Sanrio Co., Ltd. TYO: 8136 is a Japanese company that creates a range of (mostly) design series' that features characters, and sells and licenses various products branded with these characters. Its best known character is Hello Kitty, a white cat with red bow and no mouth. Hello Kitty is one of the most successful marketing brands in the world.
Sanrio products stand at a commercial convention
Besides selling their famed character goods, Sanrio also takes part in movie production and publishing. They also participate in the fast food industry, running a franchise of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Saitama.
Sanrio is the largest greeting card manufacturer in Japan. In 2002, they began a joint business venture with the Walt Disney Company for their greeting cards.
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Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Sanrio Characters
- 3 Filmography
- 4 External links
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History
Sanrio was founded in 1960 as the Yamanashi Silk Center Co., by Mr. Shintaro Tsuji. Tsuji was a government official of Yamanashi Prefecture. Silk was the main production of Yamanashi. Yamanashi Silk Center Co. began as a silk trader but Tsuji soon found that cute prints helped sales pick up and so decided to change the focus of his company.
The 1960s was a time of great economic growth in Japan, and miscellaneous cheap goods were the main exports of the time. The success of Yamanashi Silk Center Co. was supported by this trend. However, the company's name did not stand out amongst competitors when it began shipping abroad, and so Tsuji renamed the company Sanrio in 1973.
The name "Sanrio" originates in both Spanish and Japanese. "San" is the number three in Japanese while "rio" is "river" in Spanish. Sanrio is a magical land where three rivers merge. The company is named after the rivers that have nourished the civilizations of the world. Sanrio hoped to create a new cultural industry, beginning with the significance of their name (being that its roots are from two different languages). The name is pronounced with a long "a" (like San Francisco).
Hello Kitty was added to the early characters of Sanrio in 1974 and was released in 1975. The popular mouthless feline has had both peaks and drops in sales over the years, but always has been the highest contributor to Sanrio's sales. Other notably popular characters through the years have been The Little Twin Stars (created by Mr. Tsuji himself), My Melody, Keroppi, Tuxedo Sam, Badtz Maru, Pochocco, Chococat and Cinnamoroll. Sanrio constantly adds new characters to its lineup (up to three a year), so some of the older characters go into retirement. Some of Sanrio's newest characters are Charmmy Kitty (Hello Kitty's pet cat) and Chi Chai Monchan (a pink baby monkey who balances bananas on his head.) For a time, Osamu Tezuka's baby unicorn character Unico, who starred in two feature-length anime movies in the early 1980s, was also part of the Sanrio empire; however, the rights to Unico shifted to Tezuka's own company after Tezuka's death in 1989.
In late 2003, Sanrio won the "Top Brand with a Conscience" award from the Medinge Group of Sweden for its communication principles. The company has partnered with UNICEF since 1984.
Sanrio also hosts two theme parks in Japan, Sanrio Puroland in Tama, Tokyo, and Harmonyland in Hiji, Ōita, Kyushu.
The company's American sector that produces most of the merchandise found in franchise boutiques is located in South San Francisco, California. There are eighteen "flagship" locations across the country, and in 2005 Sanrio opened its first high-end boutique called Momoberry in Beverly Center Mall in Los Angeles.
The first Sanrio store in America opened in San Jose, California.
Sanrio Characters
- Badtz Maru
- Button Nose
- Charmmy Kitty
- Chi Chai Monchan
- Chibimaru
- Chococat
- Cinnamoroll
- Coro Coro Kuririn
- Dear Daniel
- Deery Lou
- Doki Doki Yummychums
- Frooliemew
- Hello Kitty
- Hoshinowaguma
- Keroppi
- Kuromi
- Kyupi
- Landry
- Little Twin Stars
- Masyumaro
- Monkichi
- My Melody
- Nyago
- Pandapple
- Patty&Jimmy
- Pekkle
- Picke Bicke
- Pink no Corisu
- Pinki Lili
- Pippo
- Pochacco
- Purin
- Pururun Kyupi
- Robowan
- Shinkansen
- Spottie Dottie
- Strawberry King
- Sugarbunnies
- Sweet Coron
- Tabo
- Tenorikuma
- Tuxedo Sam
- Unico (formerly)
- U*SA*HA*NA
- Zashikibuta
Filmography
From 1977 to 1985, Sanrio produced the following movies
- Little Jumbo (1977) (Chiisana Jumbo)
- Ringing Bell (1978) (Chirin no Suzu or Bell of Chirin)
- The Mouse and His Child (1978) (Oyaro Nezumi no Fushigina Tabi)
- Metamorphoses/Winds of Change (1978) (Orpheus no Hoshi or Orpheus of the Stars)
- The Glacier Fox (1979) (Kita-Kitsune Monogatari)
- Nutcracker Fantasy (1979) (Kurumi Ori Ningyo or The Nutcracker)
- Unico (1979)
- Sea Prince and the Fire Child (1981) (Sirius no Densetsu or Legend of Sirius)
- The Fantastic Adventures of Unico (1981) - with Tezuka Productions and Madhouse Studios
- Oshin (1983)
- Unico in the Island of Magic (1983) (Yuniko: Maho no Shima he) - with Tezuka Productions and Madhouse Studios
- A Journey Through Fairyland (1985) (Yosei Florence or Florence the Fairy)
After "A Journey Through Fairyland", Sanrio switched gears and started doing short films, OAVs, and TV shows based on their characters (Hello Kitty, etc.). In 2006, Sanrio announced they're going to do feature-length films again when they announced they were making 2 new movies: One about mice living together, and one about Cappuchino and Espresso (friends of Cinnamoroll). These two movies will come out next year.
External links
- Sanrio's official English website
- Sanrio's official Japanese website
- A 1999 "interview" with classic Sanrio character My Melody
- Sanrio's Internet Community Site
Categories: Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange | Companies of Japan | Toy companies
