Shintaro Tsuji is the founder of Sanrio and he continues to work at the company to this day despite being age 97 as of February 2025. Its slogan is "Small gift, big smile". According to Shintaro himself, the purpose of Sanrio's founding is to create a peaceful culture and to help people befriend each other. He was inspired to start the now-beloved company after experiencing the hardships of war at the time.