Background
What?s new pussycat?
Japan Museum SieboldHuis,usually a quiet place, has ambitious plans, organising an exhibition of a real crowd-puller: Hello Kitty, the cult-figure adored by women and children, is about to take over the stately town house. Fans will have to hurry, the special Leiden Kitties are expected to sell like hot cakes.
Thursday 31 January 2013

Hello Kitty? Yes, Hello Kitty. The sugary-sweet Japanese pussycat? Officially, her name is Kitty White, she lives in London and she’s nearly 37. Kitty is a Japanese Bobtail, which is why she only has a stump on her bottom, instead of a real cat’s tail.

Have I ever seen her? Well, yes, everywhere perhaps? Her first appearance was on a purse in 1974 but now she has her own school accessories, stickers, telephones, cuddly toys, cartoons, an online role-playing game, guitars, popcorn machines, toasters, jewellery, watches and another 20,000 (!) or so products. Kitty licences yield approximately half a billion annually in turnover for her owner Sanrio.

She looks a bit like… …like a human baby, yes, she does. The schemata with a head that is very large in proportion to the body and eyes that are relatively large in proportion to the face are similar to those of a baby. Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Miffy, Hello Kitty and Pikachu all use the same device. People think it’s cute, or, as the Japanese say, kawaii.

But even so, she looks far more like than Miffy than Mickey Mouse. That’s what Miffy’s creator, Dick Bruna thought, and he complained very loudly about it. When Sanrio produced Cathy, a bunny-rabbit chum for Kitty, the court agreed with Bruna: Cathy was the limit. Sanrio appealed, but after the earthquake in Japan earlier this year, decided to give the money to help the victims rather than it spend on lawyers.

And now Kitty’s coming to the Netherlands? The Hello Kitty exhibition just started in the SieboldHuis, the Japan Museum. It will only last to 20 November, so it will be quite crowded with all those fans dressed in pastels - predominantly women between the ages of twenty and forty. And besides: Kitty may look like a brand for small children, but she owes her success to the fact that she is bought by people who have more pocket than your average infant.

Why now and not earlier? “I think we’re catching her at the peak of her career”, says Kris Schiermeier, who was appointed director of the SieboldHuis a year ago. “And of course, you need some history to look back on before you can mount an exhibition.” Hello Kitty – Hello Holland is the conclusion of museum’s kawaii year.

What’s there to see at the exhibition?

“The Hello Kitty vibrator, the chainsaw and the AK-47 are not officially Sanrio merchandise, so you won’t see those and we’ve left out the things that you can buy at V&D, because you can buy them at V&D. But we do have plenty of limited edition stuff that collectors would die for.” Schiermeier casually holds up an ancient Tupperware-like tub. “Someone has already bid a thousand Euros for this.” Some things are from Japan and the rest belong to Dutch Kitty enthusiasts.

And the highlights? There is a dress that was designed exclusively for Lady Gaga, with little cat heads on it, that watches over the exhibition’s most important hall, but the museum is full of highlights. There is a film that has been made especially for the exhibition and young children – the other focus group - can do crafts, colour pictures or write a letter to Kitty.

The gift shop will be selling a thousand Kitty figures with a Leiden –key pattern on their dresses. Better get one soon, because who knows? A rich collector might make you an offer for it.

And will designer Yuko Shimizu be popping by? No. Neither will artist Yuko Yamaguchi, who popularised the little puss, and I’m not really counting Dick Bruna putting on appearance either.

The SieboldHuis usually focuses on high-brow Japanese culture. Should we be expecting Pokémon, Hentai, or Godzilla exhibitions in the future? “We’ll start with Kitty”, says Schiermeier. “And then we’ll see.”

By Bart Braun

Hello Kitty – Hello Holland

Museum SieboldHuis, Rapenburg 19,

till 20 November € 8.50 (UL pay € 1 on

presentation of their university ID cards)