Well Hell-O Kitty! The pink kitty-cat whose face launched 10 thousand cutsie-pie knick-knacks is going from frivolous fluff to serious stuff, co-chairing the 2009 J-POP SUMMIT Festival next weekend. Hello Kitty will attend the tape cutting ceremony for the grand opening of NEW PEOPLE, the new Japantown complex serving all your Japanese pop culture needs.

Hello Kitty is hands-down the patron saint of kawaii, which, for those out of the J-pop loop, translates to "cuteness" in Japanese. The fetishization of cuteness is both on display and on sale at NEW PEOPLE. The mall movie house is run by VIZ Pictures, a local film distributor that focuses on "kawaii and cool" J- pop culture, and the soon-to-open NEW PEOPLE store “6%DOKIDOKI” stands by its motto: “Sugar-coated anarchy!”  It promises to “send you on a happy rebellion into the depths of all that is kawaii and girl–culture."

At Saturday’s J-POP Festival, the store will sponsor a "Kawaii Make-Over Pageant," a Kawaii fashion contest and, at Yoshi's, a Japan Nite Special Girls Rock Explosion featuring hot, hot, hot Japanese girl-bands.

Meow to all this.