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Strawberry Newspaper

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Cover of the March 2025 issue, featuring Cinnamoroll

The Strawberry Newspaper (いちご新聞, Ichigo Shimbun), also known as the Strawberry News, is a Japanese monthly magazine published by Sanrio. It was first published in 1975 and is aimed at children, primarily girls. It contains news on Sanrio's products and characters, the most well-known of which is Hello Kitty. The magazine is published in a large size tabloid format and printed in full color. It has been in continuous publication since 1975, and as of 2019 six hundred issues had been published, and according to Sanrio, each new issue was printed in 100,000 copies.[1] The first issue of the magazine was published in April 1975, had the American dog character Snoopy on the cover and cost 100 yen.[2] As of 2025, the cost per issue is 220 yen.[3] Originally, the magazine was published twice a month, but it shifted over to once a month in 1982.[4]

Aside from news, the magazine includes various contents that tie-in to Sanrio characters, like stories and activities.[5] There are arts and crafts, including step-by-step instructions for how to draw the characters or do origami,[6][7] as well as papercraft like gift boxes, miniature books and paper dolls printed in the magazine to cut out and construct.[8] There have also been instructions for how to do magic tricks, and also board games and card games to cut out and play.[9][10] Older issues also had sheet music for character songs and step-by-step instructions for doing dances inspired by the characters.[4] It regularly includes recipes for making food and desserts in the image of Sanrio's characters.[11][12][13] The back of the magazine is sometimes printed in a pattern with Sanrio's characters, and can be cut out and used as wrapping paper or a book cover.[14] Each issue includes a poster and comes with a bonus item, typically a simple accessory or stationery.[15][16]

Every issue includes a message (similar to an editorial) from The Strawberry King, the alter-ego of Sanrio founder Shintaro Tsuji.[17] Some of the messages are political, and as of 2016, in every August issue, Tsuji had written about his memories of World War II, including how he lost classmates when he was in college.[18][19] In 2015, on the 70th anniversary of the Surrender of Japan, it had a pacifist message, where Sanrio characters discuss contemporary military conflicts, including Hello Kitty mentioning Afghanistan, Somalia, and Ukraine, and My Melody talking about the Islamic State in Syria.[20][21]

The Strawberry Newspaper has published manga with several different Sanrio characters, including Minna no Tabo from 1986 to 1987,[22][23] Peckle beginning in 1991,[24] and Hapidanbui beginning in 2020.[25] Kuririn Diary (クリリン日記, Kuririn Nikki) from the late 1990s with hamster character Corocorokuririn blends reality and fiction by including photographs of real hamsters with drawings of fictional characters.[26] Mariland Stories (マリーランドストーリー) features My Melody and was first published in the Strawberry Newspaper before being published as a book in 2025.[27][28] Beginning in 1980, stories and illustrations from the writer and illustrator Milk Aoyama [ja] have been published regularly in the Strawberry News.[29]

The readers of the Strawberry Newspaper are referred to as Strawberry Mates (いちごメイト, Ichigo Meito).[30][31] Sanrio used to hold monthly gatherings for Strawberry Mates at their Strawberry House [ja] store in Tokyo.[30] Several characters, beginning with the Little Twin Stars characters Kiki and Lala in 1975, were named by readers of the magazine. Sanrio printed a request for readers to send in their ideas for names, and names were then picked from the reader suggestions.[32][33][34] Other characters named this way include Goropikadon and My Melody's companion character My Sweet Piano.[32][31][35] The character Corocorokuririn and his family were modelled on real life hamsters that were kept at the office of Sanrio.[36][26] New owners for the real life hamster offspring were solicited from among readers of the Strawberry Newspaper, who also coined some of the names used for the fictional hamster children.[36][26]

The annual Sanrio Character Rankings poll, where fans can vote on their favorite characters, began in the Strawberry Newspaper in 1986.[37] A precursor, the Sanrio Character Popularity Contest, began in 1975 and ran for about six years.[38]

References

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  1. ^ "キティに続きぐでたまもYouTuberに サンリオCMOが語る60周年に向けた"攻め"の姿勢". ORICON NEWS (in Japanese). 2019-01-07. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  2. ^ "『キキララが生まれた1975年って、どんな年？』". LittleTwinStars Official★Blog Kiki&Lala Dreamy Diary (in Japanese). Sanrio. 2011-12-06.
  3. ^ "いちご新聞3月号｜サンリオ". Archived from the original on 25 February 2025.
  4. ^ a b Takemura 2013.
  5. ^ Takemura 2013, pp. 54–55.
  6. ^ Takemura 2013, p. 28,47,49.
  7. ^ Takemura 2013, p. 33.
  8. ^ Takemura 2013, pp. 31, 70–71, 117, 136.
  9. ^ Takemura 2013, p. 113.
  10. ^ Takemura 2013, p. 126,136.
  11. ^ "サンリオ公式レシピでポムポムプリンオムライスを作ってみた【誰かに話したくなるサンリオの魅力】". 4 May 2020. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020.
  12. ^ "「サンリオ」ともっと楽しい"おうち時間"を♪ 自宅で楽しめるキャラフードレシピ期間限定公開". 3 May 2020. Archived from the original on 21 May 2020.
  13. ^ "「おうち時間」は サンリオキャラレシピで楽しもう！ | ニュース・イベント | サンリオ". Archived from the original on 1 May 2020.
  14. ^ Takemura 2013, p. 53.
  15. ^ Takemura 2013, pp. 130–135.
  16. ^ Takemura 2013, pp. 137–139.
  17. ^ Roach, Mary (1999-12-01). "Cute Inc". Wired.
  18. ^ MOE 2016, p. 13.
  19. ^ "「いちご新聞」反戦メッセージ サンリオがなぜ？ 共感のツイート". Archived from the original on 17 July 2015.
  20. ^ "Hello Kitty Doesn't Want to die in War". 29 July 2015. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015.
  21. ^ "Sanrio Mascots Promote Pacifism on 70th Anniversary of Japan's Surrender - Interest - Anime News Network". Archived from the original on 12 August 2015.
  22. ^ Takemura 2013, p. 100.
  23. ^ "みんなのたあ坊はなんと実は彼女持ち!?デザイナーが語るたあ坊秘話って？【誰かに話したくなるサンリオの魅力】". 8 May 2019. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020.
  24. ^ "「はぴだんぶい」キーボード担当！あひるのペックル特別デザイナーインタビュー【誰かに話したくなるサンリオの魅力】". Domani (in Japanese). 12 March 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  25. ^ "ファン待望「はぴだんぶい」初のファンブックは超胸アツ案件だった | Domani". 25 November 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-11-25.
  26. ^ a b c "コロコロクリリンの知られざる素顔をデザイナーにインタビュー". 11 December 2020. Archived from the original on 2022-11-23.
  27. ^ "MY MELODY Mariland Stories - 主婦と生活社". 9 January 2025. Archived from the original on 17 January 2025.
  28. ^ "いちご新聞で連載中！「マリーランドストーリー」のスペシャルブックが登場♡｜サンリオ". Archived from the original on 13 March 2025.
  29. ^ Takemura 2013, pp. 104–105.
  30. ^ a b Creighton, Millie R. (1994). "'Edutaining' Children: Consumer and Gender Socialization in Japanese Marketing". Ethnology. 33 (1): 35–52. doi:10.2307/3773973. JSTOR 3773973.
  31. ^ a b "全員彼女がいます！「ゴロピカドン」担当デザイナーが語るやんちゃな3兄弟の秘話【誰かに話したくなるサンリオの魅力】". 23 June 2020. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020.
  32. ^ a b MOE 2016.
  33. ^ "『キキララ誕生エピソードその1』LittleTwinStars Official★Blog Kiki&Lala Dreamy Diary". Archived from the original on 2022-09-19. Official Sanrio blog as verified by "リトルツインスターズ|サンリオ". Archived from the original on 2013-10-16.
  34. ^ "『キキララストーリー3バージョン』LittleTwinStars Official★Blog Kiki&Lala Dreamy Diary". Archived from the original on 2013-05-12. Official Sanrio blog as verified by "リトルツインスターズ|サンリオ". Archived from the original on 2013-10-16.
  35. ^ "いちご新聞2021年7月号 No. 641". The Strawberry Newspaper (ja:いちご新聞). いちご新聞編集局. 10 June 2021. p. 25.
  36. ^ a b "2018年6月号 月刊サンリオ通信コラム「Sanrio ☆ Story Cabinet」 サンリオ". sanrio.co.jp (in Japanese). June 2018. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018.
  37. ^ "2022 Sanrio Character Ranking Kicks Off!" (PDF). sanrio.eu. Retrieved 2022-07-06.
  38. ^ "『キキがんばって！』". Archived from the original on 11 May 2013.

Works cited

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