My daughter likes Hello Kitty. That doesn’t make her particularly unique among three year old girls. I liked Hello Kitty as girl. That doesn’t make me unique among moms. Of course, when I was a little girl you couldn’t just go to a nearby Target or Old Navy to get Hello Kitty stuff, and not just because when I was a little girl Target stores were rare and Old Navy didn’t exist.
The first place I remember seeing Hello Kitty was on the bento box that my friend Akiko used for her lunch at Katherine Delmar Burke Elementary School. I think she also had other Hello Kitty things too, but I specifically remember the bento box.
I was quickly smitten with Hello Kitty. Well, actually, I preferred rabbits to kitties at the time, so I liked Hello Kitty’s bunny friend My Melody better. UPDATE: Hello Kitty is not a cat.
To get any Hello Kitty or My Melody items required going to the Sanrio store in the Japan Center mall in Japantown. Yes, I realize that if I share this information with my daughter I should add that to get there I had to walk uphill both ways in the snow. Being San Francisco, the uphill both ways part is plausible, but the snow is not.
It did tickle me when I started to see Hello Kitty stuff popping up everyone in the late 90s. Then I grew tired of it. I was too old, and the mass market took away the magic of it.
Until I had a daughter.
Did I buy her her first Hello Kitty something, or was it a gift? I don’t recall, but she quickly fell in love with all things Hello Kitty.
I’m okay with that.
Hello Kitty is cute. And harmless. (And apparently not a cat.)
My little girl likes playing with LEGOs, cars, and dinosaurs. She also likes pink, dresses, and Hello Kitty. I will happily indulge her in all those things.
Particularly if I don’t have to go all the way to Japantown to get them.
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Kim Z. Dale 