A visit to Sanrio Puroland

By Mark Frauenfelder at 11:02 am Friday, Jul 21

Dan Howard says: "My pal Charlotte and her partner went to Tokyo's Sanrio Puroland, and made a video of exactly the stuff I would want to document -- the weird stage shows, Hello Kitty's house, and, most importantly, the most freakishly over-themed restroom you'll ever see."

Like all themeparks, it is both crappy and great. We pick a day when we know that it’ll be dead and quiet and we work our way through a series of over-designed shows that feature Hello Kitty and her pals vanquishing various forces of evil, sitting amongst impassive audiences who are urged “Let’s Dancing!!” by overexcited performers. We hug various people (Men? Women? Children? Who knows) dressed in furry Sanrio mascot suits. We eat a Hello Kitty bun. We visit Kitty’s house, where everything is shaped like her head. We nod and smile and bow at female Sanrio staffers who talk to everybody in creepy baby voices.

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