Hello Kitty：不只是一只貓

文/Michael+Fitzpatrick+譯/宋怡秋

After Japan， Singapore was the first to suffer an outbreak. The infection？ Hello Kitty mania1）. In 2000， a shortage of toys displaying the beloved cat at one of the citys McDonalds restaurants led to the unleashing of darker， violent instincts when a riot ensued. Seven people were injured and three taken to hospital for treatment. That was just the beginning.

Now， what is left of our species， children and adults alike， have succumbed， making “Kitty chan，” as she is better known in Japan， one of the most recognisable graphics on Earth. Hello Kitty turns 40 this autumn， and we can now see that she was the Trojan Horse2） that led to the global domination of Japanese “cute culture，” From Marrakech to Honolulu， the ubiquitous red-ribboned cat now stands top-tier in any toy display. Googling Mickey Mouse reaps about 23 million results. Search Hello Kitty， however， and youll find the kitten， which is basically just a narrative-free， trademarked drawing， garners 10 million more.

Kitty-shaped guitars and even Hello Kitty tombstones abound. The famous feline， originally drawn by designer Yuko Shimizu3） to appeal to kindergarten children， has been adopted as a style icon by the likes of Lady Gaga. Remarkably， such world-domination has been achieved with little advertising； relying instead on word-of-mouth. Now Hello Kitty appears on over 50，000 products that are sold in more than 70 countries， and is a brand worth $7bn. The company that holds the copyright， Sanrio4）， makes around $759m in annual revenue off5） the cat alone. So， why have we all become such pushovers6） for the feline？

“Kittys appeal is that shes an emotional blank slate. As one of her designers told me： ‘Kitty feels like you do，” explains Roland Nozomu Kelts7）， the author of Japanamerica： How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the US. “We project upon that mouth-less， expressionless kitten， making her the perfectly interactive toy or doll or marketing tool in an age where interactivity is not only desired， its expected.”

Cat Power

“Hello Kitty represents the deep desire among all people， regardless of nationality or race， to feel joy and happiness， without having to qualify it at any deep intellectual level，” Sanrios public relations manager Kazuo Tohmatsu tells BBC Culture. “Hello Kitty doesnt judge. She lets you feel how you feel without forcing you to question why.”

Sanrio made its fortune licensing the character to a slew of8） other businesses that produce merchandise. “Hello Kittys many easily-accessible products make it easy to incorporate her into our daily lives and experience the ‘cute culture that her brand represents in different ways，” says Michelle Nguyen9）， who licenses the character for her Chubby Bunny Accessories. Thats why Forbes magazine has called Hello Kitty one of the best-selling licensed entertainment products ever.

So successful has Kitty been that she was chosen to be a Japanese diplomatic envoy， the official tourism ambassador to China in 2008. All part of Japans drive to bolster its soft power globally through a state-backed campaign dubbed Cool Japan10）. Promoting manga， anime cartoons and other aspects of Japanese pop culture， its an initiative that came about when Japans perennially11） uncool bureaucrats had a vision that cultural exports could help plug the economic gap created by the near collapse of Japan Inc12） in the 1990s.

Out went promoting wabi sabi13） and tea ceremonies. In came the countrys pop culture as flagships of Japanese enterprise. Older， less cute merchandise， would only remind the Japanese of their hubris14） and their bubble economy that burst， taking macho hi-tech Japan with it. Since the 1990s many in the nation have wanted their culture to get in touch with its feminine side， hence the new love of all things kawaii （means cute）. Cute is also an important social lubricant15） in cities where many desperately seek a comfort blanket， a buffer against exceedingly tough urban lifestyles. Japanese companies now take special care in projecting their kawaii image， says Yasuko Nakamura， president of Tokyo-based marketing company Boom Planning： “Japanese products are made to be kawaii so that they are liked by women. In Japan， women hold the spending power.”

But why has Hello Kitty made such a foothold in Europe and the United States？ Perhaps it is because the western democracies in the past decade have encountered problems similar to those Japan has faced since the 1990s： deflation， more work for less pay， and an ageing demographic. Even the once hard-bitten16） British are falling for Hello Kitty and Osaka-based musician and cultural commentator Nick Currie thinks he knows why. “Hello Kitty represents the irresistible idiocy of consumer culture， hardwired17） to our neurological system. We shop with almost the same reflexes that make us stretch out to stroke a big-eyed， fluffy kitten.” That may be a universal impulse.

But the West and certain minorities in Japan are not all about the ascendance of commerce. Pockets18） of resistance to Kitty tyranny do exist， while savvier cartoon characters from Japan are now poised to possibly eclipse the reign of this most babyish of icons.

Kitty Hell is one of a number of web sites that aims to thwart the ubiquitous feline. The blogger puts up examples of his Japanese wifes—and others obsession with the mouthless one. He posts items such as Kitty-shaped face tattoos and suggests， tongue-in-cheek19）， that “Sanrio has invented a Hello Kitty virus that makes people do things like this.”

“All I really do is point out the absurdity of the fans and all the products，” the anonymous blogger tells the BBC.

Meanwhile， the genius Japan has demonstrated for creating likeable characters has spawned another Pan-Asian hit in the form of a chat service called Line20）. Much of the apps popularity rides on one area where Japan has an unassailable21） lead—the design and playful use of emoji （Japanese emoticons）. On the Line app they have grown into fully delineated characters such as the enigmatic Moon22）.

Now the company behind Line is gunning for23） equal success worldwide—recently the Spanish have also fallen in love with Lines impish24） and much more cynical， adult-oriented mascots. Could it be time to say “Hello Line” and “goodbye feline”？

繼日本之后，新加坡成為首個(gè)感染暴發(fā)的地區(qū)。人們感染的是？Hello Kitty熱。2000年，在新加坡的一家麥當(dāng)勞餐廳里，印有這只備受人們喜愛的貓咪圖案的玩具供貨不足，隨后引起騷亂，人類本性中較為陰暗、暴力的一面突然被釋放了出來。事件導(dǎo)致七人受傷，三人送院治療。而這只是個(gè)開始。

如今，我們這些劫余之人，無論大人還是孩子，都已拜倒在“Kitty醬”（這是她在日本更為人熟知的稱呼）的腳下，使她成為全球最具知名度的平面形象之一。Hello Kitty今年秋天滿40周歲了，如今我們可以看到，她就是讓日本的“萌文化”征服全球的特洛伊木馬。從馬拉喀什到火奴魯魯，在任意一家玩具店里，這只無處不在的頭戴紅色蝴蝶結(jié)的小貓總是被擺在最顯眼的位置。用谷歌搜索“米老鼠”，你會(huì)得到約2300萬條結(jié)果；而搜索“Hello Kitty”，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)這只小貓得到的結(jié)果比前者多1000萬條，盡管她只是一個(gè)商標(biāo)圖案，沒什么故事可言。

Kitty形狀的吉他甚至Hello Kitty樣式的墓碑都隨處可見。這只有名的貓咪最初是設(shè)計(jì)師清水侑子為吸引學(xué)齡前兒童而創(chuàng)作的，現(xiàn)已被Lady Gaga等人用作時(shí)尚的象征。值得一提的是，Hello Kitty如此風(fēng)靡全球，卻幾乎沒做什么廣告宣傳，而是靠口口相傳。如今，Hello Kitty的形象出現(xiàn)在70多個(gè)國家銷售的5萬多種商品上，其品牌價(jià)值高達(dá)70億美元。擁有Hello Kitty版權(quán)的三麗鷗公司每年僅從這只小貓身上獲得的收入就大約有7.59億美元。那么，為什么我們所有人都會(huì)迷戀上這只小貓呢？

“Kitty的吸引力在于她是一塊情感的白板。正如Hello Kitty的一位設(shè)計(jì)師告訴我的那樣，‘Kitty感受著你的感受，”《日系美國：日本流行文化如何入侵美國》一書的作者羅蘭·佐佐木望·凱爾茨解釋道，“在這個(gè)不僅渴望且期待互動(dòng)的時(shí)代，我們把自己的情感投射到這只沒有嘴巴也沒有表情的小貓身上，使她成為一個(gè)可以和人們進(jìn)行完美互動(dòng)的玩具、娃娃或營銷工具。”

貓咪的力量

“Hello Kitty體現(xiàn)了所有人——不分國籍和種族——內(nèi)心深處的渴望：感受快樂和幸福，而不必從理智角度給出任何深刻的理由，”三麗鷗公司公關(guān)部經(jīng)理等松和夫告訴BBC文化頻道，“Hello Kitty不做評(píng)判。她讓你感受自己真實(shí)的感受，而不會(huì)強(qiáng)迫你去深究個(gè)中原委?！?/p>

三麗鷗公司通過向其他許多生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品的廠商進(jìn)行形象授權(quán)而獲利不菲?！霸S多隨手可得的產(chǎn)品上都有Hello Kitty的形象，這讓她很容易就融入了我們的日常生活，也讓我們方便地通過不同方式去感受她所代表的‘萌文化。”米歇爾·阮說，她的“胖胖兔”飾品店就獲得了Hello Kitty的授權(quán)。這也正是為什么《福布斯》雜志稱Hello Kitty為有史以來最暢銷的授權(quán)娛樂產(chǎn)品之一。

由于Kitty是如此成功，她當(dāng)選為日本的外交使節(jié)，擔(dān)任2008年中國的官方旅游形象大使。日本努力通過一場由國家支持、名為“酷日本”的運(yùn)動(dòng)在全球推廣自己的軟實(shí)力，Hello Kitty成為外交使節(jié)也是其中的一部分。推廣漫畫、動(dòng)漫和其他日本流行文化事物——這項(xiàng)積極倡議的出臺(tái)是因?yàn)橐回灡Ｊ氐娜毡竟倭艂冋J(rèn)識(shí)到，文化出口可有助于填補(bǔ)20世紀(jì)90年代“日本公司”瀕臨“破產(chǎn)”所造成的經(jīng)濟(jì)缺口。

推廣 寂和茶道已經(jīng)過時(shí)了。流行文化正成為日本企業(yè)的王牌。比較老式、不那么可愛的商品只會(huì)讓日本人想起自身的傲慢以及泡沫經(jīng)濟(jì)的破滅，隨之走向沒落的還有日本的大男子主義和高科技產(chǎn)業(yè)。自20世紀(jì)90年代以來，日本國內(nèi)許多人希望本國文化能體現(xiàn)其女性化的一面，其結(jié)果是一切“卡哇伊”（意為“可愛”）的東西成為人們的新寵。在城市里，可愛也是一種重要的社會(huì)潤滑劑，這里有很多人極度渴望尋求一種溫暖的慰藉，來緩和城市生活方式的巨大壓力?，F(xiàn)在的日本企業(yè)特別注重塑造自身的可愛形象。總部設(shè)在東京的營銷公司Boom Planning的總裁中村恭子表示：“日本的產(chǎn)品做成可愛的樣子就能博得女性的青睞。在日本，女性是消費(fèi)主力?！?

然而，Hello Kitty為什么能在歐洲和美國取得如此穩(wěn)固的地位呢？或許是因?yàn)樵谶^去十年中，西方民主國家也遇到了與日本20世紀(jì)90年代以來相似的問題：通貨緊縮、工增薪減以及人口老齡化。連一度鐵石心腸的英國人都愛上了Hello Kitty。在大阪工作的音樂家兼文化評(píng)論員尼克·柯里認(rèn)為他了解其中的緣由：“Hello Kitty反映了消費(fèi)文化的愚不可及，這種愚蠢難以抑制且深植于人類的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)。就像我們會(huì)忍不住伸手去撫摩一只長著大眼睛、渾身毛茸茸的貓咪一樣，我們在購物時(shí)也會(huì)做出同樣的本能反應(yīng)?！边@種沖動(dòng)或許是全人類所共有的。

不過，西方國家和少數(shù)的日本人對(duì)這只貓咪的巨大商業(yè)優(yōu)勢并不以為意。拒絕被Kitty征服的零星群體的確存在，而一些更聰明的日本卡通形象現(xiàn)已做好準(zhǔn)備，可能會(huì)蓋過這只最幼稚的偶像的風(fēng)頭。

Kitty Hell就是眾多旨在抨擊這只無處不在的貓咪的網(wǎng)站之一。站長列舉了許多例子來展示他的日籍妻子和其他人對(duì)這只沒有嘴巴的貓咪的迷戀。他發(fā)布了一些Kitty形象的面部文身等諸如此類的東西，并揶揄道：“三麗鷗公司發(fā)明了一種Hello Kitty病毒，會(huì)讓人們做出這種事。”

“我真正要做的是指出那些粉絲和所有Hello Kitty商品的荒唐之處?！边@名未透露姓名的站長對(duì)BBC說。

與此同時(shí)，日本在創(chuàng)造可愛形象方面所展現(xiàn)出的才華催生了一款名為“連我”的聊天服務(wù)應(yīng)用，從而掀起了又一股席卷全亞洲的熱潮。這款應(yīng)用的流行很大程度上依賴于日本人在設(shè)計(jì)和靈活使用“繪文字”（日語中的表情符號(hào)）方面無可撼動(dòng)的領(lǐng)先優(yōu)勢。在“連我”應(yīng)用中，表情符號(hào)已經(jīng)發(fā)展成為被完整刻畫的卡通形象，神秘兮兮的“饅頭人”就是其中一例。

目前，“連我”的運(yùn)營商正力求在全球范圍內(nèi)取得同樣的成功——最近，西班牙人也愛上了“連我”上那些頑皮、更具嘲弄意味、更適合成年人的吉祥物?，F(xiàn)在是否到了該說“你好，‘連我”和“再見，小貓”的時(shí)候了呢？

1. mania [?me?ni?] n. 狂熱；癖好

2. Trojan Horse：特洛伊木馬，源自古希臘神話，喻指（潛藏于內(nèi)部的）顛覆分子。相傳古希臘人在攻打特洛伊?xí)r，設(shè)計(jì)將士兵藏在一個(gè)空心木馬中佯裝退兵。特洛伊人將木馬當(dāng)做戰(zhàn)利品拖回城內(nèi)，卻在夜間遭到希臘伏兵的偷襲。

3. Yuko Shimizu：清水侑子，Hello Kitty的第一代設(shè)計(jì)師

4. Sanrio：日本的三麗鷗公司，全球著名的造型人物品牌發(fā)行商，成立于1960年，旗下的知名卡通形象包括Hello Kitty和美樂蒂兔子（MyMelody）等。

5. off [?f] prep. （某物）得自……；從……獲得某物

6. pushover [?p?????v?（r）] n. 容易被說服（或受人影響）的人

7. Roland Nozomu Kelts：羅蘭·佐佐木望·凱爾茨，美國作家、編輯，是一位專門研究日本文化的學(xué)者及社會(huì)評(píng)論員。

8. a slew of：許多，大量

9. Michelle Nguyen：米歇爾·阮，美籍日本人，“胖胖兔”飾品店（Chubby Bunny Accessories）的創(chuàng)始人

10. Cool Japan：日本政府大力推行的“酷日本”戰(zhàn)略，即通過向全世界推廣多種多樣的日本文化（包括時(shí)尚、動(dòng)漫、音樂等）來提升自己的外交形象和國際影響力。

11. perennially [p??reni?li] adv. （尤指問題或困難）永恒地，持續(xù)地，亙古不變地

12. Japan Inc：“日本公司”，經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)術(shù)語，代指20世紀(jì)80年代日本經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮時(shí)期的企業(yè)界。該術(shù)語由美國商業(yè)理論學(xué)者詹姆斯·阿貝格倫（James Abegglen）創(chuàng)造，旨在強(qiáng)調(diào)日本政府與企業(yè)之間的密切關(guān)系。

13. wabi sabi： 寂，日本美學(xué)意識(shí)的一個(gè)組成部分，一般指樸素又安靜的事物。

14. hubris [?hju?br?s] n. 傲慢；自恃

15. lubricant [?lu?br?k?nt] n. （比喻有利于事情順利進(jìn)行的）潤滑劑

16. hard-bitten：冷酷無情的，鐵石心腸的

17. hardwired：（能力、方法、活動(dòng)類型）基本的，固有的，無法改變的

18. pocket [?p?k?t] n. （與周圍不同的或孤立的）小塊地區(qū)

19. tongue-in-cheek：說著玩的；不可當(dāng)真的

20. Line：韓國NHN在日本的子公司發(fā)布的多平臺(tái)免費(fèi)即時(shí)通訊軟件，中國版名為“連我”。

21. unassailable [??n??se?l?b（?）l] adj. 堅(jiān)不可摧的；無懈可擊的

22. Moon：“連我”表情包中的卡通人物“饅頭人”

23. gun for：追求；竭力謀求

24. impish [??mp??] adj. 頑皮的；調(diào)皮的