Sanrio's China subsidiary, Sanrio (Shanghai) International Trading, said on October 28 that it is canceling a collaboration with the TBS drama "VIVANT" and will scrap all related plans. The company judged that the drama contains expressions out of step with Sanrio's corporate philosophy, "minna nakayoku" — roughly, everyone getting along.
In the drama, a "Chinese secret intelligence organization" holds a protagonist's ally captive and cuts off his fingers in a torture scene. That depiction drew a backlash in China. The People's Daily-affiliated Global Times ran an editorial arguing that Hello Kitty should not dance with Japan's right wing, and warning that cooperating with anti-China content would cost sales and trust built up over years, a market source said.
A decision by the founder's grandson
The call to cancel was made by President Tomokuni Tsuji, 38, a grandson of honorary chairman Shintaro Tsuji, who founded the company. Tsuji is known for a friendly look that draws comparisons to Pompompurin, one of Sanrio's popular characters.
Tsuji graduated from Keio University and worked at a major food manufacturer before his father, then a vice president, died suddenly in November 2013. He joined Sanrio abruptly in January 2014 and was promoted to president in July 2020. In the fiscal year ended March 2021, Sanrio fell to a net loss for the first time in 12 years. It has since staged a V-shaped recovery, posting close to ¥80 billion in operating profit in the fiscal year ended March 2026, the same source said.
China as both engine and exposure
China has underpinned that expansion. The canceled tie-up now puts a question mark over how much of Sanrio's overseas momentum depends on a market where consumer sentiment can turn on a single scene in a television drama. Sanrio had already factored China market risk into its planning, according to bank and financial industry sources.
The full article, which covers the details of Sanrio's China business, how the market views the cancellation and those risk factors, appears in the current digital edition of Weekly Bunshun and in the print issue on sale Thursday, November 5.