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Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum and Nissin Ramen Museum

Exterior of the museum
http://tokyoexcess.blogspot.ca/p/my-sf-writing.html
Just 10 minutes south of Tokyo by bullet train (it cost me $12 to ride a few years ago) is Yokohama and two famous ramen museums.  You can interact with and eat your ramen here, and not just view it! These museums both discuss ramen history with the Shin Yokohama Ramen museum dedicated to restaurant / stall ramen and the Nissin Ramen Museum dedicated to Nissin Instant Ramen in the package and cup forms.


To get to either museum from Tokyo you will likely have to take a train south from Tokyo and transfer to another line to get to the closest station to either museum.  The museums aren't very close to each other either.  If you're doing both museums it'll probably be best to make it a day trip to see the Yokohama sights too.

Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum
1950s central court of the ramen museum
I had a great time in this museum even though I couldn't read most of the Japanese.  The highlight of this museum is the replica of Showa Period Japan that acts as a bit of a mini-theme park / diorama that you can walk through to get a feel for booming 1950s Japan.  This is when Godzilla was invented along with many modern snacks and even instant ramen.  Japan was recovering from WWII and was in a hard working industrial boom.  It is a nostalgic era for many older Japanese.  There is a path that circles a central food court area shown in the photo right at the top of this post that acts as a street with shops and homes that you can look into.  There is an actual candy shop with live shopkeeper and you'll hear and see snippets of radio and TV while walking along.  All very cool.

Even better is the central court with fair games and real ramen shops from across Japan that have been invited to set up here for 6 month stretches.  You can sample ramen from across Japan and the food court is often crowded.  This is a very yummy museum.

Official Website: http://www.raumen.co.jp/ramen/
This museum is near a subway station but isn't easy to find unless you know the location or follow the instructions on their website.  It isn't too hard to find, I actually misread the instructions myself, but by backtracking, I found it easily the second time.  It is 5 minutes on foot from Shin-yokohama Station (JR Tokaido Shinkansen, JR Yokohama Line, and Yokohama City Subway line). Print off the page and follow the walking directions on their website here.http://www.raumen.co.jp/ramen/so_froms.html

Actual ramen shop in the museum - there are 6 shops.

Nissin Raman Museum in Yokohama
This museum is a twin of the first museum in Osaka and is also known as the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum.  This museum is dedicated to the history of Nissin Cup Noodles and just opened up in 2011.  I previously blogged about the pop culture of cup noodles here.

I haven't been to this museum but would love to see all the previous varieties of cup noodle and the whole process around making cup noodles.  One of the highlights of the museum is the shop/exhibit where you get to create you own instant cup noodle as a souvenir that you can take away and eat or give to a friend.

The link below shows an aerial view of the island that the museum is on, but is old enough that this brand new museum opened in 2011 is not in the picture. The museum would be to the left of the big red building to the right of the ferris wheel. yokohama-minato-mirai-aerial-panorama

Official Website: http://www.cupnoodles-museum.jp/english/index.html

・8 minute walk from the Minatomirai line Minatomirai Station
・8 minute walk from the Minatomirai line Bashamichi Station
・12 minute walk from the JR/Shieichikatetsu Sakuragicho Station


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