Yumeka Oda and Momiji Nishiya at Sanrio headquarters (C) 2023 SANRIO CO., LTD.

Press Release: TOKYO, April 25, 2023 -- Sanrio Company, Ltd. headquartered in Tokyo, is pleased to announce that it has signed sponsorship agreements with Japanese female skateboarders Momiji Nishiya and Yumeka Oda, effective April 21, 2023. Through these agreements, Sanrio hopes to support young athletes in their challenges and strengthen its corporate brand in North America and other global markets.

As part of the agreements, both athletes will use decks with Hello Kitty and Sanrio logo stickers to compete in various tournaments and competitions, starting with one of the world's most prestigious, premier action sporting events, "X Games Chiba 2023" (May 12-14 in Chiba, Japan).

Momiji Nishiya - photo via Sanrio

Momiji Nishiya - Born on August 30, 2007, in Osaka, Japan. She is the first gold medalist in the TOKYO 2020 Skateboard Women's Street event. At the same time, she became the youngest Japanese skater ever to win a gold medal at the age of 13 years and 10 months. She started skateboarding at the age of 6, influenced by her older brother, and within 7 years of starting to compete, she joined the ranks of the world's top-class skaters. With the motto of "smile and have fun until the end," she has won the world's most prestigious contests such as X Games and Dew Tour, and is also eager to create video parts on street skating.

Yumeka Oda

Yumeka Oda - Born on October 30, 2006, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, she started skateboarding at the age of 7. In 2022, she represented Japan at the Pro Tour organized by World Skate. She also won in Street League Skateboarding, the most prestigious competition in the world, and scored 9.4, that is the highest score for a single trick in women's history and the first time in women's skating history to score in the 9-point range. The disappointment of missing out on TOKYO 2020 has propelled her to be one of the leading candidates of the next generation who are expected to achieve great things at the next Games.