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The queen of kawaii
卡哇伊女王
Still cute at 50
50岁也可爱依旧
Hello Kitty, the face that launched a thousand products.
凯蒂猫：衍生了上千种产品的脸庞。
Most have to wait until their centenary to receive birthday wishes from the king of Britain.
大多数人必须等到自己的百年生辰才能收到英国国王的生日祝福。
But King Charles III made an exception for “a self-made entrepreneur worth billions of dollars and a UNICEF children’s ambassador on top”.
但查尔斯三世国王为“一位白手起家、身价数十亿美元的企业家兼联合国儿童基金会儿童大使”破了例。
The monarch was feting a figure more recognisable than any billionaire or emissary: Hello Kitty, who turns 50 this year.
国王正在公开盛赞一个比任何亿万富翁或外交使节都更知名的人物：今年满50岁的凯蒂猫。
The character was created by Shimizu Yuko, a Japanese illustrator, on November 1st 1974.
这个形象是由日本插画师清水侑子于1974年11月1日创作的。
Soon after, Kitty was appearing on an astounding array of trinkets.
不久后，凯蒂出现在了多得令人惊讶的一系列小饰品上。
Today you can wear her face on your hands, with OPI fake nails, or your feet, in the form of Adidas trainers.
现在你可以用OPI穿戴甲把她的脸戴在手上，也可以用阿迪达斯运动鞋的形式把她穿在脚上。
You can wash yourself in a Hello Kitty shower and dry yourself with a Hello Kitty towel.
你可以在一个凯蒂猫淋浴间里洗澡，然后用一条凯蒂猫毛巾擦干身体。
Sanrio, the company which owns the character, makes almost $4bn in sales annually.
拥有该形象的公司三丽鸥每年的销售额几乎达到40亿美元。
Kitty’s popularity is emblematic of the global craze for cute things.
凯蒂猫的受欢迎象征了全球对可爱事物的狂热。
In Japan the phenomenon, known as kawaii, dates back to at least the 17th century, when artists started producing miniatures and paintings of animals.
在日本，这种被称为“卡哇伊”的现象至少可以追溯到17世纪，当时的艺术家开始创作动物的微缩雕像和绘画。
Despite the name, whiskers and pointy ears, Kitty is supposedly not a cat, but a little girl who lives in the suburbs of London with her family.
尽管名字叫凯蒂猫，还有胡须和尖尖的耳朵，但据说凯蒂并不是一只猫，而是一个和家人住在伦敦郊区的小女孩。
Kawaii implies vulnerability and dependency, yet there is a sense of asobi—playfulness—to the way Kitty looks.
可爱暗示着脆弱和依赖性，然而凯蒂的外表中却有一种游戏般的感觉。
Her charm lies in her expressionless face: she is composed of just three circles, six lines and a red bow, notes Joshua Paul Dale, a specialist in Cute Studies at Chuo University in Tokyo.
东京中央大学可爱研究专家约书亚·保罗·戴尔指出，她的魅力在于她那张毫无表情的脸：仅由三个圆圈、六条线和一个红色蝴蝶结组成。
The simplicity of the design makes it easy to reproduce on all manner of items.
这种设计的简洁性使人们很容易将她复现在各种物品上。
Unlike Mickey Mouse, Kitty’s look has not had to be updated.
与米老鼠不同，凯蒂猫的形象无需更新。
Kitty was born in the right place, at the right time.
凯蒂在正确的时间出生在正确的地方。
Kato Norihiro, a cultural critic, has argued that she reflects the aftermath of the second world war.
文化评论家加藤则宏认为凯蒂猫反映了第二次世界大战之后的世界。
With no meaningful back story, Kitty represented the mood in Japan and “the impulse to escape history and to stop talking about it”.
凯蒂猫没有什么意义深远的背景故事，而是代表了日本的情绪，以及“逃避历史、停止谈论历史的冲动”。
She emerged as “the perfect post-war icon”, agrees Roland Kelts of Waseda University.
早稻田大学的罗兰·凯尔特斯表示，凯蒂猫作为“完美的战后偶像”而出现。
“Japan’s warrior nation was shoved under the rug and the message to Japan was: ‘Shhh, look cute and beautiful’.”
“日本的武士国家被掩盖起来，传达给日本的信息是：‘嘘，要看起来漂亮可爱。’”
She also coincided with a changing social and economic landscape.
凯蒂猫也与发生变化的社会和经济格局同时出现。
In the 1970s women joined the workforce in greater numbers; they earned money and spent it on cute items for themselves.
在20世纪70年代，女性大量加入劳动力大军，她们挣钱，并把钱花在给自己买可爱物品上。
Yet even when Japan’s economy faltered in the 1990s, Kitty remained popular.
然而，即使在20世纪90年代日本经济衰退时，凯蒂猫仍然很受欢迎。
When the mood is sour, sweet things are even more desirable.
当心情酸涩时，甜美的东西就更加令人向往。
You “want to retreat into that fluffiness”, says Christine Yano, an anthropologist and the author of a book on Kitty’s omnipresence.
克里斯汀·矢野说，你“想要躲进那种毛茸茸的东西里”。矢野是一位人类学家，也写了一本关于凯蒂猫无处不在的书。
(Studies have shown that looking at cute things can reduce stress and improve your mood.)
（研究表明，看可爱的东西可以减轻压力并让心情变好。）
The character went global towards the turn of the 20th century, as Japan became an increasing source of fascination and inspiration in the West.
随着日本在西方日益变成了吸引力和灵感的一个源泉，凯蒂猫在20世纪初走向全球。
Demand for anime films and manga comic books grew.
对动漫电影和漫画书的需求也增长了。
In 2013 the Japanese government, seeking to capitalise on this cool status, introduced a policy to promote the country’s culture abroad.
2013年，日本政府试图利用这种潮流地位，并推出了一项政策，要在国外推广日本文化。
Hello Kitty has been such a hit that other firms are trying to replicate her success.
凯蒂猫如此受欢迎，以至于其他公司都在试图复制她的成功。
Chinese companies are investing in new cartoons; Sanrio, too, frequently puts out more characters.
中国公司正在投资新的卡通形象，三丽鸥也在频繁地推出更多的角色。
Since 2017 Cinnamoroll, a dog with a curly tail, has often ranked top of Sanrio’s annual survey of its most popular characters.
自2017年以来，玉桂狗（有卷曲尾巴的小狗）经常在三丽鸥年度最受欢迎角色调查中名列前茅。
As new characters come and go, Hello Kitty wears the same inscrutable expression.
新角色来来去去，凯蒂猫则永远保持着那副神秘莫测的表情。
