About Sanrio

Philosophy

みんな “nakayoku”

— The meaning of this phrase is “Getting Along Together” in English.
みんな (minna) means “all of us”, and nakayoku means “friendship”

Everyone wants to be happy.
It is a fundamental human desire. But what is true happiness?

No one can live in isolation. We can only survive with the support of others, including our parents, children, siblings, spouses, friends, and loved ones as well as colleagues at school, work, and around the world. To believe in and live in harmony with those we share our lives with—is this not true happiness?

To understand and get along with the people with whom we share our lives, it is important to trust, respect, and love each other. To communicate these feelings is the philosophy that guides Sanrio.

Since its founding in 1960, Sanrio has applied our philosophy to all that we do, including the planning and sale of gifts and greeting cards, the editing and printing of publications and the Strawberry Newspaper, and our theme park business. Through these endeavors, we aim to be in the business of sharing and communicating love.

Inspired by our vision of “One World, Connecting Smiles”, we aim to achieve our corporate philosophy of "everyone getting along together”, by creating smiles one person at a time and spreading the circle of happiness even further afield.

We want as many people as possible to feel the joy of knowing they have someone they can talk heart-to-heart with, regardless of whether they are happy, sad, or in pain.

These concepts are at the cornerstone of everything we do.

Top Message

I would like to extend to you my heartfelt appreciation for your ongoing support of Sanrio and our characters over the years.

Under the corporate philosophy of みんなnakayoku (The meaning of this phrase is “Getting Along Together” in English.　みんな (minna) means “all of us”, and nakayoku means “friendship”), which has guided our company since its inception, our greatest desire is to connect people. Over the course of our history, we have grown thanks to the various characters we have created and our stores and global licensing business which leverage these characters. We must not allow ourselves to only follow what we know, however, but evolve our business to meet the needs of the times.

We will constantly seek reform in all business models, initiate structural reforms where necessary, develop new innovative businesses, and constantly strive to evolve as a global entertainment company so as not to be left behind by the current trends.

In 2021 we established the new vision, One World, Connecting Smiles. This vision refers to our corporate philosophy of "everyone getting along together in harmony”, which we aim to achieve by creating smiles one person at a time and spreading the circle of happiness even further afield.

We believe that the means to achieving this vision is through the entertainment that we create.

Due to a variety of factors, changes are taking place around the world, and conventional wisdom no longer always applies―the entertainment industry is no exception. Though the essence of entertainment remains unchanged, how we experience entertainment, including purchasing behaviors and touchpoints in the customer experience, are changing dramatically.

We at Sanrio are committed to keeping up with the times and staying ahead of the curve in all aspects of our business: in store development, products, design, and licensing, as well as customer experiences.

Sanrio adds new value to entertainment and envisions the next generation of fun and joy being co-created by everyone.

As a business, we will continue to make bold and innovative changes, while remaining true to our original corporate philosophy. Even in times of global uncertainty, Sanrio will persevere to be a company that helps people around the world live in harmony, and continue to create moments of smiles, peace, and happiness for all people.

Tomokuni Tsuji
Sanrio President and CEO

Message from the founder

Let us create a culture of peace along the banks of a river.

The company name, Sanrio, is derived from the Spanish words San Rio, which literally mean “Saint River” in English. San meaning “Saint” just like in the place names San Francisco and San Diego, and Rio meaning “River”, as in the names of riverside cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande. So, the name Sanrio literally means “Saint River” or sacred river.

With this in mind, Sanrio was established with the desire to build a peaceful culture on the riverbanks, where it’s said that humans first began to make homes for themselves. The hope was to create a community of people who could live in harmony and with consideration for each other.

By providing a variety of social, communication and gift products, including greeting cards, music, videos, books, and live entertainment to foster friendship, we hope to expand the circle of friendship and goodwill to every corner of the globe like the water that flows through the world’s rivers.

Shintaro Tsuji
Sanrio Founder and Honorary Chairman


sanrio Websites

Sanrio Japan
Sanrio do Brasil
Sanrio Europe
Sanrio Shanghai
Sanrio Taiwan
Sanrio Hong Kong
Sanrio Korea
Sanrio Southeast Asia