Cupnoodles Museum Yokohama

 

I'm sure no one's a stranger to cup noodles. Though they now come in all sorts of flavors and packaging, the original cup noodles are the ones by Nissin, invented by Ando Momofuku (founder of Nissin) in 1971. Anyway, if you're ever in Yokohama, check out the Cupnoodles Museum! 

 

Only recently opened 2 years ago, the museum is dedicated to cup noodles and the spirit of invention. Conveniently located in the Minatomirai area, you can learn about the history of cup noodles, instant noodles and even try your hand at making them ♡ You can also concoct your own flavor of cup noodles!

 

Walls and walls of the various types of Nissin noodles and cup noodles.
Ando Momofuku invented instant noodles in 1958 when he was 48,
cup noodles in 1971 when he was 61,
and Space Ram (instant noodles for outer space) in 2006 when he was 95! 

My "Delicious Seafood Flavor"~ ♡
If you're short on time but still want an original souvenir,
you can concoct your own flavor of cup noodles for 300yen!
It takes less than 15minutes, and the helping of toppings is very generous. ♡

You can also design the exterior of the cup.

 

Choose from 4 soup bases: seafood, curry, chicken and...I forgot^^
Then you get to choose up to 4 toppings to add in.
I chose shrimp, crab stick, fishcake and spring onions.
The fishcake is imprinted with cute chicks!

 

Then you pack it in an inflatable bag to sling over your shoulder and carry around~
Apparently it's a very common activity for couples when they come to Yokohama,
saw many of them carrying these and walking around Minatomirai.

The cup noodle mascot!

 

If you have more time on your hands, another fun hands-on activity you can try out is making your own chicken ramen, which takes about 45 minutes.

 

You get to make it from scratch, starting from the flour and oil!
Mix and knead until it becomes dough, then roll to flatten.

 

Then comes the tiring part, putting the dough through this machine to flatten it evenly.
Done by manually rotating the handles...many tens of times. Just keep rotating and rotating...

 

And the finished product!
You get to design the packaging too!

 

For children, on the upper level there's a Cup Noodles Park.

 

It's basically a playground/play area where kids can "experience" being a piece of noodle in a factory line.
Sadly I didn't get to try it because only kids were allowed^^

 

Art piece in the museum.
In the mass of noodle strands, you can see words like unique, happy and creative.

 

There's also a cool light/shadows interactive display thing.
Touch the wall and shadow things appear and move about!

 

Every museum has a gift shop!

Cup noodle-shaped manjuu!

The Cupnoodles Museum is located in Minatomira in Yokohama, very near the city's other attractions. There's also an Instant Ramen Museum in Osaka (where Ando Momofuku first set up Nissin), and they have the same activities, so if you're in Osaka you can check out the one there instead~