A relaxing day for once.

We got up a little later and decided to take a train up to Kawasaki via Yokohama Station for a look around.

After spending an hour in Kawasaki we realised that there wasn’t really that much to see, apart more shops, so returned to Yokohama and had a relaxing time discovering Minatomirai 21, Cosmo Park and the National Convention Hall of Yokohama that all sit along the waterfront.

In truth all this meandering was just killing time before our booking at the Cup Noodles Museum where we were going to be making Chicken Ramen.

Believe it or not Yokohama has a museum dedicated to instant noodles and Cup Noodles and it proved to be a really great experience.

The museum featured four stories of exhibitions and attractions all about noodles and ramen….only in Japan!

It’s slightly odd to explain but you get a virtual experience of being a noodle in a huge factory, and going through the entire manufacturing process from making the noodles to shipping them.

We got to know the history and the array of packages that show how instant noodles, which started with Chicken Ramen, grew into a global dietary culture.

After entering the museum we walked past a 150ft long wall guide telling us all about the life and times of the cup noodle inventor, Momofuku Ando, who dedicated his life to the creation of this new food.

Making Chicken Ramen by hand was one of those mad but very memorable activities.

We enjoyed the entire process of kneading, spreading, steaming and seasoning the wheat flour and drying it with the flash frying method.

After spending a very enjoyable 3hrs at the cup noodle museum (I know it doesn’t seem possible but it just hooks you in), we made our way back to the hotel with our made ramens, some cup noodles and new yellow cooking headwear.

On the way back we did a short detour of Nippon Maru Memorial Park and the themed restaurants and amusement park.

With dinner already prepared we returned to the hotel early to eat our chicken ramen and to pack ready for our long train journey tomorrow morning to Kanazawa.