Are Hello Kitty and Pokémon from the devil? Lies about Japan

Lies have been part of most people's lives for a long time. Over the years thousands of people spread them, and thousands more believe them and pass them on. Do you remember that there were rumors that if you put a 2-liter bottle full of water next to the electricity meter, the bill would get cheaper? How could thousands of people believe in such things?

Unfortunately, over the years rumors and lies about famous things have been spread, mainly by religious people without any knowledge. We have already heard reports that Hello Kitty, Xuxa, Pokémon, Katy Perry, Globo, and various famous things were accused of having a pact with the devil. It can feel as if almost every famous thing has been through that accusation. It seems that some love to burn famous things.

This all happens because some idiot spreads a rumor on the internet, and people believe it and help the rumor spread. How is a lie spread? The more scandalous, famous, and sensationalist the subject, the easier it is for it to go viral and end up being treated as truth for many people. And even with sites like Google, Snopes, and Brazil's e-Farsas, where we can easily research the subject, it seems that lies only increase. WhatsApp and social networks are still some of the biggest sources of lies spread throughout Brazil.

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Lies about Hello Kitty

In 2005, a rumor circulated on the internet that Hello Kitty was created by a woman through a pact with the devil to cure a 14-year-old child who had cancer. This rumor spread in such a way that many people around me stopped buying products from this brand and criticized those who had such products. That was only one version. Other versions said the little girl was born without a mouth or had cancer in her mouth.

Others said that the word Kitty meant devil in Chinese, even though Hello Kitty was created in Japan. China and Japan are completely different from each other, especially in language. Any English speaker knows that kitty means kitten. The character's name has always been Kitty White. Sanrio has said the missing mouth is there so people can project their own feelings onto her, and so she can travel without being tied to one language. Her eyes stay simple for the same reason. Some people also claim the blank face criticizes the silence expected of Japanese women. That reading is a theory, not Sanrio's account.

The designer was Yuko Shimizu, a Sanrio illustrator, in 1974. The first product was a vinyl coin purse. Japan is famous for creating mascots and fictional characters; Sanrio's business is exactly that: invent the characters and sell the licenses or the goods.

Lies about Pokémon

Pokémon became another franchise that succeeded worldwide after Satoshi Tajiri and Game Freak built the first games, which Nintendo published. The franchise where you capture little creatures on handheld video games became so famous that it gained toys, card games, and television adaptations. At the time the anime was released in Brazil, many religious people already had in their heads that all Japanese cartoons were from the devil. The mere fact that there were non-real creatures was already a reason for parents to prohibit their children from watching this cartoon.

Tajiri has said the idea came from collecting insects as a child and from the Game Boy link cable. Christians do not predominate in Japan, so the team had little reason to design around Western church debates. It is up to the person's conscience to decide whether or not to watch Pokémon. The problem is that many criticize with all their might but play Mario Bros, the biggest franchise of Nintendo, which clearly has magic and supernatural characters.

Pokémon does not take place in our universe; many characters may be native to that setting, and much of it was created in a laboratory. Ghost-types and hypnosis moves can still bother a Christian conscience; that is a personal line. Pokémon is a franchise with hundreds of creatures across many games, each with its story and characters. I personally don't know why to condemn a franchise just because 1 out of hundreds of Pokémon has something questionable. If that's the case, we can't watch absolutely anything on TV.

People don't know how to translate

Now let's talk about the biggest stupidity and lie spread on the internet related to Pokémon. Many religious people suggest that the name means pocket demons, while Pokémon is short for Pocket Monsters, pocket monsters. Monster can sound loaded: the word covers something contrary to nature, an anomaly, or a deformity. Since the Pokémon are invented creatures, they sit outside ordinary animals. Turning the word monster into demon is a big exaggeration. Thousands of video games and cartoons use the word monster to refer to collectible characters that do not exist in our world, whether science fiction or not.

Other lies that have been spread on the internet are related to the names of the Pokémon, which are nothing more than adaptations, abbreviations, and mixtures of the animals they were inspired by, or their elements and abilities. Some even said that Pikachu means Destroyer Monster. Japanese learners hear something simpler: pika from pikapika, the sparkle or flash sound, and chū, a mouse squeak. The name is unrelated to the small mammal called a pika, even if that animal looks a bit like a rodent.

Some also claim that the cartoon caused hallucinations, suicides, and sent several children to the hospital. That pile of claims has no foundation. What did happen is specific: on December 16, 1997, the Japanese episode "Dennō Senshi Porygon" used a rapid red-and-blue flash that triggered photosensitive seizures. Hundreds of viewers went to hospital, and the episode was pulled, never aired again.

What can we conclude from this?

We cannot deny that many cartoons, games, and other things that originated in Japan have something considered wrong by Christians. Most of the population follows Buddhism and Shinto, so authors of these works often put in biblical references because they find them interesting and do not think that Westerners will treat them as a confession of faith. Japanese culture is completely different from Western culture, and they do not see the devil in everything, nor do they think about conspiracies, hidden messages, or anything like that when creating their works.

If you want to know if a Japanese game or anime is appropriate for your child, simply research reliable sources, watch, and check the story. Do not believe in rumors just because something is famous and various lies have started to circulate about it. The internet is full of lies; stop depending on the opinions of others or believing everything you read! Consider your own conscience!