Hello Kitty不是貓是小女孩 / Hello Kitty is not a cat

The LA Times revealed that Hello Kitty is not a cat. Hello Kitty isn’t even her real name. Nope, her actual name is Kitty White, and, let us reiterate this to be clear, she absolutely is not a cat....
據國際在線援引美國《洛杉磯時報》報道，本周三，Hello Kitty形象註冊商日本三麗鷗(Sanrio)公司對外澄清了一個事實——Hello Kitty並不是一隻貓，而是一個小女孩的形象。

Speaking to the L.A. Times, the author of Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty's Trek across the Pacific, Christine R. Yano, revealed some startling truths about Kitty. Apparently Sanrio are keen to emphasise Kitty is not a cat.
《洛杉磯時報》的報道稱，日前，美國夏威夷大學教授克裡斯蒂娜·河矢野在洛杉磯市日美國家博物館就她的研究課題——Hello Kitty現象進行了一個講座。講座結束後，河矢野接到了日本三麗鷗公司的來電，後者告訴了她一個令人吃驚的事實，「Hello Kitty不是一隻貓，而是一個小女孩。她從來沒有四隻腳走路的形象，始終都保持著小姑娘的站姿和坐姿」。

Yano was preparing an exhibit to be shown at the Japanese American Museum when her text, in which called Hello Kitty a cat, was edited by Sanrio. Yano explained: "I was corrected - very firmly. 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."

這篇報道指出，河矢野向記者透露，「三麗鷗公司認真地糾正了我的錯誤，並告訴我，Hello Kitty還有一隻寵物貓，名叫Charmmy Kitty」。此外，河矢野得知，Hello Kitty的原型是一個叫Kitty White的英國小女孩，她還有一個天蠍座的孿生姐妹。

河矢野還告訴記者，「Hello Kitty形象出現在上個世紀70年代，當時很多日本人生活在英國，因此他們很喜歡將Hello Kitty設定為一個擁有幸福童年的英國小女孩的形象，而Hello Kitty的創造也是迎合了那個時代的人們在審美上的需求。」