Sanrio

Sanrio Co., Ltd. (株式会社サンリオ, Kabushikigaisha Sanrio) is a Japanese company that designs, licenses and produces products focusing on the kawaii (cute) segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts and accessories that are sold worldwide and at specialty brand retail stores in Japan. Sanrio's best-known character is Hello Kitty (aka Kitty White), a little anthropomorphic cat girl. With her red bow and no visible mouth except in most of the animations, she's one of the most successful marketing brands in the world.

Besides selling character goods, Sanrio takes part in movie production and publishing. They own the rights to both the Peanuts and Mr. Men characters in Japan. Their animatronics branch, called Kokoro Company, Ltd. ("Kokoro" being Japanese for "heart"), is best known for the Actroid android. They participate in the fast food industry, running a franchise of KFC in Saitama.

History

Sanrio was founded by Shintaro Tsuji as the Yamanashi Silk Company in 1960, using 1 million yen in capital. In 1962, Tsuji expanded his enterprise from silk to rubber sandals with flowers painted on them. Tsuji noted the profits gained by simply adding a cute design to the sandals and hired cartoonists to design cute characters for his merchandise in response. In 1973 the company was officially established under the name "Sanrio". The company's European website says the name comes from the Spanish words san (holy) and río (river.) The book korega Sanrio no himitsu desu (これがサンリオの秘密です) or This is the Sanrio Company Secret gives another origin of the name. According to this book, Tsuji, Sanrio's founder, said that Yamanashi (山梨), part of the company's former name, has an alternative on'yomi reading of sanri. The remaining o was added from the ou (オウ) sound people make when they are excited.