Japan Day 14 & 15: Sanrio Puroland, a Lost Phone and a Much-Needed Day Off

Day 14 of our Japan trip was supposed to be a fun, very kawaii day: we were going to Sanrio Puroland!

We’ve been fans of Sanrio characters for a long time, especially Kid 2 and me, so we were pretty enthusiastic about finally visiting. None of us had ever been before, and after all the Hello Kitty, My Melody, Cinnamoroll and other cute characters we had encountered throughout Japan, an entire Sanrio theme park sounded like something we had to experience.

Sanrio Puroland is quite far from central Tokyo, so it took us more than an hour to get there from our Airbnb. It was longer than most of our trips around Tokyo, but pretty straightforward, and we were still enthusiastic when we arrived.

And then we went inside.

Sanrio Puroland Was… A Lot

One big advantage of Sanrio Puroland is that it’s an indoor amusement park. In the middle of a Japanese summer, when you never quite know whether you’re going to get extreme heat or pouring rain, that is definitely a plus.

Unfortunately, being indoors also means that when the park is crowded, you really feel it.

And it was crowded.

There were people everywhere, lots of noise, and long lines for pretty much everything. Put all of that together, and it quickly became overwhelming for all three of us.

In the end, we only did one ride: the Sanrio Character Boat Ride.

Fortunately, it was a good one!

The ride was much longer than we expected, and it was really beautiful. You travel through different colourful Sanrio scenes filled with characters, and there is so much to look at along the way. Even Kid 1, who isn’t quite as enthusiastic about Sanrio as Kid 2 and me, enjoyed it.

So even though we only managed one ride during our entire visit, at least we picked a good one.

And then something extraordinary happened.

We left Sanrio Puroland without buying anything.

Yes. Really.

After almost two weeks of kawaii shopping in Japan, we walked through a Sanrio theme park and bought absolutely nothing.

Not because we’d finally reached kawaii-shopping saturation, though. The merchandise was simply quite expensive, and apparently even our love of cute things has limits!

And Then Kid 2 Realized Her Phone Was Gone

We left Puroland and got on the train back toward our Airbnb.

Sometime during the ride, Kid 2 realized that her phone wasn’t in her bag.

Cue the panic.

It was already after 5 PM, and Puroland closed at 5, so simply turning around and going back wasn’t really an option.

Fortunately, we were able to reconstruct what had happened fairly well. Kid 2 remembered having her phone throughout most of the day, including toward the end of our visit. She also remembered using the bathroom near the entrance/exit just before we left.

Her best guess was that she had left the phone there.

She was understandably distressed when she first realized it was missing, but after that initial panic, she became surprisingly calm about it.

And really, if you’re going to lose a phone somewhere while travelling, Japan is probably one of the better places to do it.

We obviously didn’t know whether anyone had found it, but there was a very good chance the phone was still at Puroland. Their website had information about lost items and mentioned going directly to their lost-and-found desk if you lost something inside the park.

There was also a phone number we could call.

Unfortunately, the phone service was in Japanese.

Our Japanese definitely wasn’t good enough to navigate that conversation, so calling wasn’t going to help much. I decided our best option was simply to go back to Puroland the following morning and ask in person.

While I was on the train trying to figure all of this out, however, I got distracted.

And we missed our stop.

Guess where we ended up?

Shinjuku Station.

Again.

Somehow, we kept ending up at the one Tokyo station where we always seemed to get lost.

It was raining. Everyone was tired. We were stressed about the missing phone. And I really didn’t feel like adding another Shinjuku Station adventure to our day.

Our Airbnb wasn’t that far away, so I decided we were done with public transportation for the evening.

Taxi!

And this time, we got the full princess treatment.

When we arrived, the taxi’s automatic door opened as usual — but because it was raining, the driver also got out and opened an umbrella for us so we could get out of the taxi without getting wet.

I absolutely did not expect that.

After the crowds, noise, lost phone, missed stop and rain, it was such a small thing, but I still remember it.

What great service!

Day 15: Back to Puroland

Our original plan for Day 15 was to explore Koenji, another Tokyo neighbourhood I had included in our itinerary mainly for wandering around and exploring.

Koenji would have to wait.

Kid 1 was perfectly happy to sleep in, while Kid 2 and I made the more-than-one-hour journey back to Sanrio Puroland.

Again.

At least this time we weren’t going for rides.

We had a very good description of the phone and knew approximately when and where Kid 2 had lost it. Once we arrived, we explained the situation to a staff member at the entrance.

And yes.

They had the phone.

We got it back!

Everyone was extremely relieved.

Japan’s reputation for lost items had come through for us.

Sometimes You Need a Day Off From Your Vacation

On our way back to the Airbnb, Kid 2 and I stopped at a supermarket and bought groceries and prepared food for the rest of the day and breakfast the following morning.

And then we stayed home.

It was so hot outside, and after travelling all the way to Puroland and back for the second day in a row, none of us had any interest in going out again.

Nobody complained about our change of plans.

So we turned on the air conditioning and had a slow afternoon.

I did some laundry, took care of a few administrative things and prepared for the next day. The girls got to rest.

We had already been travelling for more than two weeks, and even on our “normal” sightseeing days — not counting amusement park days — we usually walked somewhere between 5 and 10 kilometres a day.

So although we had originally planned to explore Koenji, nobody complained about spending the rest of the day at the Airbnb. Between the trip back to Puroland that morning, the heat and more than two weeks of exploring Japan, a slow afternoon was exactly what we needed.

Sometimes the itinerary just needs to change.

Coming Next

After our unexpected pause, we were rested and ready for another Tokyo adventure. And the next day would take us somewhere completely different.