In fact, “Lilo & Stitch” has been so popular even in Japan that the series has been localized — with a Japanese girl named Yuna in place of Lilo and Okinawa replacing the Hawaiian setting.

而且《星际宝贝》在日本也取得了巨大成功，甚至在日本播出的动画剧集把主人公换成了日本女孩尤娜（Yuna），故事背景也换成了冲绳，以迎合本土观众。

Sanrio’s designers are also told to aim their new characters at children in elementary school or younger — even if much of the marketing, especially in Japan, will be aimed at older consumers. When younger children embrace a character, many tend to remain fans even later in life, said Miyuki Okumura, the lead designer behind the Jewelpet series. “If a character captures the heart of a little girl, she’s going to love that character into her teens, at least,” Ms. Okumura said. “Then when she has children, she’ll again buy that character for them,” she said. “That’s what we’re aiming for.”

Sanrio要求设计师们将受众集中在小学生甚至更低龄儿童身上——尽管日本的主要消费群体比他们要年长。宝石宠物系列的首席设计师奥村美雪（Miyuki Orumura）认为，年幼的孩子如果喜欢某个卡通形象，以后也会一直喜欢下去。“如果一个人小女孩的时候喜欢上某个卡通形象，她至少直到少女时代也会对这个形象厚爱有加的。”奥村说道，“等她有了孩子，她还会给自己的孩子买同样的卡通产品，而这正是我们所希望的。”