Hello Kitty News

KIKS TYO just got in some shirts featuring some gorgeous Japanese girls, namely Aki Hoshino and Yuko Ishida.

Evidence continues to mount of, "a carefully coordinated action plan among Japanese officials and ministries to claim territorial rights over the islets" of Dokdo.

Yoshikazu Mera stands less than 5 feet tall, barely a head higher than the closed lid of the piano next to him. His face appears ensnared in eternal boyhood. His hair is cut in a cuddly Beatle mop. He is wearing a white shirt with puffy sleeves and shoulders, billowing gold lamA© pants, platform shoes and a dramatic cape. He is the Hello Kitty of countertenors, men who sing in a woman's range.

Mera, 34, is giving a recital in Tokyo Opera City's airy 1,600-seat auditorium, a shoebox-shaped space with a soaring pyramidal, cantilevered ceiling. The wood on the walls feels freshly cut, and the acoustics are lovely. I am surrounded by Mera's fan base of teenage girls and middle-aged women (and the boyfriends and husbands they've dragged along), and nothing makes sense.

Like hip-hop and Madonna, graffiti would never last, they said. They were wrong.

While we showed you Chapel of Dawn's Hello Kitty colaboration the other day, from the same family now comes Silly Thing's take on the Japanese Pop Culture icon.

The nongovernmental organization AVAAZ.ORG ran a full-page ad Tuesday in the Financial Times urging Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, U.S. President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper ...

After the success of the Come Together charity tee released last saturday, Chapel of Dawn are about to launch a piece for Hello Kitty made exclusively for the Black Wonder event the Hello Kitty company Sanrio ...

Japan Tobacco finds itself in a bind. Like other cigarette makers and distributors, JT is saddled with a product that is at the same time popular and unhealthy.

There's only one thing mothers want more than happiness for their children: actual grandchildren.

Japan's women are finding romance in the virtual arms of the "Handsome Man Bank". Of course, they're paying for every choice compliment they get... literally.

Cheers to Julliard-trained pianist Soyeon Lee , who performed for the second half of her recital at New York's Zankel Hall in a dress made of 6,000 recycled grape juice containers, to promote recycling.

Hello Kitty - Japan's most famous feline - is rediscovering its cultural roots. Upcoming products include digital cameras shaped like a cat's head to stationery featuring the bubble-headed mascot in Kabuki ...

"Hello Kitty" producer Sanrio plans to move into the theme park character biz in Taiwan.

We'd generally assume this was just some kind of sick joke, but given Uniden's history of cranking out kid-lovin', themed LCD TVs, we're being forced to accept the fact that this here unit is indeed real.

After the huge success that Hello Kitty had worldwide, they have launched new characters to take its place.

Japan Talk #113 is now available on the Japan Talk website and at FeedBurner . * The rainy season cometh * Heavy rains in Kyushu * Fill out this survey and help us find sponsors Listener Mail * Itobun: It's ...

"Sorting through the fads and foibles of another culture is endlessly fascinating," says Laurel.

I suspect Status of Forces Agreement is the preferred term because it can be abbreviated SOFA.

Hello Kitty _ Japan's most famous feline _ is rediscovering its cultural roots. Upcoming products include digital cameras shaped like a cat's head to stationery featuring the bubble-headed mascot in Kabuki ...

I was so excited about this Japanese Cloer model 1611waffle iron that I saw on Inventor Spot today.