Hello Kitty firm apologises, scraps Japan TV tie-up after China anger

Sanrio, the Japanese company that owns the popular Hello Kitty character, apologised Thursday over its tie-up with a TV spy drama criticised as anti-China, cancelling a merchandise collaboration with the show.

It comes after Chinese sponsors dropped football superstar Kylian Mbappe over comments calling communist leader Mao Zedong a "dictator", which the Real Madrid forward later apologised for.

"We have recently received feedback from various quarters regarding the collaborative merchandise with the Japanese television drama VIVANT," Sanrio's Chinese unit said on social media platform Weibo.

"We sincerely apologise for any concern this may have caused," the post said.

The project "contains expressions that are inconsistent with the Sanrio Group's corporate philosophy", it said.

Sanrio said it had "decided to cease this collaboration, as well as all subsequent projects and promotional campaigns".

In one episode of the TV drama, a Chinese-affiliated organisation had been depicted torturing a member of the Japanese military's unofficial spy unit.

Chinese state media outlet The Global Times had called the show "notorious for smearing China", saying it had sparked shock and fierce backlash on social media".

The series reflects the "anti-China narrative of the current conservative Japanese right-wing administration, catering to the trend of right-wing extremism in Japanese society", it said.

Contacted by AFP, private broadcaster TBS, which created the drama Vivant, could not immediately comment.

The network's president told Japanese media that the drama is "a fictional entertainment work" and that TBS "does not in any way take a position that foments conflict between nations or condones the use of force or violence".