{"id":5766,"date":"2014-12-07T01:20:57","date_gmt":"2014-12-06T15:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/?p=5766"},"modified":"2016-01-30T14:58:18","modified_gmt":"2016-01-30T04:58:18","slug":"japan-2013-part-9-yokohama-ramen-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/?p=5766","title":{"rendered":"Japan 2013 part #9 \u2013 Yokohama – Ramen Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ramen museum<\/a>? Thoughts instantly conjure up 1000 year old petrified noodles and perhaps a fossilised bowl fashioned from half a coconut. While there certainly are elements of a history lesson involved here, there’s also so much more to enjoy\u2026 and we’re not just talking about the ramen!<\/p>\n

Getting there:
\nIt\u2019s only a few blocks from the station but it takes a little longer due to having to take the spaghetti of overpasses to cross the large intersections. It\u2019s a rather uneventful walk but nothing too strenuous.<\/em><\/p>\n

Outside its rather unassuming, pretty much a corporate looking building tucked away in a business district, the giveaway however is ticket box office. Inside, its kind of what you’d expect, a reasonably spacious art gallery style layout of items and history relating to the past, present and future of the delicious noodle and broth combo. Accompanying plaques are all in Japanese but there is still plenty of visual stimuli and a gift shop section selling a wide variety of ramen related souvenirs and cooking utensils if you’re so inclined.<\/p>\n

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What you wouldn’t expect is a mini coin op games arcade, a sizable slot car race track and a shop selling a huge range of scale model kits (mostly cars, vehicles). But that was quite alright with us! Ok, so maybe you were expecting some side entertainment Japanese style but take a trip downstairs for the real wow factor and to get your slurp on.<\/p>\n

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\nTravel Tip:
\nThis shop and the race track operate under shortened hours, best to check with the venue if you want to add it to your day.<\/em><\/p>\n

What we discovered was some kind of time warp! Teleporting us back to 1958, the year instant noodles hit the shelves and paved the way of the future. Views from the mezzanine level show a perfectly recreated Tokyo street scene complete with authentic hustle and bustle of busy chefs and hungry customers to grimey walls and signs and even props like old coke machines and stores. Some of the stores are actually functioning businesses selling vintage items like old film cameras.<\/p>\n

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The ambient sunrise to dusk mood lighting across the painted ceiling seals the deal and sets the mood for eating regardless of the weather or time of day outside.<\/p>\n

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To the stores, there are about a dozen famous ramen restaurants from all over Japan and to help with your choices, most sell a snack sized version of their meals so you can try a few rather than filling up at one place. If you’re travelling in a group that wants to try a bit of everything, there’s a central common courtyard area so you don\u2019t need to all buy and eat at one place. The space also plays host to entertainers and musicians, during our visit a magician had the crowd in stitches. I’m sure it would’ve been even funnier if we knew what he was saying!<\/p>\n

After a brief assessment of the selection on offer we locked in our choice at Ikemen Hollywood<\/a>, not just for its American 50’s diner decor but for its infamous “Dip Ramen”. That’s right, the noodles and ingredients are separate, have as much or as little of the broth as you like! Verdict? An ear deafening slurp, will eat again! \u2026except you cant. As of June this year they have closed that store! No idea why but perhaps it was drawing in too many greasers and Elvis impersonators who disrupted other guests? :p<\/p>\n

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Travel Tip: Placing your order – all orders are placed via vending machines at the front of each shop. Simply punch in the code or press the button associated with your meal, insert cash and take your receipt. Don\u2019t worry if you get confused, the friendly staff\/host(ess) will be more than happy to help you.<\/em><\/p>\n

Next up, we stop in at Nissan HQ and do a quick run through Yokohama’s bay area.<\/p>\n

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If you have any questions on our travels, where to buy, what to do, hit us up on the Soulbridge media facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Japan 2013 part #1 \u2013 Arrival<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #2 – Tokyo International Toy Expo<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #3 \u2013 Gotemba \u2013 Premium Outlets mall<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #4 \u2013 Tokyo \u2013 Studio Ghibli Museum<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #5 \u2013 Tokyo \u2013 Kichijoji and Nakano<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #6 \u2013 Tokyo \u2013 Akihabara<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #7 \u2013 Tokyo \u2013 Tamiya HQ, Diver City<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #8 \u2013 Yokohama \u2013 Zoorasia<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #9 \u2013 Yokohama \u2013 Ramen Museum<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #10 \u2013 Nissan HQ and Yokohama<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #11 \u2013 Osaka \u2013 Nanba Shopping<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #12 \u2013 Kyoto<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #13 \u2013 Tokyo \u2013 Harajuku, Shibuya<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #14 \u2013 Osaka castle, Umeda Sky building<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #15 \u2013 Osaka Aquarium and Tempozan wheel<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #16 \u2013 Osaka Universal Studios<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ramen museum? Thoughts instantly conjure up 1000 year old petrified noodles and perhaps a fossilised bowl fashioned from half a coconut. While there certainly are elements of a history lesson involved here, there’s also so much more to enjoy\u2026 and we’re not just talking about the ramen! Getting there: It\u2019s only a few blocks from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2241,2725,388,2453],"tags":[1830,2480,487,2479,2485,411,2265,629,2483,2478,2482,100,488,770,2484,391,595,2481,2455],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5766"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7612,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766\/revisions\/7612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}