TOKYO EATS: Sanrio Puroland
Dear Foodie Fam,
Let me tell you all about the cutest place on Earth.
My Sanrio Fandom History
I’d been so excited anticipating this trip to Sanrio Land. I don’t think that would surprise anyone I know.
Ever since I could remember, I was in love with Sanrio characters. My mom loved Hello Kitty since she was in high school and intentionally fed me the Kitty. I remember her Twin Stars address book she had since college- the thing was falling apart so much, I didn’t even think it was a book (more like a small folder).
Some of my oldest stuffed animals, doll house sets, hair accessories, music boxes and even birthday cakes were Hello Kitty and My Melody themed. I wore a Spottie Dottie shirt to my first day of school and many of my supplies featured Sanrio characters.
My first clipboard was Hello Kitty themed and had a red clasp. My brother’s was a Keroppi clipboard with a green clasp. My favorite cup to drink from was glittery Hello Kitty and my brother’s was glittery Keroppi.
My favorite gifts came wrapped in Sanrio characters neighborhood themed wrapping paper with the little free gift taped on. I even knew the candy scent of that wrapping paper!
I won all the coloring contests held at my local Sanrio store, too.
In middle school, all the coolest girls had Sanrio stuff. I enjoyed Badtz Maru and Pochacco stuff because I was truly a tomboy and when I was able to pick my stuff out for myself, that’s who I gravitated to.
In college, I dabbled in illustration and Sanrio was still my major muse. Upon graduation, I even applied to their headquarters in Pasadena.
In that train in Japan, the closer we got to suburban Tama, the more I swam in these memories. The train car was filling with happy golden morning light and stroller-ed children handled by already flustered parents. We were exhausted after spending the night in Golden Gai, partying the night before. Dutch took full responsibility (as he does even when I’m not sleepy) of navigation.
Getting There
Tama is a suburb of Tokyo, about an hour and six minutes from the city by train and 35 minutes by car. The nearest station to Sanrio Land is the Tama Center Station. All three of the closest stations are served by the Tama Toshi Monorail line. To go from Tokyo to Tama, one uses a Keio Sagamihara line.
Once leaving the train, we were immersed in Sanrio love. I was spellbound. Tama has fully thrown itself into the world of Sanrio. The train station is completely decked out in Sanrio themes and characters. All along the short walk from the train, there’s big inflated characters in shopping centers. A large hotel nearby has Hello Kitty signage.
Sanrio Puroland
Sanrio Puroland is an indoor multi-story theme park- more like a huge mall than a traditional theme park.
Walking through the complex, I saw mostly kids under like 4 feet tall and their parents. Another large part of the crowd seems to be teenage and college aged girls donning kawaii, pastel or soft goth outfits and equipped with ever-ready smart phones..
Much like mouse ears are in Disneyland, people pick out, buy and wear a character-themed headband.
Though she’s not my favorite Sanrio character, I chose to wear a Kuromi headband (the evil rival to My Melody, one of my faves) because I’m known by close friends to be a bit dark and a kawaii-loving.
We went on Cinnamoroll’s 15th birthday and close to Christmas. The park entryway was charmingly adorned with Christmas decorations. Every single worker was wearing frilly, doll-like uniforms and they seemed to be smiling (including the omelette line cooks at the cafeteria).
Walking into the theme park and looking around… we knew we couldn’t walk more than 20 feet at a time without taking some sort of selfie.
Info on the Park
There’s four zones for major characters in Sanrio Land. Each zone has a walk through of rooms and scenes brimming with delightfully cute little interactive screens and small games. Every corner seems crammed with photo opps waiting to happen. There’s little vignettes where each character might be exploring different themes (like cooking, having tea, bathing or playing the piano) and ridiculously kawaii props.
There’s a huge gift store in Sanrio Land but if you are a big fan of one of the four characters mentioned below, the character specialized stores at each character’s zone have great stuff.
The characters represented in their own zones are:
Hello Kitty (duh): It’s like a super pink Victorian mansion! This area has so many little stations and such a long line of fans that staff meters in controlled groups of people at a time. At the end of the hall, you take a photo with the Kitty, herself! It’s free!
My Melody: This area has a little boat ride that is 10 minutes long. Sweet and spring-like. The wait for this line is INCREDIBLE. We didn’t go on the ride because I didn’t realize it would be so good for any age.
The Little Twinstars (Kiki and Lala): Dreamy, pastel, neon and starry. Even a bit unintentionally vapor-wave. This area has so many little stations, staff meters in groups of people at a time.
Gudetama: It’s pretty funny, here. Lots of visual jokes and a few larger photo opp stations. There’s more games than at any of the other zones because Gudetama was made for older kids (like me?). This area has a definite entrance and is like it’s own world within a world.
There’s a few rides at Sanrio Puroland. The lines for these rides are pretty long.
At the center of the ground floor, you can find an indoor “courtyard” stage made to look like a forested clearing with tree houses and foot bridges (no, not real rope ones). This is a nice place to sit and hang out because of all the little nooks. At the center of this area is a towering (fake) tree called the Wisdom Tree that houses the Hello Kitty Bell of Happiness (you ring it to make wishes). Character entertainment is held here in the form of shows and parades. Mascots come out, sing and dance for the audience sitting all around. If you miss the shows, catch the scheduled mascot sightings around the theme park and in the Character Cafeteria.
Eateries
Tips:
Do not eat at noon. All the spaces are full!
You can keep bento boxes or cups that the food comes in.
Know what each restaurant/eatery is known for before picking which food line you want to stand in. Lines can be long.
Know you will want ALL THE FOOD.
There are some English speaking employees.
Character Food Court:
Geared towards younger children. You can score the most character-modeled pasta and curry, here. The Sanrio character mascots can be spotted here and often sing for the kids.
Cinnamoroll Dream Cafe:
This is what the staff call the most “instaworthy” or “kawaii” eatery of the bunch. It’s all pastel kawaii and has lots of desserts! There’s lots of sweets: puddings, puffs, drinks and kawaii food that come in themed containers you can bring home.
Restaurant Yakata:
If you’re super hungry, this is the buffet. Lines are the longest for this eatery. I have no idea whether the food is character-themed but I guess they’d have to be.
Sanrio Rainbow World Restaurant:
This is like a food court with seven seating zones divided by characters and colors. The colore are: purple (Little Twin Stars), blue (Cinnamoroll), green (Keroppi), yellow (Pompompurin), orange (Gudetama), pink (My Melody) and red (Hello Kitty). There’s different lines for different counters. Each counter has a different menu which may feature pasta, omurice and desserts.
Our Food Adventure at Sanrio Rainbow World Restaurant
We chose to eat at the Sanrio Rainbow World Restaurant.
This eatery is large and has lots of seating and menus to pick from. Every counter has a different menu. The dishes might not all be the cutest or most delicious in the park, but it’s still surprisingly good and filling. You can get curries, omurice, crepes and drinks, here
You can even get alcohol and drink it from a themed plastic cup.
The walls in this cafeteria/food court are really fun because they’re covered with art pertaining to the character of your choice.
We chose to sit and eat at the Gudetama section while we had coffee and a crepe. The walls at the Gudetama section were orange and yellow. Gudetama was all over this wall, being lazy on all kinds of food.
Here’s what we had:
Lunchbox Meal: This meal came in a little red plastic lunchbox. Purchasing the meal also meant I got to keep the cute lunchbox! It’s actually pretty sturdy and today, it holds colored pencils at my desk. Inside, I was given a burger with no cheese. It had a white Cinnamoroll bun (because it was his anniversary). It came with crispy fries, crunchy chicken nuggets and a Cinnamoroll pudding. It smelled like McDonalds! I would say it’s the size of a pretty big meal for a kid and a just satisfying meal for an adult.
Chashumen: This is a ramen bowl that has fatty slices of roasted or braised pork. Lots of ramen bowls in Japan already have chashu but chashumen has more than the usual amount. Thanks to all that fatty maat, this was a very satisfying ramen bowl. The egg in this big bowl had a little face on it… meaning this was a form of Gudetama that has been cooked! Eek!
Omurice (オムライス Omu-raisu): This is a Western-influenced (yoshoku) comfort food often made at homes. This dish is definitely popular with kids (whose moms make them at home, no doubt) and I’m guessing that’s why it’s served at Puroland. It’s basically a fried rice-stuffed omelette with sauce and/or gravies on top. Traditionally, the sauce is ketchup. In this dish, the omurice was covered in delicious white and brown locomoco-esque gravy. It also came with shrimp and beef. This dish is definitely comforting and filling. I would love to learn how to make this at home.
Strawberry My Melody Crepe: Japanese crepes have an unknown European origin but were definitely popularized in Harajuku in the '70s as street food. In Japan, crepes are wrapped in paper like a cone so it's easy to eat on the go. (Lots of Japanese food is made in easy-to-grab forms. Crepe vendors usually target young female customers (just as Sanrio does) and open locations near shopping centers. Sweet crepes are more popular than savory. They can have cream (nama kurimu), seasonal fruit, icecream, pieces of cake, syrups. Savory crepes can have cheese+spinach base, fish, Japanese mayonnaise or curry. FACT: I like savory crepes more than sweet!
So that’s what we ate in Puroland! I obviously had a blast and despite how the photo above looked, Dutch had a good time being my handsome, camera-toting chaperone keeping me in line the whole way through! I would love to go back, someday… try more food! …And maybe by then, I will be bringing my own children with me.
