Japan: Sanrio Puroland

Sanrio Puroland (サンリオピューロランド) is an indoor theme park in Tama Center, Tokyo that features Hello Kitty and related characters.

Tama Center is the heart of Tama New Town, a residential development about 20km west of the centre of Tokyo, and easily accesible through a Keio Railways line. A magical place is located at Tama Center: the wonderful Sanrio Puroland.

The theme park is run by the Sanrio company, and hosts various musicals, restaurants, attractions, and theme rides using popular characters such as Hello Kitty, My Melody, Cinnamoroll, Pochacco and many more.

I paticularly enjoyed the live shows, especially the Hello Kitty version of the Nutcracker, featuring Hello Kitty with her family, being presented with a toy nutcracker soldier. She falls asleep, and dreams the nutcracker soldier has become alive. But suddenly rats on motorcycles appear. Will the Nutcracker Soldier save the day?

Just when I thought the show was over, the show segues into a cabaret performance with everyone wearing pink!

We stayed till the afternoon parade, which revolves around a story of two kids lost in an alternate universe, but they were able to return home provided they believed in Hello Kitty. All of Sanrio’s characters came out for the parade.