue of Liberty to a Bank of America credit card

to Forever 21 shirts and even Swarovski diamond rings,

Hello Kitty’s icon of cuteness has been capitalized into

a global product. Sharon Kinsella argues that a ‘good

cute design repersonalises’12 ‘what capitalist production

processes de-personalises’13. Hello Kitty successfully

captures this irony by mass-producing (and exploiting)

the affect of cuteness. This affect transcends the

material of provoking consumerism, as emotions and

meanings are also attached to Kitty. Therefore,

‘cuteness, with all its baggage of capriciousness, is

probably the single most powerful force capitalism has to

marshal consumer troops for the system’s reproduction’14.

University Press. P 8.12 Kinsella, Sharon. (Eds.). (1995). “Cuties in Japan” in Moeran, Brian, Scov, Lise. (Eds.). Women, Media and Consumption in Japan. Chapter 6. USA: Hawaii University Press. P 9.13 Ibid.14 Gabriel, Ben. (Eds.). (2012 Feb 16). “I have no mouth but I must scream”. The New Inquiry, “Essays & Reviews”. [Retrieved] Oct 2012 [from] http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/i-have-no-mouth-but-i-must-scream/

Choi Yik HengNational University of SingaporeCentre for English Language CommunicationIEM1201F- Asia & Hollywood

Wherein lies the difference of Kitty’s cuteness from

Disney, the consumption of Hello Kitty is driven by the

meanings of ‘commodified junk’15 (which) she gets

slapped’16 onto, rather than Kitty herself. This

concretises her lack of (explicit) potential for malice

attributed to most media products like Disney animations,

as animations of her like “Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale

Theatre” garnered lackluster ratings.

Strikingly, her “global” domination is only possible

through the reaches of the West, where the Japanese

feline has to be “localized”. A most poignant example of

capitalisation of cuteness across borders comes from the

American superpower of mass production, McDonald’s. Their

“Hello Kitty Love of Millennium Meal Package” played with

‘nationalistic tricks of identification’ by donning

ethnic costumes like “ ‘Love of Kyoto’, in a Japanese

kimono; ‘Love of Beijing’, in Mandarin dress; ‘Love of

Seoul’, in a traditional Korean garment; ‘Love of

Penang’, in Malay batik” and even includes space in “

15 Ibid.16 Ibid.

Choi Yik HengNational University of SingaporeCentre for English Language CommunicationIEM1201F- Asia & Hollywood

‘Love of Future’, in a silver astronaut outfit’17.

McDonald’s “Love of Millennium”18, Hello Kitty Statue of Liberty

series19

Orientalist commodification of Cute as Cool

Kitty’s Japan-ness became cool and fashionable for the

West, just as the latter did for Japan. However, the

West’s exotic desirability for Kitty fetishises her

“kawaii-ness” into a metonym for Japan. As Sanrio’s head

of marketing for Asia, Shunji Onishi, said, fans ‘know

17 Ko, Yu-Fen. (Eds.). (2000). Hello Kitty and the Identity Politics in Taiwan. Postcolonial Studies,Volume 6, Issue 2, 2003.P 12. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13688790308106#preview18 Photo retrieved from http://ihearthellokitty.com/2010/01/06/hello-kitty-x-mcdonalds-2000-mcsweet-millennium-love-plush/19 Photo retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/leisurelygrass/5219837386/

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Kitty is from Japan. That’s why they like it’20. Pamela

Bonnell further argues that Kitty’s Japan-ness

incremented Kitty’s trademark cuteness into a ‘weird cult

status’21. The global flattening of affect is thereby

regressed into a generic “cool”. It is interesting to

note how Westerners “localise” Kitty’s stereotype of

cuteness through incongruously violent products like

guns, and counter-cultural expressions of punk-rock in

goth get-ups, tattoos and Dr. Marten boots. Therefore,

Hello Kitty’s value seems to come from her subversion of

Western-ness through “kawaii”.

Hello Kitty assault rifle22

20 Retrieved from http://www.japansociety.org/resources/content/2/0/5/4/documents/gross national cool.pdf21 Retrieved from http://uninterpretative.blogspot.sg/2011/05/hello-kitty-everything-introduction.html22 Photo retrieved from http://www.kittyhell.com/2007/12/16/hello-kitty-assault-rifle/

Choi Yik HengNational University of SingaporeCentre for English Language CommunicationIEM1201F- Asia & Hollywood

Hello Kitty-fied Goth get-up23, Hello Kitty tattoo on a punk24, Hello

Kitty x Dr Marten boots25.

Kitty’s subversiveness is also apparent in the West’s

high Art and fashion’s adulation of her product

iconography, which is now an expression of Japanese

‘gross national cool’26. Even celebrities like Lady Gaga

and Katy Perry reinforce their own brandings of “quirky

cool” with the famous feline. As a critical response to

the commodification of “kawaii” in Japan by the likes of

Hello Kitty, the Superflat Arts movement in Japan

critiques the ‘shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer

culture’27 by deliberately flattening “kawaii” cartoon

23 Photo retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/yoyosuicide/3423515516/24 Photo retrieved from http://www.bodyartdiary.com/hello-kitty-tattoo-scribble-on-the-forehead.html25 Photo retrieved from http://fashionindie.com/hello-doc/26 Retrieved from http://www.japansociety.org/resources/content/2/0/5/4/documents/gross national cool.pdf27 Retrieved from http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/drohojowska-philp/drohojowska-philp1-18-01.asp

Choi Yik HengNational University of SingaporeCentre for English Language CommunicationIEM1201F- Asia & Hollywood

characters. The West values its postmodernity in

subverting the Western canon of high art- the

juxtaposition of Takashi Murakami exhibits at the Palace

of Versailles in 2010 against classical pieces, and

collaborations with renowned couturier, Louis Vuitton.

America’s Next Top Model x M.A.C fashion spread28, Lady Gaga on the

album cover of a limited-edition box-set of “The Fame”29, Katy Perry

at the BIRT Awards in London in 200930.

28 Photo retrieved from http://www.gabrielleteare.com/blog/2009/03/07/hello-kitty-for-mac/29 Photo retrieved from http://www.jackfroot.com/2011/12/everyone-loves-hello-kitty-except-charlize-theron/lady-gaga-hello-kitty-dress/30 Photo retrieved from http://www.shoppingblog.com/blog/2180920

Choi Yik HengNational University of SingaporeCentre for English Language CommunicationIEM1201F- Asia & Hollywood

Takashi Murakami exhibit at the Chateau de Versailles in 201031.

Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton32, Yaoyi Kusamai for LouisVuitton33

Through these interplay of superficial cross-cultural

31 Photos retrieved from http://wenhb.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/takashi-murakami-at-the-chateau-de-versailles-exhibition-recap/32 Photo retrieved from http://naked-glory.blogspot.sg/2011/01/trans-cool-tokyo-contemporary-art.html33 Photo retrieved from http://wearethemarket.com/todays-headlines-25-louis-vuitton-yayoi-kusama-lord-finesse-mac-miller-apc-nike/yayoi-kusama-louis-vuitton-windows-unveiling/

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influences, Hello Kitty’s identity becomes rather

ambiguous. She conjures the illusion of a “global

product”, yet she appeals to both sides because ‘an

Occidentalist view of the West seems to require an

Orientalist view of the East’34. “Kawaii’s” transnational

capability relies on such preconceptions of her hybridity

of East-and-West, as Shunji said, ‘Hello Kitty is

Western, so she will sell in Japan. She is Japanese, so

she will sell in the West’35. In fact, Japan’s embracing

of the Western-affirmed identity of ‘gross national

cool’36 has underlying connotations of self-exoticisation37

in a bid for kokusaika (internationalization). The

appropriation of the Western gaze shows that ‘the gaze

that exoticizes Japan is not simply that of a foreign

tourist; instead it is a paradoxical gaze of the native

Japanese who self-consciously appropriates the tourist34 Tanka, Akio. (Eds.). (1995). Tokyo as a City of Consumption: Space, Media and Identity inContemporary Japan. Master’s Thesis. University of British Columbia. P 144.35 Retrieved from http://www.japansociety.org/resources/content/2/0/5/4/documents/gross national cool.pdf36 Ibid.37 Self-exoticisation is defined as ‘a shift in the positioning of the gaze that sees the self, for it is the appropriation of the Western gaze that renders one's tradition so much more "exotic."… even appreciation of "native" tradition tends to demand the perspective of a non-native.’ by AkioTanaka. Tanka, Akio. (Eds.). (1995). Tokyo as a City of Consumption: Space, Media and Identity in Contemporary Japan. Master’s Thesis. University of British Columbia. P 144.

Choi Yik HengNational University of SingaporeCentre for English Language CommunicationIEM1201F- Asia & Hollywood

gaze’38.

The Trans-Cool TOKYO travelling Arts exhibition shows how Japanidentifies with this label of coolness.39

Ultimately, ‘her fractured identity makes her more than a

nation but less than truly international’40, even as her

mould continually encourages such perceptions of global-

ness. The elevated ‘assumption that Kitty is

representational’41 complicates her ‘material existence’42.

Since she is inherently a commodity and nothing more than

an object, the meanings produced out of Kitty are

essentially empty. The globalization of Kitty is further

compromised by her ‘metonymic capacity to evoke amorphous

38 Ibid.39 Photo Retrieved from http://documentations.blogspot.com/2010/11/trans-cool-tokyo-8q-singapore-art.html

40 Gabriel, Ben. (Eds.). (2012 Feb 16). “I have no mouth but I must scream”. The New Inquiry, “Essays & Reviews”. [Retrieved] Oct 2012 [from] http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/i-have-no-mouth-but-i-must-scream/41 Ibid.42 Ibid.

Choi Yik HengNational University of SingaporeCentre for English Language CommunicationIEM1201F- Asia & Hollywood

meanings’43 despite her mouthless form. Most importantly,

she demonstrates the epitome of frivolous consumption

born out of pure consumerist fandom. Consumption needs a

source and Hello Kitty, in her plethora of culturally

shaped meanings, provides a well of reproductions for

consumers to choose from.

For example, an artist, Christal Sih, hyperbolises the almost-religious state of consumerism that characterises Kitty fandom, witha Kitty mock-shrine.44

(1191 words) (125 words for pictures)

43 Ibid.44 Copyright 2011 by Christal Sih. Reprinted with permission.