It’s a Hello Kitty world…

… we just live in it!

I love Japan and their whole appreciation for anything and everything “kawaii” (cuute).  It all started in the late ’70s when I was around 5 years old, and someone gave me some stationery (this was before e-mail) featuring a cat with her name spelled in fat letters – Hello Kitty.  Clean lines, no facial expressions or cartoon bubble talk, Kitty was just a cute little cat in overalls sporting a red ribbon.  Then along the way, something happened and Kitty exploded and became a multi-million dollar global phenomenon.  People like Paris Hilton took the humble cat from Japan and went insane with her.  Here are just a few of many great examples of where Kitty’s at today (many are from kittyhell.com) :

 

Ok, so I do think Hello Kitty fruit is super cute —

I would so buy these! Kawaii bananas at a Japanese supermarket

 

And I would totally buy this yogurt maker if I could find it —

Healthy, calcium-rich and Kitty-cute: what more could a girl ask for?

 

But I don’t think I’d want to be friends with the girl who decides to get married in this get-up–

Scarlett O'Hara meets Cinderella in Hello Kitty Hell

 

Nor would I like to see this in my bathroom…

I think my husband would leave me if I ever installed this

 

Though I may consider delivering  a baby here at the kawaii-cute Hello Kitty hospital in Taiwan–

How could you not love working here? Unless you were a man... who hated Hello Kitty

awwww

 

Then there are the more interesting Kitty items such as —

The Hello Kitty Rosary (for cute Catholics)

 

Conversely, there is the Hello Kitty burqa (for cute Muslims)

 

The Hello Kitty AK-47 …

This model proved unpopular with communist rebels...

 

The Hello Kitty-Louis Vuitton bong for cute, brand-conscious potheads…

 

We get to see Kitty’s super-cute internal organs through the Kitty meets Dr. Romanelli doll…

If only my heart and spleen were that adorable

 

And from the “I didn’t know there was a market for that” department…

Beck’s Hello Kitty Beer

Not a good thing to bring to a tailgate party

 

The equivalent of a huge “Kick Me” sign for any man…

It's the kitted-out Hello Kitty Ferrari

 

You know the universe is coming to an end when Darth Vader becomes a Kitty fan–

Scary Schoolgirl and Hello Darth make for a great disturbance in the Force