If you think she's happy, she's happy. If you think she's sad, then she's sad.

This TIME 10 Questions for series is quite addictive to read. This one with Hello Kitty designer Yuko Yamaguchi, in particular, is a cheery break from everything dreary.

My favourites:

Why doesn't Hello Kitty have a mouth?
Sandi Saksena, Dubai
It's so that people who look at her can project their own feelings onto her face, because she has an expressionless face. Kitty looks happy when people are happy. She looks sad when they are sad. For this psychological reason, we thought she shouldn't be tied to any emotion — and that's why she doesn't have a mouth.

Hello Kitty has been with her companion, Dear Daniel, for quite some time now. What does their future hold? —Chien Tong in New York, New York
About 15 years ago, Japanese entertainers began to admit to their boyfriends and girlfriends, while before that it was a taboo because they were afraid of losing popularity. I didn't want to miss out on that, so we admitted that Daniel was her boyfriend...