85-year-old Shintaro Tsuji is the founder of Sanrio - the firm that introduced "Hello Kitty" in 1974. Sanrio's shares have doubled this year making the founder a billionaire, amid the Abenomics levitation.
The success of the brand appears to be its ubiquity - as Bloomberg reports"it must be way up there in terms of the most recognized franchises in the world", - adorning everything from wallets, bags, golf clubs, and iPhone cases.
But it's his latest venture - into "Hello Kitty" vibrator massager mastubrator - new from Japan" that caught our eye.
As one shopper in a Times Square store noted, "it’s nice to have something a little girly and flashy and fun," and it doesn't show any sign of slowing with sales of around $900 million last year, "it’s very hard to see any diminution for the Japanese fondness for cuteness."
Sanrio Founder Shintaro Tsuji...
And the "kitty" friendly massager...
From Hello Kitty to Hello P....