Arab News Japan

DUBAI: Hello Kitty’s 50^th anniversary is approaching in November, and in honor of the celebration, a shocking revelation has come to light – Hello Kitty is a not a cat.

In fact, she is actually a little girl from London, who has a mom and a dad, and a twin sister named Minnie.

Jill Cook, director of retail business development at Sanrio, revealed the information on NBC’s Today Show, sparking surprised and confused reactions from fans.

Originally known as the White Kitten Without a Name, Hello Kitty was designed by Yuko Shimizu in 1974 and has become a global icon generating over $80 billion dollars for Sanrio.

By 2010, Hello Kitty was described as a “global marketing phenomenon” and is a tourism ambassador for Japan, a UNICEF children’s ambassador, and most recently, Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai’s special supporter.

Her British roots are traced back to Britain’s popularity in Japan at the time of her creation. King Charles even confirmed the unknown fact at the state banquet hosted last month with Emperor Naruhito in attendance.

The king toasted “one particular individual who turns 50 this year. Raised in a London suburb with her twin sister, a self-made entrepreneur worth billions of dollars … I can only wish a very happy birthday to Hello Kitty.”

University of Hawaii Professor Christine R. Yano discovered Hello Kitty’s true identity through her research, revealing that her full name is Kitty White, she is a Scorpio, loves apple pie and lives as a perpetual third grader in the suburbs of London.