Cup Noodles Museum Yokohama

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The Cup Noodles Museum (also known as the 安藤百福発明記念館, Andō Momofuku Hatsumei Kinenkan) is a fun and interactive museum in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai District that shows the history of instant ramen noodles using a combination of whimsical exhibits and hands on workshops. It was opened by the Nissin Food company, whose founder invented instant ramen noodles in 1958 as a fast and convenient food. It is the second cup noodles museum to open in Japan; the first is the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Osaka.

If you love instant ramen and want to learn much, much more about the ubiquitous snack and its inventor, Momofuku Ando, you’ve come to the right place. Walk around inside a replica of the original shed where Ando first created instant ramen back in 1958. Stroll through the “Instant Ramen History Cube” to follow the evolution of flavors and packaging in the intervening decades. Draw inspiration from, or simply be mystified by, the museum’s “Creative Thinking Box.”

Make your own Custom-made Cup Noodles

The highlight for most visitors seems to be the My Cup Noodles Factory, where you assemble and take home your own custom-made package of noodles. First, buy an empty styrofoam cup (Y300), which you can personalize with your own package design using magic markers. Select a flavor of powdered broth (your choice of four) and four freeze-dried toppings (out of twelve options), then watch as the whole thing is vacuum-packed, sealed, and presented in a balloon-like inflated plastic carrier.

The museum also has the Cup noodles Park (400 yen) children’s playground, which is modeled after a factory where kids play noodles being made and shipped out; and the entertaining Noodles Bazaar, which is a food court designed to look like an Asian night market complete with the sounds of hawkers and traffic. Eight different noodle dishes and canned drinks from around the world are served there, and small portions allow you to sample a variety of flavors at 300 yen per dish.

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