Hello Kitty Shocker: It’s Not a Cat

iStock Editorial/Thinkstock(LOS ANGELES) — Appearances can be deceiving. Take, for example, Hello Kitty, who, despite its name and apparent whiskers on its face, is not a cat.

So says Sanrio, the Japanese company behind the popular character. Christine Yano, who’s serving as a curator of a retrospective on Hello Kitty at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles in honor of the character’s 40th anniversary, says she thought Hello Kitty was a cat. However, she notes to the Los Angeles Times, Sanrio corrected her — “very firmly.”

Yano says, “That’s one correction Sanrio made for my script for the show. Hello Kitty is not a cat. She’s a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She’s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it’s called Charmmy Kitty.”

In a bio for Hello Kitty posted on the official Sanrio fan site, the character is described as a “cheerful and happy little girl” who lives in London with her mother and twin sister.

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