As Hello Kitty's commercial success expanded beyond Asia, so did her personal profile. By the late 1970s, Sanrio revealed the character's name as Kitty White, her height as five apples tall and her birthplace as suburban London, where the company said she lived with her parents and twin sister Mimmy.

Hello Kitty, one of the most loved Sanrio characters, is marking her 50th anniversary with a bang. A new exhibition marking the milestone opens in Tokyo's National Museum called 'As I change, so does she'.