CUPNOODLES MUSEUM
The Interactive Museum Where You Can Create Your Own Unique Cupnoodles!
by IGNITION Staff
The Momofuku Ando Memorial Museum — commonly known as the Cupnoodles Museum — was opened in September 2011, and has just celebrated its 3rd anniversary. This interactive museum was designed to teach children about the creativity and inquisitive spirit of Momofuku Ando, founder of Nissin Foods and inventor of instant noodles.
The museum attracts over one million Cupnoodle fans of all nationalities each year, with about 5% being overseas tourists. We took a trip to the museum to discover what exactly visitors can expect to experience.
Instant Noodles History Cube
Enter the museum, purchase a ticket, proceed to the 2nd floor and you will find an exhibition that gives a sense of the worldwide presence of instant noodles. The exhibition is based on the different varieties of instant noodles sold around the world, focusing on products Nissin Foods has released since they produced the world’s first instant noodles “Chicken Ramen” in 1958. There are approximately 3,100 different packages of instant noodles from around the world on display.
At present, Cupnoodles are sold in over 80 countries and regions worldwide — but how on earth did they gain such popularity to begin with? According to Nissin Foods, it is because Cupnoodles sold overseas are all produced by local subsidiaries. The packaging and taste are localized for each country, so even though the brand name remains the same, the taste and appearance of the products vary significantly.
Most recently, the company has expanded into Kenya, Morocco and Turkey, amongst others. As part of their overseas expansion plan, Nissin Foods enters markets with expected growth, even in countries where instant noodles is unheard of, and creates new flavors of Cupnoodle to suit the tastes of the local market. The “Instant Noodles History Cube” provides visitors with the opportunity to see Cupnoodles from all countries in which they are available.
The Momofuku Theater, Momofuku’s Work Shed, and The Momofuku Ando Story
As previously mentioned, the Cupnoodles Museum’s official name is “Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum”. After the “Instant Noodles History Cube”, the next exhibition you encounter is a mini movie theatre where you can watch a 14 minute CG animation on Momofuku.
The animation explores the kind of person Momofuku was, his creative through process and how he developed instant noodles. The animation is shown every 10 minutes alternating between two theatres, so if you miss one showing you won’t have to wait long to catch the next one.
After learning about the origins of instant noodles in the mini theatre, visitors proceed to an exhibition called “Momofuku’s Work Shed”, which is an accurate replica of the shed in which he did his research and development work for instant noodles. The exhibition expresses the notion that you can come up with inventions that become world famous even if you don’t have fancy tools or equipment — so long as you have originality.
It includes a 58-metre long panorama covering his legacy and the time in which he lived.
Creative Thinking Boxes
The next exhibition allows visitors to experience and understand Momofuku’s creative thought process for themselves. The exhibit breaks his thought process down into 6 “key phrases”, making it easier to understand for young and old alike.
Key Phrase #1: “Discover something completely new”
Think of things that don’t yet exist, that you would like to have. The exhibition introduces a number of his inventions born from thoughts such as “It would be great if we had X” and “it would be so convenient if Y existed”.
Key Phrase #2: “Find hints in all sorts of places”
The world around you is overflowing with the ideas for inventions. In this exhibition, visitors can learn about the origins of inventions such as water repellant umbrellas and injection needles that don’t hurt.
Key phrase #3: “Nurturing an idea”
Rather than keeping your ideas to yourself, let other people use them too. The display for this key phrase consists of a light show that reinforces the idea that we should think about industries and society as a whole, as opposed to just ourselves and our company.
Key phrase #4: “Look at things from every angle”
“Discover many different perspectives” is the message of this exhibition, which consists of a large piece of modern art with Cupnoodles as its theme. Different words appear in it depending on the angle from which it is viewed.
Key phrase #5: “Don’t just go with the status quo”
Question things that are accepted as “normal” in everyday life. This exhibit consists of an “Ames room”: looking in from the outside through a small window, it appears as though there are a number of same-sized cups of Cupnoodles on display inside. However, enter the room and you’ll discover that you were being tricked by an optical illusion.
Key phrase #6: “Never give up”
Don’t get discouraged, even in the face of failure. Under the phrase “NEVER GIVE UP” stands a cut-out of Momofuku, with a group of other well-known inventors and famous figures standing behind him.
My Cupnoodles Factory
After learning about Cupnoodles and Momofuku, you will find what is possibly the most enjoyable and certainly the most popular part of the whole museum: “My Cupnoodles Factory”. Here you can make your own, personalized one-of-a-kind Cupnoodle. Survey results show that this ranks as the most popular attraction in the museum, with over 80% of visitors choosing it as the best part of their visit.
For 300 yen (tax included) per serving, you can design your very own Cupnoodles cup, and choose the flavor of broth and toppings that go with the noodles. You can select one of four types of broth and four from twelve types of toppings, giving a total of 5,460 different possible combinations, making your Cupnoodles truly unique.
Chicken Ramen Factory
Located next to the “My Cupnoodles Factory” is the “Chicken Ramen Factory”, where you learn about the process involved in producing Chicken Ramen and make your very own from scratch. Each session takes approximately 90 minutes (booking required).
Cupnoodles Park
Continuing to the 4th floor, you will spot the giant, upside-down Cupnoodles cups of the “Cupnoodles Park”. This obstacle course designed specially for kids gives them a chance to learn about the Cupnoodles manufacturing process in a fun an interactive manner. The park is suitable for children aged 3 to 12 (must be 90cm or taller ), so even young kids can find lots to enjoy in the museum.
NOODLES BAZAAR: World Noodles Road
Located next to the Cupnoodles Park is “Noodles Bazaar: World Noodles Road”, a food court designed to look like a night-time Asian market. Here, you can try noodle dishes from 8 different countries. Each shop is decorated to replicate the atmosphere of the country its menu is based on, and the attention to detail is incredibly impressive.
The decorations are all sourced from local shops in the countries, along with some of the furnishings (including the chairs). They even play recordings made in market districts in the various countries to simulate the ambiance of authentic street markets.
You can enjoy sampling the different noodle dishes that Momofuku encountered during his research trips to learn about noodle cuisine around the world, such as tom yam noodles from Thailand, lagman noodles from Kazakhstan, cold naengmyeon from South Korea, Vietnamese pho noodles, Malaysian lakasa noodles, and many others.
Museum Shop
Located just to the right of the entrance on the 1st floor there is a gift shop selling merchandise related to Cupnoodles, Chicken Ramen, and others. This alone should be enough to excite Cupnoodles fans.
There really is a huge variety of things to enjoy in the CUPNOODLES MUSEUM: exhibitions on the origins and history of Cupnoodles, practical noodle-making sessions, an obstacle course, a gift shop, and much more. It is an overwhelmingly popular attraction, with anywhere from one to two thousand visitors on weekdays and a massive four to five thousand at weekends. The Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse and Yokohama China Town are located nearby, as well as Yokohama bay and several theme parks, making it the perfect place to visit while on holiday or for a day out at the weekend.
(photo: Daisuke Hayata translation: Rebecca Bourke)
Originally published at ignition.co.
