This Japanese Man Has the Largest Hello Kitty Collection in the World!

Most of us have this one friend who is fascinated, if not obsessed with Hello Kitty. She’s probably the type who spends serious cash buying every Hello Kitty merchandise ever sold. She plans to go to Japan (where Hello Kitty originated) to hoard stuff. Her room is a shrine to Hello Kitty or if she’s REALLY obsessed, her entire home is homage to the most famous cat in the world.

Now this person has all the above qualities, except that this individual is MALE and actually lives in Japan, which gives him access to the best of the best Hello Kitty merchandise. He has amassed more than 5,000 Hello Kitty memorabilia which earned him a Guinness World Record for the largest collection of this variety.

Meet Masao Gunji, who lives in Yotsukaido in Chiba, Japan.

He has been collecting stuff for more than 35 years.

He has Hello Kitty stuffed toys, stationery, plushies, towels, clocks…you name it. He even has Hello Kitty motorcycle helmets and kitchenware!

He lives in a pink home done with Hello Kitty wallpaper.

In case you’re imagining that Masao is gay because of his unusually feminine fascination, you would be surprised to know that he is a married guy and looks just like any other straight man in Japan.

Guinness produced a video showing a representative award a certificate to Masao for being a record-holder.

He also shows off his massive collection; his house looks like a well-supplied Hello Kitty store!

So why is this guy SO into Hello Kitty?

“The reason I like Hello Kitty is because of her expression,” says Gunji . “For some reason, when I’m sad, she looks a little bit sad as well, and when I am happy she looks happy.”

It’s not a surprise that his house attracts visitors all the time.

“My neighbors enjoy visiting this house. I can see they enjoy relaxing here.”

They say that behind every successful man is a supportive wife and this is especially true in Gunji’s case.

His wife helps him collect the stuff and buys Hello Kitty stuff whenever she could.

The previous record-holder was also from Japan. Asako Kanda had 4,519 Hello Kitty goods in his possession.