Sanrio museum opens in Yamanashi

KAI, Japan >> Fans flocked to a museum that looks back at the history of Sanrio Co., the company behind Hello Kitty and other globally popular characters, when it opened April 3 in Kai, Yamanashi prefecture.

Yamanashi Ichigo no Osama Museum: Sanrio Sogyosha Tsuji Shintaro Kinenkan (Yamanashi strawberry king museum: Sanrio founder Shintaro Tsuji commemorative hall) honors Sanrio founder and honorary chairman Tsuji, 98, a native of Kofu, the prefecture’s capital. The museum is the first to trace the history of the founder and the company.

Tsuji founded Yamanashi Silk Center Co., predecessor to Sanrio, in 1960. With hopes of world peace, he continued to develop gift items and other products, creating over 450 characters, with the corporate philosophy of everyone getting along together.

The museum consists of two log cabin-style wooden buildings, with the Sanrio history museum and Tsuji hall comprising a total space of about 6,115 square feet.

Inside, exhibits include a giant Hello Kitty sculpture and an art installation comprising the company’s character plush toys in a 13-foot treelike structure. There is also an area that recreates Tsuji’s office, including the actual desk he used at work.

Another feature showcases the history of the Gekkan Ichigo Shimbun (The Strawberry News) magazine, first published in 1975. Tsuji continues to contribute essays to the publication under the pen name “The Strawberry King.”

At the opening ceremony, Tsuji took to the stage in a wheelchair and, along with guests including Yamanashi Gov. Kotaro Nagasaki and Kai Mayor Takeshi Hosaka, was joined by Hello Kitty in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

A housewife in her 40s with a Sanrio character bag over her shoulder traveled from Nanto, Toyama prefecture, with her husband and son. She smiled as she walked through the museum.

“The content was richer than I expected, and it was great to learn about the characters while having fun,” she said.

The museum location in Kai was fueled by Tsuji’s deep admiration for scholar Yamagata Daini, a native of Kai from the mid-Edo period known as the “god of learning.”

According to city officials, after learning that Sanrio was searching for a museum site in the prefecture, they suggested a location on a hill overlooking Mt. Fuji, and Tsuji fell in love with the scenery.

The museum is expected to attract visitors from both Japan and abroad, and the city intends to include it in revitalization plans for the area.

In October, the city launched an initiative in collaboration with organizations such as the local chamber of commerce and industry, East Japan Railway Co. and Central Nippon Expressway Co., a main operator of expressways and toll roads in Japan. The group aims to discuss both infrastructure and promotional strategies, from transportation networking to public relations campaigns.

“We want to collaborate with various organizations to create an attractive city,” said Hosaka, Kai’s mayor.

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The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Tuesdays and national holidays. Reservations are required and can be placed at strawberryk-museum.com. Note: The website is in Japanese.