Who doesn’t love noodles? Who doesn’t know instant noodles? Moreover, who haven’t try cup noodles? Imagine eating it in this rainy season, so warm and yummy! But, how many of you know the story behind this magic cup of instant ramen? Yokohama Cupnoodles Museum will tell you all..
Yokohama Cupnoodles Museum (yes, without space in between “cup” and “noodles”)
In Indonesia, there is one brand that is very popular for its instant and cup noodles. In Japan, there are so many brands and, to be honest, we don’t really pay much attention to the popular one. But judging from this museum, Nissin it is. Yes, this museum is dedicated to the CEO of Nissin Food Products who invented instant noodles (in 1958) and cupnoodles (in 1971).
display of instant and cup noodle packages from all over the world. there is a big room with thousands of packages that shows the evolution of instant ramen
Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant noodles and cupnoodles. thank you sir, you have saved our lives in many cases of emergency 🙂
This museum presents you with the whole history of ramen. There is a short movie played in Momofuku Theater that will tell you the story of him founding the cupnoodles in a fun way and -most importantly- multi-language. They also replicated the work shed where Momofuku Ando-san invented the world’s first instant ramen.
a small place that witnessed and supported Momofuku Ando’s hardwork
shall we celebrate it from now on?
Beyond explaining the history, this museum allows you to be creative. In its second floor, there is a place called Creative Thinking Boxes to let you into Ando-san’s creative thinking process. Uumm.. I actually did not really get it, but basically this part of the museum is fun and stimulates you to think out of the box, despite its name.
In the third floor, there is My Cupnoodles Factory, the most popular place for the visitors because they can create their own original cupnoodles here. Information from the website is very clear, so please have a look. When you buy the museum ticket, you will be asked whether you want to make your own cupnoodles. If so, the reception will hand you the ticket with a time slot for you to come to the factory. You don’t have to pay the participation fee here, the participation fee is for buying the cupnoodles from the vending machine once you enter the factory.
We did not make our own cupnoodles because it’s too bulky for us and we are not gonna keep or eat it, anyway. Although we can choose our own topping, we knew that there is no halal certification at all. So, better to skip it. If you want to eat noodles here, just go to the fourth floor where the Nooldes Bazaar is located. They have Indonesian and Malaysian noodles stalls, yeay!
For us, this museum is quite fun but it is more suitable for kids and family. If you have kids, we highly recommend you to visit this museum while you are in Yokohama. If your kids can understand Japanese, they can also participate in Chicken Ramen Factory so they can learn how to make instant ramen.
For adults, you may probably spent less than one hour in this museum just to learn the history and stimulates yourself with great ideas (if you have any. In our case, we didn’t :p). Instead, we recommend you to spent more time to visit Ramen Museum in Shin-Yokohama and have ramen festival there.
What: CUPNOODLES Museum [website]
Where: 2-3-4 Shinko, Naka-ku, Yokohama 231-0001 Japan [map]
How to go: Walking distance from Yokohama Landmark [access]
How much: ¥500 for adults, free for children up to high-school ages
Intergalactic Yeah! 