Japan's Ramen-themed 'Amusement Park' lets you Travel Back to 1958!
A street-scape replication of 1958 Tokyo.
If anyone were to ask me if there is one Japanese food I could eat every day without fail, I'd probably struggle to respond. After all, Japanese is one of my favourite cuisines in the world and there's no way anyone could favour just one among the likes of pork katsu curry, oyakodon, okonomiyaki, sushi, and karaage. My closest answer, however, would have to be ramen. I will forever be grateful to instant noodles for being a part of my childhood and for saving my life during my college years. While they are still a staple in my pantry to this day, actually tasting the genuine article made me realize that there is more to ramen beyond a cup or a pouch.
My family and I visited the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum in Japan because honestly, we just wanted to pig out on all kinds of ramen. You must be thinking, "Why go to a museum and not to a restaurant then?" Well, Japan is full of surprises around the corner and the same applies to this museum where not everything is as it seems.
Entrance to the museum (not the one pictured above) is free.
Giant floating ramen is the stuff of my dreams.
The first floor of the museum looks unassumingly museum-like as a museum should. Guests can learn about the history of ramen and ogle at the different equipment, utensils, and cutlery used in the past and in the present to prepare and serve ramen. There is also a giant model depicting which type of ramen originated from which region in Japan. They also hold ramen cooking demonstrations and classes and a section where guests can create their own unique instant cup ramen.
The first floor museum.
Did you know? Noodles were actually introduced to Japan by the Chinese. Ramen is now said to be a noodle dish unique to Japan.
Did you know? In 1958, the first instant ramen, "Nissin Chicken Ramen," went on sale.
A visual aid describing the regional ramen in Japan.
A wooden ramen cart.
The replicated exterior of the famous ramen restaurant "Rairaiken," which started the ramen boom in Japan.
"Rairaiken."
The Ramen Book Wall is a collection of approximately a thousand carefully-selected books on ramen.
The donburi collection comprises 380 noodle bowls.
The museum has plans of adding more to its collection.
The instant ramen collection.
The instant ramen collection is right next to the museum souvenir shop.
These packet designs are the absolute cutest!
As a child, I thought the world of Maruchan instant noodles!
A collection of ramen memorabilia.
Ramen noodle cooking class and demonstration corner. However, during the time of our visit, it was closed.
A section where customers can create their own instant cup ramen. Also closed during our visit.
Ramen facts and information tidbits.
The future of ramen looks to be very bright, in my opinion.
Learning about ramen was sending our orexigenic drive haywire so we decided to head to the next part of our journey-- the food court found in the basement of the museum. To say that we only came to the museum to learn and gorge ourselves with ramen would be a terrible lie. We wanted to eat ramen in a novel setting that is 1950's Japan.
A beautiful recreation of Edo (Tokyo) in 1958, saturated with the purple light of dusk.
I'm not Japanese, but somehow I feel nostalgic.
Panoramic shot of the food court.
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@chanchantako Time-travelling back to 1950’s Edo! Location:Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum in Japan.
♬ sonido original - UNKNOWN
There is also a bar where customers can get alcoholic drinks.
The food court is dotted with ramen shops specialising in all sorts of ramen preparations. Guests are invited to explore different types of regional ramen to their hearts' content. Prepare to queue because especially on busy days, waiting times can get quite long for popular restaurants. Make sure to bring an appetite with you to make it worth your while; the good thing is that most restaurants have a "mini" version of their ramen for smaller appetites and (for the more adventurous ones) to allow for more room for other ramen variations.
The first ramen shop that we visited was the infamous Rairaiken. The original Rairaiken was located in Asakusa, built in 1910 but closed in 1976. It is credited as the restaurant that popularised ramen. A replica of this historic restaurant's exterior can be found in the first floor of the museum. We ordered the mini char siu ramen and as it was placed in our table, the tantalizing aroma made my stomach grumble. Underneath the thin slices of pork and glistening broth, the noodles were begging for attention. We immediately dug in and was mildly surprised at the subtle sweetness of the broth. It did remind me (just a little bit) of the broth of the Philippines' own bulalo that is slightly sweetened by cobs of sweet corn. However, it was obvious that Rairaiken's ramen broth used more than just pork as its base-- there were powerful hints of beef, chicken, and kombu too. The noodles were soft and chewy and the pork was incredibly tender. For a starting point, we we thought we made a good choice.
It wasn't until we started to walk out of the restaurant, however, when we realized we may have committed a cardinal error. We felt full despite only ordering a (relatively) small bowl of noodles. Looking back, we finished around two jugs of water during the meal, and that was probably because we drank all of our broth which, while not incredibly salty, contained considerable amounts of sodium and umami. Maybe we should have left some of the broth off.
Amazing! I'm no expert, but I give Rairaiken of Asakusa's mini char siu ramen (JPY 1,480.00) 5 stars out of five!
Still, we trudged on to our next ramen restaurant of the night-- Ryukyu Shinmen Tondou (Ryukyu New Ramen Tsudo). Okinawan ramen broth uses various ingredients from the ocean such as dried and salted fish with either chicken or pork and vegetables. It is rich, white, and salty. This time, we ordered different items from the menu so that we could compare-- the Okinawan Tonkotsu Ramen and Okinawan Shio Ramen. Once again, as soon as our order hit the table, the beautiful aroma of kombu and pork hit us like a love bomb. The noodles were thin and a little chewy, and despite being salt-based the ramen did not taste salty at all. The pork was amazingly tender and flavourful. My brother's order came with beansprouts and an egg with the yolk a little runny in the middle-- just right. The verdict was that they were all good-- but we were all at our limits already and decided to call it a night. .
Shio ramen with pork (JPY 680.00). The clear broth was seasoned with salt.
Tonkotsu ramen (JPY 710.00). The soup base was pork and local Okinawan ingredients, so it is a little cloudy.
I... don't remember what this ramen was called but it's apparently seasoned with soy sauce and has beansprouts, fried green onions, mitsuba (Japanese parsley), and radish sprouts on top.
Deciding to take a little walk, hoping to forcibly speed up our metabolism, we discovered a little alleyway that goes around the food court dotted with more shops and themed décor. It was giving off very strong retro-Tokyo feels. There is a small candy store that sells classic dagashi snacks, ramune, small toys, and agepan which is a roll that is popular as a Japanese school lunch snack.
A deserted alleyway.
Was this how the Japanese dried their shoes in the past?
It looks like an image generated by an AI.
Walking along a deserted alleyway in an old Japanese setting felt surreal.
Retro Peko-chan tin sign.
An old-school Japanese sweets shop.
Cold drinks and ice cream.
No sticky fingers while this kind policeman is about!
I jumped through some of those hopscotch circles and felt like a kid again!
Is this an old cigarette shop?
The entrance to Kateko, a sweets cafe.
traditional Japanese puddings, parfaits, and bavarois. We were to full to eat anything more.
Entrance to the toilets.
A visit to Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum would not be complete without stopping by the souvenir shop to stock up on ramen and ramen-making accessories. The souvenir shop looks more like an instant ramen shop and it's very easy to overspend.
Packets upon packets of ramen!
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| Resin replica of ramen noodles. |
Ramen-themed merchandise.
I've stocked up on some kitchen accessories that I never thought I needed.
Soup bowls and spoons.
Ramen sets.
Pouches of ramen on sale.
Hiyoko-chan merchandise.
Choco Puffs and ramen sets.
Ramen that I'm taking back with me to the UK.
Were we happy with our experience in Skin-Yokohama Ramen Museum? Yes, we were. Will we do it again? Absolutely, but next time I'm saving more stomach space to accommodate ramen not only from this museum but also from its neighbouring Nissin Cupnoodles Museum.
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