Hello Kitty adds Japanese exorcism to her work repertoire, Twitter baffled and amused

09:17 cherishe 0 Comments

Is there anything Kitty can’t do? She can spiritually purify your house or room with salt now, so tell your ghost stories without fear of retribution!

Hello Kitty is one of the world’s foremost workaholics. When she isn’t manning her own Shinkansen train, teaming up with the Japan Coast Guard, starring in her own movie, attending the weddings of fans, breathing new life into the Bon Odori dance, toiling at a cake store for charity or revolutionizing the very currency of her home country, Kitty can be found sticking her adorably chubby paws into all manners of corporate pies.

The CEO of Sanrio itself has been candid about why the company is constantly clamoring to collaborate. Not only does Kitty get to spread her brand, but she gets to boost the awareness of all manner of different companies! Back in 2017, Kitty joined forces with interior design company Belluna to create perhaps the strangest of all of her collaborations to date, and a viral tweet has gotten everyone chatting about it again.

▼ “With it being summer and all, I’m itching to tell some good ghost stories. I should get a morijio to purify the area so no spirits curse me… Ah, they have a Hello Kitty morijio.”

Summer is the typical time in Japan to huddle with your friends and tell a bone-chilling scary story. The slow, creeping heat; the dismal whir of cicadas in the background… It’s a great atmosphere to generate goose-flesh. But if you’re superstitious, you might want to take precautions that your levity doesn’t anger any wrathful spirits in the area. Cue the humble morijio, or ‘salt pile’.

You may have seen these pointy piles of salt around shrines, on the porches of houses or in the windows of restaurants. The reason they’re popular is two-fold: first is an enduring Heian-period urban legend that the salt will lure the oxen of rich merchants to your store and boost your business, much like how Kitty does to flagging franchises. The second is that salt is a purifier, and putting the little pile of salt out front shows that your house or store is free of pesky spirits.

Belluna’s collaborative item, the Hello Kitty Happy Morijio Set, comes in a stylish dusky pink. It consists of two parts: a small geometric dish edged with gold lacquer to rest your salt on top of, and a cap to cover the salt with so it can maintain its perfect cone shape. The cap even comes adorned with a tiny, perfect Kitty ribbon! A steal at 3,800 yen (US$33.70) plus tax.

Alas – even with the renewed interest around the spooky summer season, the Happy Morijio Set is all sold out on Belluna, leaving horror fans decidedly unhappy. Here’s hoping they restock this bizarre item so we can enjoy Kitty’s cute aesthetic even while ridding our houses of malevolent energy.

Source, featured image: Belluna



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