ABC Wednesday: K is Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty (ハローキティ Harō Kiti), was created by a Japanese company Sanrio and first designed by Ikuko Shimizu. It is portrayed as a female white Japanese bobtail cat with a red bow and no drawn mouth. It has such a popular following worldwide, the licensing arrangements worth more than $1 billion annually.

Last Saturday, after her facial, I dutifully pick Grace up and suggested that we might go to the new branch of National Taiwan Museum, which has a very nice museum coffee shop. It was the old building of Japanese Kangyo Bank and Mitsui Bussan Company during the Japanese occupation era. It has been used as the head office of Land Bank of Taiwan. The building has only recently been renovated and became part of the National Taiwan Museum with a new exhibition of dinosaur bones.

The museum is located at the western part of Taipei, an old part of the city with many small shops and restaurants. We first had a quick lunch in one of the oldest Shanghainese restaurant in Taipei then walked through the small alleys. I photographed this Hello Kitty sign outside of a shop carrying various Japanese clothing while Grace was browsing. She bought a hat.

I then photographed this advertisement for Pantene shampoo on a city bus. It featured two models and one actress who are famous throughout Chinese speaking world. The ad said, "Try and Believe, 10-day use will decrease the hair-end splits". I suppose that it has something to do with Keratin.

This is the store sign for iRoo, Milan, Italy. However, it is a 100% Taiwanese clothing store. Grace was inside for a long time. I swore if she stayed in there for 5 more minutes, I would go to the next store, which happens to be a photographic shop to buy myself a new Nikon 85mm f/1.4 lens. Luckily she came out in time dressing in her new outfit and the new hat.

We then walked through a busy market street and bought over 10 baby cloths for our grandchildren. It was about time to head back to the car. Mmm..., what museum we supposed to go to? Well, next time!!!

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