Sanrio

Sanrio was founded by Shintaro Tsuji as the Yamanashi Silk Company in 1960, using 1 million yen in capital. In 1962, Tsuji expanded his enterprise from silk to rubber sandals with flowers painted on them. Tsuji noted the profits gained by simply adding a cute design to the sandals and hired cartoonists to design cute characters for his merchandise in response. In 1973 the company was officially established under the name "Sanrio". The company's European website says the name comes from the Spanish words san (holy) and río (river.) The book korega Sanrio no himitsu desu (これがサンリオの秘密です?) or This is the Sanrio Company Secret gives another origin of the name. According to this book, Tsuji, Sanrio's founder, said that Yamanashi (山梨?), part of the company's former name, has an alternative on'yomi reading of sanri. The remaining o was added from the ou (オウ?) sound people make when they are excited.