Japan 2023- Day Four Osaka to Tokyo

 Catching a late train back to Tokyo meant we had most of the day to enjoy a bit more of Osaka. We bicycled locked our luggage onto a shelf in the storage room at the hotel and went to the Cup Noodle Museum. Since the world eats 118.2 billion of them every year, the museum is free to visit! Where does the US stand on Cup Noodles sit? At 6th place and no one can even touch China's numbers!!! 

Momofuko Ando invented instant chicken ramen in shed out behind his house in 1958. It took an entire year of trial and error to figure it out. After visiting America, he invented Cup Noodles in 1971, which at first were rather expensive and seen as a luxury item. He was born in 1910 and died in 2007 at the age of 96. 

He also sold them from food trucks and vending machines

You can tour the little shed where instant ramen was invented, watch a movie about his life in a ramen bowl shaped theater, take your picture next to a giant Cup Noodles, and even buy ramen themed souvenirs. 

I loved seeing the packaging from 1958 until now in the giant Cup Noodle Tunnel!

But the best thing we did was design our own cup and make custom Cup Noodles at the My Cup Noodle Factory...

First a very nice woman tells you all of the instructions in Japanese. Thankfully they also give them to you written in English. 

Then you purchase your empty foam cup from the vending machine...

Then you decorate and date them to be eaten within one month...

Then you hold your cup while waiting in line. A rather long line that thankfully moves fairly quickly...

While you're waiting, the very nice woman in front of you may volunteer to take your picture in front of the giant Cup Noodle wall...

Then at the flavor bar you choose your broth, meat and 4 add-ons...

Then they heat seal the lid, shrink wrap your cup and give you an inflatable carrying bag to safely get your Cup Noodle home...

After making instant ramen, we decided to have some of the real stuff on the way back to the train station! The restaurant was so cute and they even gave us baskets on the floor next to our chairs to put our bags into. And the ramen was very good! No instant noodles there...

We still had a little time to kill so we stopped at the very large Shinsaibashi-suji shopping district. Basically it's a giant mall. We went straight up to the pop culture floor with all kinds of fun shops. My favorite was the Godzilla store...

every bathroom should have a Godzilla tissue dispenser LOL

the Lego store had a display of local Osaka favorites

Even after getting our luggage we still had plenty of time at the station to do some shopping, buy some onigiri to eat on the train, pick up some dessert from Krispy Kreme and wait in line for a Rikuro's famous jiggly cheesecake, which they make, bake and brand right in front of you before they place your warm cheesecake into a box to take home...

I figured with a line that long, they had to be good

Once again we were reminded why the Shinkansen is the way to travel across Japan: comfy seats, lots of leg room, bag hooks, giant windows. If only airplanes were this nice...

I snapped a quick shot while we were stopped at a station...

Then we transferred to a local train to our station in the Ryogoku District...

It didn't take long to figure out what Ryogoku is famous for... 

even the station's 7-11 had a sumo theme

While we knew the hotel was close, it was even closer than we imagined... 

After Andy helped us get all settled into the room and headed back to his place, we went right to sleep on our small uncomfortable bed... LOL