Hello Kitty fans shocked to learn character is not actually a cat

Hello Kitty is an iconic fictional character that most people will recognise from childhood, but many were surprised to discover that she is not a cat.

It was back in 1974 in Japan when Hello Kitty was first introduced by creator Yuko Shimizu, and 49 years on, it is an established aspect of kawaii culture in the country.

The character is distinctly recognisable for its white cat-shaped face with a red bow, button nose and no visible mouth - so if Hello Kitty isn't a cat, then what is it?

Turns out Hello Kitty is a girl named Kitty White and she's not actually from Japan but rather a suburb in London and lives with her family which includes her parents, twin sister Mimmy and her pet cat Charmmy Kitty.

"Hello Kitty is not a cat. She’s a cartoon character," Christine R. Yano told LA Times back in 2014 after she had to "firmly correct" the Japanese American National Museum, who described Hello Kitty "as a cat."

"She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She’s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it’s called Charmmy Kitty.”

Recently, many fans have shared how they've stumbled across this fact in viral videos circulating online.

TikToker @bugfishhhh went viral for their reaction to discovering this fact, and the video received 7.8m views.

One person wrote: "In my head it’s still a little animated cat, hanging with friends, it was my favourite show growing up."

"This came up in like 6th grade in my town and i’ve never been the same," another person said.

Someone else added: "This is actually true… and it changed my life when I found out."

"This is actually true… and it changed my life when I found out," a fourth person commented/

This topic also resurfaced during a Saturday Night Live skit last year where new Hello Kitty staff (Keke Palmer and Bowen Yang) were getting examined in order to pass to be an employee.

“If you open to page five of your employee handbooks, you’ll see a list of facts about Hello Kitty."

"As you can see, she loves to bake cookies, she goes to school, and she's not a cat, she's a human little girl."

After learning all about the real identity of Hello Kitty, Yang shouted: "So the girl is a person, but the one in the suit and tie is a cat? Yeah it’s not going to work for me.”

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