Sojitz Group company Sojitz Foods Corporation ( Head office : Akasaka, Minato- ku, Tokyo ; President : Yoshikazu Funakoshi ) has signed a character license agreement with Sanrio Co., Ltd. for use of its Hello Kitty character and to develop a series of commercial Hello Kitty frozen food snacks. The first of the series, 'Hello Kitty Mini Taiyaki' (stuffed with bean paste) will be available for sale at frozen food sections of leading mass merchandisers nationwide from the first of December. A custard cream-stuffed Mini Taiyaki will be added to the series in the middle of January 2007, and Sojitz Foods aims to achieve sales of 200 million yen in the first year.

'Hello Kitty Mini Taiyaki', which are very sweet to look at, are fish-shaped pancakes with the Hello Kitty character molded onto their surfaces. Each pancake is carefully hand-baked one by one. This new product uses wheat-germ and as little additives as possible, and is therefore a suitable snack for children. Sojitz Foods will undertake the sale of the Hello Kitty snack series beginning with the Mini Taiyaki and, within the next year, has plans to launch a string of products such as sweet potatoes, waffles and Takoyaki (Octopus balls).

Hello Kitty Mini Taiyaki (stuffed with bean paste) 6 servings per pack / ¥320 (before-tax price)

Hello Kitty Mini Taiyaki (stuffed with custard cream) 6 servings per pack / ¥320 (before-tax price)

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