I found myself having, not exactly an argument recently, but a highly opinionated conversation with someone who did not believe my assertion that once upon a time there were official Hello Kitty vibrators. With the aid of the Wayback Machine, I found this article, and thought the world at large might enjoy it too...
Here's the text of the article:
The history of the Hello Kitty vibrator
By Peter Payne
October 4, 2004
Sanrio is one of the top character licensors in the world, having more or less created the business model of doing business by creating something that doesn't really exist and licensing its use to other companies. Sanrio produces nothing -- all their characters, like the Little Twin Star, Minna no Ta-bo, Bad Batz-Maru, exist as legal entities and nothing more. Their most successful character, Hello Kitty, or Kitty-chan as she's known in Japan, is now now thirty years old.
One of the many companies that license Sanrio's characters for their products was a Japanese company called Genyo Co. Ltd. Genyo made a wide variety of products, from bento boxes to children's toys to chopsticks, many with the Hello Kitty character on them. They scored big in the late 1990's with an off-the-wall hit, a series of Hello Kitty toys which featured a different Kitty figure from each of Japan's 47 prefectures, each representing something the prefecture was famous for. (The figure from Gunma Prefecture, where we live, represented a wooden kokeshi doll.)
In 1997, Genyo designed a product that would live in infamy: the Hello Kitty vibrating shoulder massager, which really is a shoulder massager (trust us -- it says so on the package). Sanrio approved this design without batting an eye, and the product enjoyed modest sales in toy shops and in family restaurants like Denny's and Coco's. It wasn't until 1999 or so that people began to catch on to the fact that the Hello Kitty massager had other potential uses, and with amazing speed, they started popping up in adult videos in Japan. The next thing anyone knew, they had changed into a cult adult item, sold in vending machines in love hotels -- after all, what self-respecting man wouldn't buy his girl a Hello Kitty vibrator when she asked him for one?
The emergence of the Hello Kitty vibrator as a cult adult item caused friction between Sanrio and Genyo, and Sanrio ordered the company to stop making the units. Genyo refused, since it had paid a lot of money to license Kitty for their products. There seemed nothing Sanrio could do, since they had approved the item for sale (see the official Sanrio sticker on the boxes). The answer came when the Japanese tax authorities raided Genyo on suspicion of tax evasion. It seems that some creative accounting was going on between the president of the company, a Mr. Nakamura, his vice president, and the owner of the factory in China where the units were made. All three were arrested, and Sanrio had the excuse needed to yank Genyo's license. They seized the molds used to make the vibrators and destroyed them.
And so, the sad, weird chapter of the Hello Kitty vibrator is at an end. The last of the Kitty vibes are gone, so now what will the world do for wacky comic -- and sexual -- relief?
i think what fucked me up most about the midnight club is how desperate everyone was to believe in something, in anything. and in their desperation, all they found was each other. the stories mike flanagan create are actually heart-wrenching but this was on another level. the fact that he’s shown in every show that ghosts are not simply ghosts, they are wishes, and faith, and love, and sadness, and desperation. how when no one can bring themselves to believe in the truth they take to tales, and stories, to help themselves feel better. how every ghost story in the show was just themselves coping with their diseases and their pain. how fantastical is it that they held onto something so tightly, but it slipped through. like the sunlight in the trees or the wind through the grass. how no one blamed ilonka for believing in something so.. strange to make her friend better.
at the end of the day all they wanted was each other to do better. to live. how terrifying is it to know that you cannot live for much longer? to accept it? to let go of the ghosts and to simply stay present? how do you love and how do you lose? how do you accept loss? how do you grieve? how do you hold someone’s hand and not let go even when they do? how do you let someone go when they’re ready to but you’re not?
anyways this was my little tangent thing i’m still sobbing over the show. no one hmu will be rotting in my room for the next month
Independent Animated Films From ~The Previous Year
Phantom Boy. This is the story of a New York boy who has an illness, but becomes a hero. The boy escapes his hospital-bound body to go check on his family, but soon he uses his ability to solve crimes. It’s another detective story by the makers of A Cat in Paris and it uses the same animation style.
The Boy and the Beast. This is the most recent movie made by the famous anime director who made Summer Wars, Wolf Children and The Girl Who Lept Through Time. This film is about a boy who ventures into the realm of monsters and grows up under the guidance of a beast. Later he reconnects with humanity.
Big Fish & Begonia. This movie was funded in part thanks to social media and became a surprise box-office sensation.
Long Way North. Before working on this film, the director worked on the animation of The Secret of Kells and The Painting. His style here consists of contourless shapes in gorgeous pastel colors. The story is about a teenage girl who goes to the Arctic to look for a lost boat in late 19th century Russia.
Miss Hokusai. This is an episodic anime film about a female artist in Edo Japan who has to deal with work, her eccentric father and a sick sister. It’s based on the life of the daughter of Hokusai, the artist who drew the famous big wave with mount Fuji in the background. The film showcases some of his artwork.
My Life as a Zucchini. This is the Oscar-nominated stop-motion French film. It’s an adaptation of a semi-autobiographical novel about a boy who goes to live in an orphanage. It’s realistically somber, but it’s also full of charm and even hope. The children’s performances are phenomenal. The Blu-ray comes out in May.
The Red Turtle. This is the Oscar-nominated French film co-produced by Studio Ghibli. It’s a beautiful and quietly contemplative fable about the stages of life. I would say avoid the trailer if you haven’t seen it and intend to watch it because it’s a mini version of the whole film. The Blu-ray comes out in May.
Louise by the Shore. From the director of The Painting and it’s even more beautiful. It’s a deliberately slow and introspective story about an elderly woman who is left alone in a seaside town vacated during the winter.
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