HISTORY
In April of 1975, Sanrio Communication Times launched it's very first issue of Ichigo Shimbun. only costing 100 yen and featuring the American cartoon dog Snoopy.
The item appearing on the cover was an extremely popular Snoopy plush produced by Sanrio, who was one of the first Japanese companies to initially license overseas characters.
In 1982, Ichigo shifted from bimonthly issues to monthly issues, and continues to publish tie-in character related publications, such as activities, merchandise announcements, manga, crafts, recipes and even sheet music and dancing instructions.
The readers of Ichigo, simply known as Ichigo Mates were also able to vote on character designs and name characters, and vote in popularity contests. Several characters earned their names via Ichigo, including My Sweet Piano and Little Twin Stars; and several characters were chosen by Ichigo Mates to be created, including Hoshinowaguma and Cinnamoroll.
As of 2025, Ichigo continues to be published once a month for only 200 yen, almost all issues featuring a poster and some kind of freebie appendix item. Sanrio prints 100,000 copies per issue and they are sold at various Sanrio stores around Japan.
TRIVIA
1. Cinnamoroll was simply known as Baby Cinnamon during his initial 2001 contest apperance and during his 2002 debut.
2. An English/overseas version of Ichigo was published in the early 90's known as A La Mode and were sold for $1.50 USD.
3. Sanrio Character Rankings have been going on since 1986! (38 years)! However, they did start in the 1975 as the "Sanrio Character Popularity Contest" and ran until around 1981.
SOURCES
