Update 5/20/08: This just in: Japan has named Hello Kitty the “tourism ambassador” to China and Hong Kong, in an ongoing effort to promote tourism to the country. See, I’m not the only adult to take the feline character seriously…

My mother is embarrassed by it. It confuses my boyfriend. I have followed strange people to their houses and forked over all the money in my pocket for just a little taste of it. No, I’m not talking about a drug addiction or obscure pornographic fetish, but rather my undying, passionate love for Hello Kitty.

The innocent, wide-eyed feline has been a favorite of mine for years. She was born in 1974, just a few years before me. That gave her parent company, Sanrio, time to develop and market products with her likeness by the early 1980s, when I first entered elementary school. By then the Pathmark shelves were stocked with back-to-school supplies including Hello Kitty pencil cases and notebooks. Her simple, rounded form and pastel-colored settings were soothing to my little girl senses. I could identify with Hello Kitty because she was depicted doing fun, neutral activities which I also enjoyed, such as riding a bike or eating ice cream. She was sometimes featured with other animal friends, and while none were as big or accessorized as her, they all got along well in their pastel world. Hello Kitty World was a pretty, friendly, fun place which I wanted to be part of. Other girls in my classes also shared their attraction to her pleasing form, and through the kitten-emblazoned folders, pencil sharpeners and erasers we pulled from our scratched wooden desks, we shared a strong yet silent bond.

While other cartoon characters from the 1980s – 1990s, such as My Little Pony, the Care Bears and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, were heavily marketed in the US through TV shows and movies, Hello Kitty was a Japanese character who received significantly less exposure stateside. I never got sick of Hello Kitty, because her image wasn’t reproduced so readily. Additionally, her lack of animation kept HK a neutral figure onto which my peers and I could project ourselves. Hello Kitty didn’t have a voice, therefore her voice could sound like anyone’s. Her life story was never fully fleshed out on the screen, so each individual consumer could fill in the details using her imagination. Hello Kitty remained a more personally significant figure to her fans.

Time passed. I was influenced by the feminist youth movement Riot Grrrl of the early 1990s, which mixed punk rock music and radical feminist politics with a reclamation of all things “girl.” Bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile employed stereotypically girlie elements, evident in their band names and cute onstage fashion, with raw, screaming songs whose lyrics featured (wo)manifestos against abuse and harassment. X-Girl clothing label founder Kim Gordon (bassist of Sonic Youth) explained the company name by acknowledging the confidence young girls exude that is too often eroded during adolescence and womanhood. In this community I was able to retain my love for Hello Kitty and other “cute” things, while still raising awareness about sexual harassment and gay rights in my high school.

Now I’m an adult in my late twenties, and the love for Hello Kitty remains. One might argue that there is a safety and comfort associated with this childhood symbol, when the adult world seems increasingly out of control, with events such as 9/11 and the Iraq War taking up such a large part of our consciousness. Yet at the root of it all, I still just appreciate the simple aesthetic beauty of a cute cat in pretty settings. How else can I explain my willingness to pay $90 for an adorable handmade purse constructed with hula-dancing HK fabric, red rhinestones and a bamboo handle? Purchasing this masterpiece from the loopy creatrix required tying her surfboard onto my car hood with raggedy rope, driving her to her various errands in very windy conditions, and finally following the artist to her house (which lacked electricity) while she rummaged around in the dark to complete the finishing touches. But was it worth it? Oh, yeah.

I’m not the only adult woman who’s retained my love for all things Kitty. Sanrio has just opened Momoberry, a store geared toward the adult female consumer of Hello Kitty products. Items include diamond jewelry, perfumes and custom Swarovski crystal-encrusted designs of Hello Kitty onto cellphones, laptops and other grown-up electronic gear. As for me, I’m more excited about the middle-brow HK houseware items now available at Target and clothing at Hot Topic.

On a final, truly strange note: Thai police have recently begun punishing officers’ misconduct by forcing them to wear pink Hello Kitty armbands. Officials believe the cutesy girly accessory will shame them into right action. Read this article for more details.