As we approach March, we are slowly coming to the realization
that we only have one year left here in Japan.
We have been creating a mental list of all the places we still need to
go and things we still need to do and experience. Living in Japan is a once in a lifetime
experience and we want to make sure we take full advantage of this time to
explore. On the top of my short list was
Sanrio Puroland – land of Hello Kitty and her adorable friends.
Before I go on, I should mention that it is Bern writing
this blog entry. Though I’m sure Mark
felt the exact same excitement I felt coming to the motherland of all things
Sanrio.
Sanrio Puroland is an indoor theme park that technically has
4 floors- but really only 2 floors of attractions. From the moment the building appeared outside
the window of our ITT bus, you can easily guess what was in store for us….
Cuteness overload!!!
The Cariaga’s also went on this tour – so I was happy that
Mark had some boys around to offset all the girliness. My O-dub, Kristine, and I could not get over
how kawaii everything was!
As you can guess… the interior was just too cute for words. So I won’t even try.
The first ride we went on was the Sanrio Character Boat
Ride. It displayed most of the Sanrio
Characters in a “Small World” type boat ride.
The classics were all present, such as Kerokerokeroppi and Pochacco. But, we were also introduced to some new
characters, such as Cinnamoroll and Purin. We were somewhat confused with the
Badtz-maru display. Apparently, he was a
very, very bad penguin and deserved a spanking.
It is the 40th anniversary of the creation of
Kiki and his older twin sister Lala aka Little Twin Stars. There were plenty of photo opportunities. You can just see the excitement oozing out of
Mark.
After we watched a show at the Discovery Theater –which was
in Japanese, but still very entertaining, we were getting hungry. There were several restaurants to choose
from, but we decided to eat at the Food Machine Restaurant since it had
something for everyone. It was a
cafeteria style restaurant, where you just grab what you want and pay at the
end. The food, as you can guess, what
also so darn cute. I ate the chicken and
croquettes and Mark had the pork tonkatsu.
Mark even got to drink his Sapporo Beer from a cutesy Sanrio Character
cup.
Afterwards, we decided to stop by and visit Lady Kitty
House, the actual home of Hello Kitty.
Her living room furniture was made up of teddy bear lined couches. It felt very weird to sit on them. There was even a Japanese styled tatami
room...of course you would need to remove your shoes before entering. As you exit her house, you get to visit and
take a photo with her. I didn’t buy the photo, but Mark took this pic
of me bear hugging Hello Kitty with all my might.
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It also is the 40th anniversary of the My Melody
character. Apparently, there has been
resurgence in her popularity and she is making a comeback with all her
available merchandise. There was a cute
My Melody Dream Café if you needed a quick pick me up. It reminded me of the Hello Kitty Café in
Odaiba.
The last attraction we went on was “My Melody and Kuromi
Mymeroad Drive”. For those of you that
don’t know (like me), Kuromi is My Melody’s rival. You often see her wearing a black jester’s
hat. As for the ride… Pictures were taken at each and every section starting
within the first 5 seconds of the ride. We
didn’t understand why at first but then at the end we saw kiosks and we were
able to pick and choose the pictures and make a collage- similar to the fancy
photo booths here in Japan.
Going to Sanrio Puroland was definitely worth it. I mean… there
is NO other Sanrio Puroland in the world.
We are living in Japan - we need to see where it all began. It’s a worldwide phenomenon that transcends every
age group. I didn’t get to see my
favorite character, Zashikibuta – but there were more than enough cute
characters all around the park. There
were so many awesome places to take pictures.
Even the vending machines and high chairs were all decked out hello
kitty style. I’m so glad we went. Sometimes, I still can’t believe we live
here!
Now that that is crossed off our list…onto the next
adventure! Maybe, I’ll let Mark choose
the next one.
