She doesn't even have a mouth! Maybe that's her secret.
In the late 1970's you couldn't cross the street without running over this little white... toy? She's more than a toy, she's a cultural icon! Soft, round, mouthless, a jaunty red bow, and always put together, she has embodied a certain idea of 'cheek' since her stateside beginings in 1976, and I have loved her ever since.
I remember that when my grandma would come to visit us from New Jersey she and I had a special ritual. My mother would drop us off at the mall formally known as Central City in beautiful downtown San Bernardino, and my grandma and I would go straight to the Sanrio store. Like entering another world, the world of Hello Kitty and Her Stationary Factory, you could practically taste the place.
Once there, I proceded to touch and smell every single object in the rows and rows of kitten paraphenalia. I loved the pink smelling erasers, the little note pads perfect for my then tiny fingers, the mini pencils, and the red plastic tissue holder purse that I persuaded my grandma to buy for me. I didn't realize until much, much later the relationship between Hello Kitty and her creators in Japan. How everything about her is Japanese, from her shyness, her size, her work ethic, to her sense of honor and duty. Maybe I'm reading more into it then there really is, maybe not. Hello Kitty came to America about the same time Toyota cars did and we all know that was a good trade for the U.S.A., right?
For some of us, Hello Kitty is as important as...baseball cards. Hello Kitty was the girl version of the obsessive trading of sports cards and at least her stuff was useful. Cabbage Patch kids? Forget about it. For a young girl growing up in California in the 70's, Hello Kitty called across the oceans to me in a way that not many other toys did or could. There is a certain amount of comfort in her beady eyes and soft paws. Yes, there is also a certain overkill to the Sanrio stores that now pepper every mall, but who cares! That excess seems like small pickens now that we see what real 'economic crisis' means. You can't blame this one on the Kitty!
Sometimes I call on my "Inner Hello Kitty" when I see something just as cute that hits the same grandma nostalgia button. Here we see the 'Catskelly' by Indigenous Plush, almost an X-ray version of the Kitty herself, and my crafter friends and their super cute felt lollipops I bought for Xmas gifts.
I wonder if my grandma ever knew how much those trips to the Sanrio store meant to (one of) her favorite little grandchildren? Or, how I would treasure those memories forever?
I sure hope so.
