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Finance & Business
Financial crisis leaves euro with new popularity
What's in the kitty?
Business writer Ken Belson discusses Hello Kitty, expat life in Japan, and business opportunities during a recession.The New York Times business writer Ken Belson recently presented his book “Hello Kitty: The remarkable story of Sanrio and the billion dollar feline phenomenon” (John Wiley & Sons) at the American Book Center in Amsterdam, and took some time to chat with Expatica editor Danielle Latman about the cartoon cat, expat life in Japan, and business opportunities during a recession.
You’re both a business reporter and a Hello Kitty fan. Which trait was more prominent during the writing of this book?
There’s two parts to the answer: Hello Kitty is the motivator, but at the end of the day it was a business writing job.
I was in love with the topic, but I had to hand in a book that tells a story, and that is both a writing and a research exercise. I spent several months doing interviews and research, so that I had more than enough to start writing.
How does Hello Kitty represent some of the central elements of Japanese pop culture?
One is its graceful, simplistic design. She’s very two-dimensional and minimalist. As I pointed out in the lecture the other day, she’s a Zen cat, very flat and emotionless.
The other is the way she’s packaged on everything. In Japan she’s on all manner of things and I think it speaks to Sanrio’s [the company that created Hello Kitty] success at branding her, but also the Japanese acceptance of characters. Practically everything in Japan has some sort of logo or character.
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