Hello Kitty (ハローキティ Harō Kiti^?)^[3] (full name Kitty White (キティ・ホワイト Kiti howaito^?))^[2] is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, first designed by Yuko Shimizu. She is portrayed as a female white Japanese bobtail cat with a red bow.^[1] The character's first appearance on an item, a vinyl coin purse, was introduced in Japan in 1974 and brought to the United States in 1976.^[4][5] The character is a staple of the kawaii segment of Japanese popular culture.^[6] At age 36 as of 2010, Sanrio has groomed Hello Kitty into a global marketing phenomenon worth $5 billion a year.^[7]