Afternoon at the Instant Ramen Noodle Factory

The weather has been colder than usual here, so last Saturday we bundled up and decided to spend the afternoon at the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Ikeda, Osaka. While we were unable to read most of what was displayed, there were lots of things to look at, and more importantly, the kids got to make their own Instant Cup of Noodles!

This is the inventor of the instant ramen noodle –– Momofuku Ando. I guess he is like the Colonel Sanders of Japan.

When you enter the first part of the museum, you are able to see the history of the instant ramen noodle. Most of this we could not read, but it was fun to look at the memorabilia and make up our own dialogue.

Sometimes reading Japanese to English translation here is like reading what a 1st grader writes. The words are spelled exactly how they sound.

In Japan you can seriously but anything in a vending machine, including instant ramen noodles.
Koichi Wakata is a Japanese astronaut staying at the International Space Station, and guess what he likes to eat in space. Yep! Instant ramen.

Another interesting area was a "Wall of Ramen", showing every instant ramen noodle product made. Who knew there are so many instant ramen noodle products!

The best part of the whole museum was getting to make your own instant ramen noodle cup.

First, buy your container for a mere ¥300 (about $3.10 USD).
Next, decorate your cup.
Third, put ramen noodles in the cup.
Forth, pick your dried ingredients. You can choose 4 items from egg, pork, shrimp, green onions, garlic, cheese, garlic, corn, chicken and asparagus.
Fifth, seal on your lid.
Lastly, shrink wrap your cup.

After your cup is all shrink wrapped you get to stick it in this protected air pouch with a long neck strap. I guess they want to make sure your cup makes it home in one piece.
I really wanted to make my own cup, however Matt made fun of me so I abstained. I did manage to get my picture taken with the giant instant ramen cup.

Wakayama - Shirahama

We took our first "road trip" in Japan on Saturday. We decided for our first road trip to start small so we went to Shirahama in the Wakayama prefecture. It took us about 2.5 hours via car to get there. And amazingly we did not got lost, even though we had a navigation system that we haven't figured out how to use yet and directions written in Japanese.

The area was just amazing. We enjoyed climbing rocks all around the area, as well as the cliffs of Sandan-peki and the Senjo-jiki Rock Tableland.











We also checked out Engetsu-to Island (you can't go to the Island) and then spent the rest of the day at the Shirara-hama Beach.






You can see all 300 pictures from our day here.

It was an amazing and beautiful experience. We already are planning our next trip back!

Ashiya Gardens Mountain Hike

Since Japan is very mountainous it is easy to see why hiking is a favorite pastime of many of those living here.

Last Saturday Matt, Chris and I went on a hike with a group from CHIC up the mountain in Ashyia. It was very different from the hike I took in February. This hike was filled with rock climbing and many obstacles. This one also didn't have the stopping points with vending machines and little snack places like the one in February.




Chris really enjoyed the hike and is now asking us when we are climbing Mt. Fuji. Poor kid doesn't understand that climbing Mt. Fuji is nothing like the hike he did here in Kobe. Maybe in a few years when he is older, but until then it is something Matt and I are planning for in the future as a kid-free weekend.

You can see the rest of the pictures here.

Football Continued...

Today we went to watch the Kobe University Ravens play the Mastiffs in American Football. While it was more like watching a high school football game back in the states, we really enjoyed ourselves.

There wasn't a band, cheerleaders or halftime show but the game itself was played exactly like in the states. It was interesting that most of the positions, plays, penalties and yardage were all spoken in English with an "o" or "a" added to the end of the word. The stadium had the mountains as a backdrop and that in itself made the going worth it in itself.


Matt and I couldn't stop laughing when we saw what one of the people on the sidelines was wearing. For those who know what big Ohio State fans we are will understand what we found so funny. (Mom I HAD to take a picture for you)



And the best part? The kids were free and Matt and my ticket was only $10 USD and we think that is for the whole spring season.


Coin toss
Matt & Chris
Pre-game warm up
Pre-game warm up

Since it was supposed to rain I took my point and shoot camera so I was able to get a good video clip of kick off and a few plays. I would have recorded more but I my sd memory cards were almost full. I apologize the quality isn't the greatest, but it is still fun to watch.

Here you go. American football in Japan. (you may need to click on the picture to make it work)





The Ravens won 30-10. WTG Kobe University!

A Day with the Monkeys

No, I am not talking about my children. On Saturday we took the kids to a small town called Arashiyama. This town, which lies on the outskirts of Kyoto, is famous for the Japanese Monkey's, Bamboo Groves and the running river rapids.

We were given explicit instructions to not feed the monkeys, do not touch the monkeys and do not look at the monkeys. Normally we would laugh at being told this, but last weekend a friend of ours went to the mountain and did not listen to this advice and was attacked by a monkey. So we were very diligent to follow these instructions. We had to hike about 20 minutes up the mountain to reach the area where most of the monkeys were.


After you walk around the top of the mountain you can go into this special building to feed the monkeys through a fence.

The top of the mountain also has an amazing view of Kyoto and the surrounding areas.

On the way down the mountain there was a small playground.

After we left the monkey mountainside we got ourselves lunch and then walked around the town for a while.


After lunch we hiked up another mountain to check out the view.

On our way back to the train station we walked through the bamboo groves. It was so surreal to be walking through a bamboo path.

As usual I have posted about 200 more pictures here. (I may need some new computer memory after all the pictures I have been taking!)