Tama Center is the central area of Tama Newtown in Tokyo Metropolis. It was jointly developed by the central and metropolitan governments to solve the explosion of the urban population in the 1960s. The current population of the newtown area is nearly 200,000. Three railways, namely Keio, Odakyu and Tama Monorail, pull into Tama Center Station. A total of 140,000 passengers use this station every day.
Tama Center is also known as the nearest station to Sanrio Puroland, which is an indoor theme park operated by Sanrio Entertainment Company. Many kids, mainly girls, visit this dream world to meet with famous mascots such as "Hello-Kitty" on weekends. So, the railway companies can produce a precious income by transporting passengers to and from Sanrio Puroland.
On February 24th, Keio and Sanrio jointly made a press release announcing that the Keio Tama Center Station will be renovated to become a "welcome station" to Sanrio Puroland by this summer. Needless to say, the purpose of the renovation is to promote tourism to Sanrio Puroland. The station facilities are being gradually ornamented by Sanrio mascots.
For instance, the station name plates have been replaced by the special ones with Sanrio mascots. The station clocks have also been replaced by lovely ones with Hello-Kitty. The other facilities, such as elevators, automatic ticket vending machines, automatic ticket gates, platform floors and pillars are also being changed to the special ones.
Keio Tama Center... it is a gateway station to the dream world.
Official information about renovated Keio Tama Center Station (in Japanese):