Shintaro Tsuji is the founder and original president of Sanrio Co., Ltd. Tsuji founded the multi-billiondollar, Tokyo based character-branded merchandise company, in 1960, which by then was called the "Yamanashi Silk Company". According to himself, the reason for his founding of Sanrio is to create a peaceful culture and to help people befriend each other (which its characters reflect such message), plus he was inspired to start the company after experiencing the hardships of World War II at that era and had a lonely childhood. It wasn't until 1973 to 1975 when Shintaro's business finally began its massive global success when Hello Kitty was created and became its mascot. Because he is responsible for Sanrio's existence and has a life-long successful professional career based on the kawaii popular culture, Shintaro Tsuji is an important figure in Japan and likely the rest of the world.
The Little Twin Stars known as Kiki and Lala, which debuted in 1975, is a creation by Shintaro himself
Shintaro has also served as producer for the early anime movies Sanrio made from 1977 to 1985, and is also a storywriter. Some of his stories include Nutcracker Fantasy (Kurumiwari Ningyo aka The Nutcracker, his adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"), The Sea Prince and the Fire Child (Sirius no Densetsu aka The Legend of Sirius), and A Journey Through Fairyland (Yosei Florence aka Florence the Fairy), all of which have been made into animated movies by Sanrio itself. Tsuji has also created a few Sanrio characters himself, most famously the Little Twin Stars.
From its earliest days until July 1st, 2020, Shintaro Tsuji was Sanrio's CEO, lasting 60 years. He has since stepped down his position and his grandson, Tomokuni Tsuji, took over control of his company. Despite being at old age, as he is currently in his late 90s, Shintaro is still actively working at Sanrio today as its chairman (COB).
When asked about Hello Kitty's extreme appeal, he himself stated "I felt that the most important thing in your life is to have someone whom you can open up your heart to and talk about anything; to have many friends whom you can talk with your heart is the most blessed thing in your life. Then I asked myself how can you make friends -- in what way people can make a friend with those people. That is not just to avoid behaving, which makes people uncomfortable. But do something, which makes people happy. In this way people can make friends. For example, when people are ill, you can say something to them, or when people did something for you, you say "thank you" to them. For those kinds of occasions, you send a small present rather than an expensive gift. It is important to show your appreciation since you are able to make good friends in this way. This idea has formed as a business. As a result, Hello Kitty was created. Hello Kitty has become known among everybody and it means that people are becoming friends. I am pleased with this phenomenon."
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- Although not technically the mascot's creator, as she was made by Yuko Shimizu and Yuko Yamaguchi, as he himself is the founder of Sanrio, Shintaro Tsuji is often called the "Father of Hello Kitty".
- According to Shintaro, Hello Kitty has a meaning of three messages; The first is you should be loved and be nice to others to be loved yourself, second, her signature red bow represents human connections and people should get along with each other, and lastly, herself not usually having a mouth is people need to express with actions and not only by words.
- Although it is not publicly known about what is Shintaro Tsuji's official net worth, it's estimated to be around $1.75 billion today, making himself one of Japan's richest people.
- Regarding Sanrio characters, he prefers ones based on genuine animals (such as Charmmy Kitty) compared to those who are more human-like (Hello Kitty, My Melody, etc.).
- Shintaro Tsuji shares his birthday with The Strawberry King (December 7th).
- Shintaro's grandson Tomokuni shares the same birthday as Hello Kitty (November 1st) and was born 15 years after her debut (1989). Ironically, that same amount of time is what marks between Sanrio's founding by Shintaro in 1960 and Hello Kitty's first appearance as the mascot in 1975.
- According to Hisato Inoue[1], the creator of Badtz-Maru, Hangyodon and a few other characters, Shintaro Tsuji was one of the most impressive people associated with Sanrio, and he would regularly appear in different places of the company with his secretary to socialize with his employees and encouraged them to get close with one another. If an employee had a birthday that day, then a celebration could be held at the company as soon as possible.
- Before Shintario retired his longtime position as Sanrio's president and had given it to his grandson Tomokumi, his son, Kunihiko Tsuji, was initially going to be the heir of his company but he died in 2013.
- During his college years, Shintaro Tsuji contracted tuberculosis, and had to recover in his family home for several months. As president of Sanrio at the time, he also thought of committing suicide at one point, but Shintaro ended up wanting to live upon undergoing polypectomy.
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