The Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum is an interactive museum dedicated to instant noodles and Cup Noodles, as well as its creator and founder, Momofuku Ando. They open daily except Tuesdays. Do plan well before you travel. It was very easy to access by train and is within walking distance from the train station to the museum. We took the express train and reached there in 20 minutes time from the main station, Umeda station.
I did find it hard to buy train tickets from their vending machine as we have very limited knowledge of Japanese. Also not many stations have English translations of the train station. I would suggest visitors buy their IC card than buying the tickets from the vending machine. It was a lot easier as it works like the London oyster card by tapping in and out. As for children’s fares, it is always half the price of adults.
As I mentioned earlier, it was not hard to find it and you will probably see a lot of people walking towards the train station carrying instant noodles. You could probably ask them for the directions. We went there on a Monday afternoon and it was packed with a lot of families. It also happened to be their school holiday! The museum is free to enter and the museum shop is located at the entrance where you can purchase original Hiyoko-chan products. If you want to learn how to make Chicken Ramen, you will have to book the course in advance. We didn’t know and by the time we wanted to book, it was too late (two months before we travelled). All the available dates and times were fully booked.
Anyway, there were two different queue systems. The first queue was to buy the instant noodle cup and decorate it. Each instant noodle costs 300 yen. Simply go to their first station to purchase your own instant noodle CUP from their vending machine. You can buy as many as you want or just one for yourself.
The second station was to disinfect your hands and you will get a cover for your instant noodle cup. This is to prevent you contaminating the inner cup.
Moving on to the third station, you get to decorate your cup with the felt pens provided on the table. Do not use any other pens other than their pens provided on the table.
The queue for the next stage was huge! We queued for almost 40 minutes just to go to the next stage. For stage five, they will provide you plastic packaging to pack your instant noodle and you get to spin the machine to place the cup over the noodle.
Then you have to pick one broth flavour plus four different ingredients to accompany your instant noodle. They will then seal your cup and cover it with plastic film. It will then put your cup into the sealing machine to shrink the plastic film. The last stage is to pack your cup into the plastic packaging.
Why not check out our instant CUP noodle journey: https://youtu.be/AHHxn3otPQQ
It was definitely a fun and fulfilling experience for the children. Be prepared for long queues though if you go during peak season. Do check out our Japan trip to learn samurai and Pokémon Center in Osaka.
