hello kitty at 30: tupperware investing

now that hello kitty is celebrating her big three-oh with a new wave of killer merch... er, cuteness, how has her outlook on life in asia changed? well, as middle age encroaches, she is seen more often with daniel - thoughts of their diminutive offspring and a (presumably less diminutive) nest egg cannot be far behind.

the new thing in taiwan is the tupperware-style investment party. you get a bunch of neighbors and friends together, serve some home-style cooking, and let loose a gaggle of female, middle-aged asset managers. they will tell you about shorts, margin, distressed shares, and stock swaps until your ears spin. then they ask you about children, retirement, income, security. and after desert and wine they ask for contributions into their home-spun hedge-fund. supplement your future pension, put some money away for your little ones.

sanrio, the company enjoying worldwide growth with its aggressively cute brands, is a good bet, one might assume, to benefit from children investing. but it will be a much bigger test of intellectual property law in europe and north america than the heritage of uncle walt disney when ever so slightly different cuties compete for your attention at the local supermarket. who can even tell kitty from her daniel? not me; not my preschooler.