Day 285, Yokohama and Shinyokohama, Japan
Our family has always been fans of ramen. When I heard there was a ramen museum in Tokyo, I knew this was something I had to see. My cousin and his wife had been there before and wanted to come along. They mentioned there was also a Cup of Noodles Museum that they hadn’t been to. So we planned planned a sight-seeing noodle day.
We took the train to Yokohama from Tokyo station. But it’s not as simple to find the train that goes to Yokohama since there are many different degrees of luxury in which to travel there. We thought that if a train goes to Yokohama, it’s the correct one. Silly us. Just when we think we have a handle on the train system, it decided to keep us humble. So, here we are in a train that wasn’t the correct one. With a little help from a few friendly people, we did find the right one.
After we got to Yokohama we took a Seabass water bus boat ride. It’s a great way to see Yokohama.
The first museum we went to was Cupnoodles. This was a spacious modern museum, located in Yokohama, just a short walk from the pier, and across from the second tallest ferris wheel in the world.
We were happy to hear it was an interactive museum, since ramen was involved. Some of us were hungry, so we went straight to the Noodles Bazaar, World Noodles Road. Outside the area was a Thai tuk tuk we were all too familiar with. Inside they have noodle settings and chefs from all over the world. There are 8 different dishes to sample. First you choose what you want to try.
Go to the correct machine and buy a ticket for your noodles and present it to the chef.
My favorite was the Mie Goreng we had in Indonesia. Our table had four bowls.
Then you repeat the process with other noodles you want to try. You eat in long tables.
Lastly Cali tried some a dessert which I can best describe as a creamy mango pudding.
I could live at the noodles bazaar for many years without getting tired of the food. This was my kind of interactive museum! While we let the noodles settle in our tummies, we took in the view of the bay from the museum.
Other interactive activities awaited. But first we learned a little about Cup Noodles history. Momofuku Ando invented his first instant ramen after WWII when there were many hungry people. People would line up in the streets at tiny noodle stalls. He wanted to make a way for people to have this dish at home. In the Instant Noodles History Cube you see the first packages in 1958 and how there have been 3,000 packages over that past fifty years.
Then we went into the bright red Momofuku Theater to hear about the history of this product.
We learned about how in 1971 he went to the United States where he saw people breaking up ramen and putting them in a cup with boiling water to eat them. This gave him the idea of putting ramen in a cup. Then in his 90s he invented ramen that can be eaten in space. After that, there was nothing left to do. We saw the small work shed which started this huge company, where he experimented to make his ramen.
Then it was time to make our individualized Cup Noodles to take home. I thought this was a kids activity, but I was wrong.
First you buy your cup, wash your hands, then get a lid for your cup.
Next you go to a table to decorate your cup.
Then you go to get noodles put in your cup, by turning the nob.
Then you choose the flavors and extra little goodies that go into your soup.
Then plastic was put on the cups. 
Then our little cups were shrink wrapped in the little oven.
The final step was to seal them in these inflatable bags with a string, a little shoulder bag of soup.
Later when I ate my personalized ramen, here’s what it looked like.
There was also a section where you could make the actual noodles, but that required prior booking.
We looked at exhibits.
We left the museum and walked through Yokohama by the water.
We took some pictures in an arcade and look more closely at a few games. This drum game is actually like guitar hero, you have to hit the drum on the cues. Apparently the advanced settings involve some impressive drumming skills.
The walk by the water was beautiful at dusk.
We took a train to the Shinyokohama Ramen Museum.
Here they show all the different types of ramen and where they originated in Japan. 
The unique aspect of this museum is that they have replicated a Japanese neighborhood from the 1950s, which was when my dad left Japan for the United States. So this was the time period that he remembered for many years before he actually returned decades later in 1979. I have taken and posted more photos than usual because I think he would find them particularly interesting. On the second floor you wind your way around tiny streets, the way they would have been sixty years ago.
The unique part of this museum is that it has many working ramen restaurants throughout the historic display. You get to choose the kind you’d like.
We left that choice up to my more experienced cousin. He choose a ramen that was from just north of Kagoshima, where he and my father grew up. The ramen and the dumplings were both exceptional! This is where we ate. We ended up with a little room right off the main square. It was perfect.
After we ate we watched the buskers in the main square before heading up to the candy shop.
Cali was determined to get back to the candy shop. It was in such a tiny little corner, probably like it would have been in the 50’s. In the candy shop I took a lot of photos for my dad, once again. I’m wondering if there were candies that he ate when he was a kid. So look closely, Dad!
This is the candy Cali decided to get.
Madi wanted this scooter, but we thought it would exceed our luggage weight limit.
Instead we decided to go out for ice cream. It was the perfect ending to a great noodley day. While both of the ramen museums were incredibly interesting, the best part of the day was spending time with my cousin and his wife. We had lots of time to talk and laugh and look things up on google translator. Great day!