JAPAN: Hello Kitty, Japan's famed iconic cat, dresses up as a geisha to teach children traditional Japanese arts

Record ID: 463533

  • Title: JAPAN: Hello Kitty, Japan's famed iconic cat, dresses up as a geisha to teach children traditional Japanese arts
  • Date: 10th September 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) MEGUMI MORIOKA OF EVENT ORGANISERS SOGETSU BUNKAJIGYO CO. LTD SAYING: "As Hello Kitty is a Japan-born internationally-loved cute character, we asked her to cooperate with us to teach children in a fun and easy to understand way Japanese culture."
  • Embargoed: 25th September 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAD10IQKH6VA0T8HVGWNW9DO4ML
  • Story Text: Kimono-clad Hello Kitty teaches Japanese children the art of traditional Japanese dance.
    Twirling and sliding across a wooden stage in a theatre in central Tokyo on Monday (September 3), a kimono-clad Hello Kitty, Japan's feline super-star, needed no pastey-white-make-up to further impress on her young audience.
    Performing a traditional dance often reserved for geisha's and kabuki acts, the Sanrio Co cartoon white faced and mouthless kitty cat character popular the world around is returning to her roots.
    An event in Tokyo is seeking to use her star power to give younger Japanese girls an early taste of their own culture.
    "As Hello Kitty is a Japan-born, internationally-loved cute character, we asked her to cooperate with us to teach children Japanese culture in a fun and easy to understand way," said Megumi Morioka of Sogetsu Bunkajigyo, the organisers of the event and one of Japan's foremost flower arrangement companies.
    After demonstrating a complex Buyo (pron: buh-yoh) dance, Hello Kitty gave the audience - mostly pre-school children - simple fan dance lessons.
    Mesmerised by their heroine on stage in a brilliant red and black kimono, the toddlers got their initiation to the ancient moves, including the proper and graceful way to bow.
    "The dance was very beautiful," said 4-year-old Mana Noshida after the event.
    "It was so cute," said 5-year-old Eika Mitsui, still fascinated by the cartoon character on stage and desperate to join the rest of the children in the audience for a photo-session with Hello Kitty.
    Though officially born in the suburbs of London in 1974, Hello Kitty is the epitome of Japanese cuteness and has captivated the hearts of girls of all ages, first in Japan and now the world over.
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