Hi all,

My daughter and I will be in Tokyo briefly in September and she is determined to visit Sanrio Puroland. Can anyone recommend a hotel in the vicinity? I believe it's in the Shinjuku district. I saw Keio Plaza Hotel on a map for Sanrio, but don't know anything else about it. Is it a good hotel?

Help!

Flyingmama

This sounds like a lot of fun for your daughter

There is indeed a Keio Plaza hotel in Shinjuku, which was affiliated with Intercontinental hotels until last year, but the Keio Plaza on the Sanrio map is in Tama city, as is Sanrio Puroland.

Tama is a suburb of Tokyo, about half an hour out of Shinjuku on one of the Keio train lines. Unless visiting Sanrio Puroland is the main purpose of your stay in Japan, it might be a better idea to stay in Tokyo proper, Shinjuku being one option.

Or stay at the Tama Keio Plaza for one night; just walking along the Tama river and strolling the small streets will give you a totally different, and perhaps more human, impression of Japan than would a standard stay in Tokyo. From late spring to early fall, the vegetation along the river banks is especially lush, something I enjoyed very much on my regular bike rides during my four years living downriver.

I haven't been to this particular Keio Plaza hotel, but the Keio hotels are of a good standard. They may also be heavily booked most weekends, as most city hotels nice enough to host weddings are in Japan.

The way you describe it, Tama City sounds lovely! I can't wait to get there. And since the whole point is to visit Sanrio Puroland, the Keio Plaza hotel would work out perfectly. According to the map on the Sanrio website, the hotel is just a few blocks away. We'll be there mid-week, so bumping up against weddings may not be too much of a problem.

I have to admit I'm dreading just what my daughter is going to find at Sanrio Puroland to add to her mushrooming Hello Kitty collection. She's already got the Hello Kitty TV, and I thought that was pushing it!

Flyingmama

I have a sister with the same addiction

Tama City may have too many concrete apartment blocks to be charming, but itself and some of the single home areas up and down the river afford a representative view of life in suburban Japan.

I personally like to get such glimpses in countries I visit, aside from the major tourist attractions. In Japan, this could mean carps in a small roadside stream, a simple bamboo fence, a lovingly wrapped pine tree, friendly cartoonish neighborhood road signs, children with reversible hats (so a class can be split into two teams during sports), an encounter with a curious but polite Japanese cat, etc. Little details which make for pleasurable memories.