OSAKA -- Osaka Gov. "Knock" Yokoyama and local residents celebrated on Thursday the completion of a museum in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, dedicated to the invention of instant noodles in the city some 40 years ago.
Veteran "rakugo" comic storyteller Katsura Sanshi, a resident of Ikeda, also attended the ceremony for the Instant Noodle Invention Museum, which is scheduled to open Nov. 21.
The museum was built to commemorate the 1958 invention by Momofuku Ando, 89, founder of Nissin Food Products Co., at a laboratory in the backyard of his house in Ikeda.
The company sold the product -- the world's first -- as Chicken Ramen.
The museum resurrects the lab, which was more like a shack, and puts the history of instant noodles on display. It also has a section where visitors can make their own instant noodles.
"We'd like elementary school students to visit our museum as part of their extracurricular activities to deepen their understanding of the food processing industry," a Nissin Food spokesman said.