Inventing Hello Kitty

She’s the most famous cat’s in the world. She’s definitely the most expensive. She’s worth a cool $84.5 Billion. She’s none other than Hello Kitty!

In the final episode of our mini series on Japanese Inventions, Dallas is once again joined by Matt Alt, Author of Pure Invention. There’s an entire chapter in his book designated to Hello Kitty called “Cult of Cute” explaining why she became a runaway success story.

Matt describes why in 1975 a girl’s purse with a picture of a cat on it, was flying off the shelves in Japan. How Sanrio capitalised on the idea of “kawaii” meaning “cute” and who drew the original Hello Kitty.

Mixed by Alex Carlon, Produced by Alex Carlon & Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, James Holland, Mary Beard and more.

Get 50% off your first 3 months with code PATENTED. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up at historyhit.com/subscribe

You can take part in our listener survey here.