‘Hello Kitty must not dance with the far-right’ declared the Chinese newspaper Global Times in a recent editorial. This bizarre, though evocative, comment was in response to the association of Sanrio, the company behind the fictional pop icon, with a controversial Japanese TV drama Vivant. The newspaper claimed Vivant featured an ‘anti-China’ narrative. The company’s Chinese subsidiary has now severed all connections with the drama and issued a formal apology.

The second series of Vivant, which has a sort of Mission Impossible meets 24 vibe, features a scene where Chinese intelligence operatives torture a Japanese agent, cutting off his fingers. Chinese state media have alleged that this is deliberate smearing, as the forms of torture mirror those used by the Japanese in China during the second world war. To add insult to injury, Vivant appears to be a favourite of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (she says she records the show).

This is the latest in a series of offenses claimed by the Chinese against the Japanese

This is the latest in a series of offenses claimed by the Chinese against the Japanese

Sanrio was especially implicated as the company had rather gone to town on Vivant, with a big money commercial tie-up that saw a pop-up shop, and bizarre versions of Hello Kitty, and another of their menagerie of characters, My Melody, dressed as ‘spy........

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