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Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me

Anushkum at Andadowati. Today I'm taking you back to 1974 and to Japan

where a 24-year-old artist has just put pen to paper and created something

that will go on to be worth over $80 billion.

The Sunu Kura... billion dollars. I use a Japanese hooded brush pen and Japanese summy ink to draw originals. That was how it was done in those days.

That's Yuka Shimizu, the artist.

The original she's talking about was a simple sketch of a cat with a button nose, oversized head, no mouth, and a bow over her right ear.

It took on the title Unknown White Cat, although you might know her better, as Hello Kitty.

I intended to become an art teacher while I was at university.

I was majoring in oil painting, but personally I felt I was lacking in that area, so gave up on the idea. So I switched my attention to teaching God, but there weren't any positions

open at that time.

Desperate for a creative outlet, Yuco began looking outside art classes and in 1974

stumbled upon Sanrio, an ex-silk production company who'd had a runaway success

when they started to produce rubber sandals adorned with a strawberry print.

Eager to repeat this success, they'd started hiring illustrators to create characters they could sell.

...