Sanrio facts for kids
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Headquarters at Gate City Osaki in Ōsaki, Tokyo
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Native name
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株式会社サンリオ
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| Public | |
| Traded as | TYO: 8136 |
| Industry | Wholesale |
| Founded | 10 August 1960 (as Yamanashi Silk Company) |
| Founder | Shintaro Tsuji |
| Headquarters |
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Japan
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Key people
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| Products |
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| Revenue |  ¥72,624 million (2023) |
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Operating income
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¥13,247 million (2023) |
| ¥8,225 million (2023) |
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| Total assets | ¥100,704 million (2023) |
| Total equity | ¥50,152 million (2023) |
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Number of employees
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630 (2023) |
| Divisions | Kokoro Sanriowave THOIP |
Sanrio Company, Ltd. is a Japanese company that creates and sells super cute characters! They are famous for making products that are all about kawaii (which means "cute" in Japanese). You can find their products, like stationery, school supplies, and gifts, all over the world. They even have special stores just for their brand.
Sanrio's most famous character is Hello Kitty. She is a cartoon cat and one of the most successful marketing brands ever!
Besides selling character goods, Sanrio also makes movies and publishes books. They own the rights to the Mr. Men characters. They also have the rights to use the Peanuts characters in Japan. Sanrio has a special branch called Kokoro Company, Ltd. This part of the company makes cool animatronics, like the Actroid android robots. Sanrio also runs some KFC restaurants in Japan.
Contents
The Story of Sanrio
Shintaro Tsuji started Sanrio on August 10, 1960. It was first called the Yamanashi Silk Company. He began with about 1 million Japanese Yen (¥).
In 1962, Tsuji started selling rubber sandals. He painted flowers on them. He noticed that adding a cute design made the sandals sell much better. This gave him an idea! He began using existing cartoon characters on his products. In the late 1960s, his company started making items with Snoopy, a dog character from the American comic strip Peanuts. They got the rights to use Snoopy in Japan.
In 1973, the company officially became Sanrio. The founder, Shintaro Tsuji, explained the name. He said that "Yamanashi," from the old company name, can be read as Sanri. The "o" was added from the sound people make when they are excited. Another idea for the name comes from Spanish words. Some say it means "holy river" from san (holy) and río (river).
Tsuji decided to hire his own designers. This way, Sanrio would not have to pay other companies to use their characters. The very first original Sanrio character was Coro Chan, introduced in 1973.
Hello Kitty joined the Sanrio family in 1974. Her first products came out the next year. This popular cat, who usually doesn't have a visible mouth, has always been a top seller for Sanrio. Sanrio keeps adding new characters all the time. Some characters are used for a while, then they might take a break. For a short time, Unico, a baby unicorn character by Osamu Tezuka, was also part of Sanrio. But the rights went back to Tezuka's own company after he passed away in 1989.
In 2006, Sanrio teamed up with Typhoon Games. They created Sanrio Digital to make online games and mobile services.
Since 2008, Sanrio has worked with Sega Toys. They create characters like Jewelpet that become big media franchises. Other projects include Rilu Rilu Fairilu and Beatcats.
Sanrio celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. To mark this, Build-A-Bear Workshop made special stuffed toys. These included Hello Kitty, Chococat, My Melody, and Keroppi.
In 2011, Sanrio Global bought the rights to the Mr. Men characters. This included the company that owned them, THOIP.
In June 2020, Shintaro Tsuji, the founder, stepped down. He had led the company for 60 years! His grandson, Tomokuni Tsuji, became the new President.
Sanrio Around the World
Sanrio Inc. is Sanrio's company in America. They have offices in South San Francisco, California, and Torrance, California. The first Sanrio store in the Western Hemisphere opened in San Jose. In 2008, Sanrio opened a fancy store called Sanrio Luxe in New York City's Times Square.
In North and South America, you can find Sanrio products in over 13,000 places. These include big department stores, special shops, and over 85 Sanrio boutiques. In 2010, the first Sanrio Cafe in the U.S. opened in Aiea, Hawaii.
Sanrio also has two fun theme parks in Japan! One is Sanrio Puroland in Tama, Tokyo. The other is Harmonyland in Hiji, Ōita.
Sanrio's Many Characters
Sanrio has created more than 450 characters by 2022! The most famous is the white cat, Hello Kitty, from 1974. Other well-known characters include:
- The pink rabbit My Melody (1975)
- The frog Keroppi (1988)
- The penguin Bad Badtz-Maru (1993)
- The white dog Cinnamoroll (2001)
- The black rabbit Kuromi (2005)
- The animal series Jewelpet (2008)
- The egg character Gudetama (2013)
- The red panda Aggressive Retsuko (2015)
Some important designers for Sanrio characters are Yuko Shimizu, who first designed Hello Kitty, and Yuko Yamaguchi, who has been the main designer for Hello Kitty for most of her history. Miyuki Okumura designed Cinnamoroll.
Since 1986, Sanrio has held an annual Sanrio Character Ranking poll. Fans can vote for their favorite characters! It started in a newspaper published by Sanrio in Japan, but now you can vote online too.
Besides their own characters, Sanrio also owns the rights to the Mr. Men characters. They also have the Japanese rights to the Peanuts characters.
Sanrio in Movies and TV
Sanrio has been involved in making movies and TV shows since the late 1970s. They started with their Sanrio Films label. Later, they focused on shorter films and TV shows based on their characters. In 2006, Sanrio announced they would start making full-length movies again.
Some notable films and TV shows include:
- The Mouse and His Child (1977)
- Ringing Bell (1978)
- Nutcracker Fantasy (1979)
- The Fantastic Adventures of Unico (1981)
- Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater (1987)
- Onegai My Melody (2005)
- Sugarbunnies (2007)
- Jewelpet (2009)
- Show by Rock!! (2015)
- Aggretsuko (2018–2023)
Sanrio also had some children's variety shows on TV Tokyo, like Daisuki! Hello Kitty and Kitty's Paradise.
Sanrio Video Games
Sanrio Digital makes and publishes digital content based on Sanrio characters. This includes games featuring Hello Kitty, My Melody, Badtz Maru, and many others. Some games are The Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends, Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue, and Hello Kitty Seasons. A newer game, Hello Kitty Island Adventure (2023), is for iOS devices and is available through Apple Arcade.
Sanrio Publishing
Sanrio publishes many books that feature its own characters. They also publish art books. Sanrio publishes books in many languages, including Japanese and English. In the early 1990s, Sanrio even published video games under the name Character Soft.
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See also
In Spanish: Sanrio para niños
