Yikes! This is Hello Kitty’s mother/creator.
Read the crappy machine translation for details.

Link via Mari_diary.

Sanrio has teamed up with Citizen to put a giant Hello Kitty solar -powered clock on sale next month with a price of 300,000 yen or about $3,000 USD.
I would say this 70cm in diameter Kitty clock weighing 10kg would be perfect as a neck pendant*, don’t you?
*See the comments for an example.

Embiggen left photo

Another Hello Kitty timepiece that has been released in celebration of the 35th birthday of Hello Kitty are three different versions of limited edition Hello Kitty Swarovski watches. Note the name on the watch’s dial face, “Crash Hello Kitty.”

Here’s a HELL-o Kitty twist on those twisto teens who love self-cutting via blameitonthevoices.com.
embiggen

That is a Hello Kitty tartan for the baba market.

Hello Kitty in Scottish tartan for 35th birthday
AFP via google news - ‎Jun 10, 2009‎…
Sanrio Co. will launch the checkered-pink series — featuring handbags, trinkets, a shawl and a Kitty version of a teddy bear — in September in Japan ahead of her official birthday on November 1.
The British embassy in Tokyo on Wednesday threw an early party for the feline with the trademark ribbon who, according to the Kitty legend, lives in suburban London...more…

And, how about a Hello Kitty “up kilt“?

Hello Kitty kilts up
DeadlineScotland.wordpress.com - June 11, 2009
…the Scottish Tartan industry, Lochcarron of Scotland were delighted to work closely with the Sanrio Corporation to design the “Hello Kitty Tartan”…. acknowledged by the Scottish Government, with the “Hello Kitty Tartan” now featuring on it’s official Register of Tartans…more...

Do your own searches for tartans in the official Scottish Register of Tartans at www.tartanregister.gov.uk.

As the Porcine Plague Panic pervades the Japanese news 24/7, the one thing Japan has prepared for welll in advance is their looove of wearing masks.

As I wrote about in 2005 in Get well soon masks®, Japan already has designer masks ready for the Swine Flu Pandemic created by the artist Samira Boon who describes them as follows.

Studio Samira Boon …the very sterile looking white gauze mask inspired to make it more cheerful and funny while still serving its purpose. This new mask is no longer masking, but transforming the part of the face it is hiding…

News reports about health mask wearing in Japan (and the Japanese themselves) mistakenly attribute mask wearing as Japanese politeness. For example:

Hello Kitty part of Japan’s mask craze
thewest.com.au -AP- 27th April 2009….[Mask] wearers say that, more than a health issue, they wear the masks almost as a fashion statement. By wearing a mask, the thinking goes, people are showing that they are being socially responsible.
“It comes from kindness, thoughtfulness - Japanese characteristics,” said mask-wearing Shuichi Yamamoto, a surveyor. “Wearing a mask is socially constructive. If I get a cough, I should have to wear a mask because everyone should think of others.”…more…

In reality, the main purpose of the mask is protection from hay fever. More importantly, masks are worn to the office as a way to “prove” to bosses and coworkers the wearer’s diligence in coming to work while being sick. (There is no such thing as “sick days” in Japan—Days taken off because of illness are deducted from vacation leave.)
“Zipper FACE!” via iMorpheus‘ flickr
Often masks are worn in Japan for personal reasons:
—young housewives slap on masks to pop down to the store without bothering without laborious makeup efforts;
—salarymen and OLs wear masks and blaring iPods to “escape” the crush of commuter trains packed at 250% of capacity;
—socially-withdrawn, reclusive otaku, the Hikikomori, wear masks the rare occasions they venture out of the house to buy pedo-manga;
—and, sometimes masks are just a fashion statement.
See the flickr pool of photos: MASKED Harajuku Girls

Shibuya246.com has a detailed explanation often ignored habit of Japanese wearing masks for fashion in the blog’s coverage of the Japanese DIME Magazine review of the 27 different types of masks available for sale in Japan….

Japanese DIME Magazine Review of masks–Shibuya246.com….
1. Masks focused on ones image
2. Masks focused on functionality
…As well as helping to protect you from the spread of flu, colds and hayfever, these masks also take into account features such as protecting you from dryness of air, fresh aromatic oils and menthol sheets in the masks…
3. Professional masks
Designer Masks, Original for you
…a “Mask with decoration”. It allows you to put on a design seal and rhinestone to make the mask an original for you. The Japanese name for this mask is “DecoriMask”…more…

The robot Japan forgot to invent.*

*Japan has had anthropomorphic fembots as national goal for more than a decade….even though humanoid robots can’t do any real work and won’t able to perform even the lowest level human skills adequately for many decades. Basically nobody needs anthropomorphic robots — Robots are needed to perform what is impossible for humans cannot do…Like a robotic Hello Kitty tank.

Ah ha! Here’s a use for the previous post about the 14 million yen Hello Kitty enKusted…a Hello Kitty with diamond LED eyes that can be used at 400 degrees Centigrade!

'Diamond LED' Can Be Used at 400 Deg C
Nikkei Electronics, March 26, 2009 –Light emission of the diamond LED was demonstrated by AIST. The light seen in the picture is not UV light but visible light generated by a lattice defect, etc. The LED actually emitted deep UV light with an intensity (per unit wavelength) nearly 20 times higher than that of visible light…more…

For a mere 15 million yen or about $145,000 USD, you too can have Swarovski crystal enKusty Kitty®!

Kyodo News - Photos - Mar. 26 BASEL, Switzerland—A jewelry-clad Hello Kitty doll debuts at a watch-jewelry trade fair that opened in Basel… ''Super Hello Kitty,'' a product of Japan's Sanrio in cooperation with Austria's crystal glass maker Swarovski
…more...

In case you were wondering “Why?”…There is no real excuse but Sanrio says that this “Super Hello Kitty” is part their special 35th birthday party celebrations for their Kitty character. R-i-i-i-ight.

Ok, ok, the “saving” is actually being done by the Goldman Sachs bank who used some of its US Treasury Department’s TARP money to pay executive bonuses…and maybe one of those fat-cat executives was Hello Kitty who is on a mission to save the Universal Studios Japan theme park.

Goldman May Unveil Universal Studios Japan Bid Today
Bloomberg.net — March 18, 2009 ….The park’s attendance will be about 8.6 million for the year that ends March 31, down from 9.9 million five years earlier…Goldman Sachs would make a takeover bid for full control of USJ by March 31….The company reported net income of 4.13 billion yen for the six months ended Sept. 30 on sales of 34.33 billion yen, after introducing new characters including Sanrio Co.’s cartoon cat Hello Kitty.

Another of the fat-cat executives on the payroll Universal Studios Japan who Goldman Sachs is wasting their US Treasury Department’s TARP (Trouble Asset Relief Program) money is Elmo. Here’s the king-of-kink, Elmo, at Universal Studios Japan promoting his special Rainy Day Plan Poncho.
900yen ($9 USD) at USJ giftshops

The 3Yen’s reporter, Den4, spotted that that Hello Kitty has become O-hell Kitty and is going on the reunion tour of the speed metal band, X JAPAN.
Kitty will be taking over Heath on bass according to the X JAPAN ARMY website.

Visit the X-JAPAN’s myspace to hear their music.