Birthday of two famous Japanese

Today, 2015 March 5th, is the birthday of two famous Japanese people.
They’re famous in Japan, at least. Are they known in your country too?

First of all, the world’s oldest person, 大川ミサヲ (Misao OKAWA), was born on 1898 March 5th in Osaka, Japan. She is celebrating her 117th birthday today with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren!

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Next, also from Osaka (but wasn’t born there)…today also would have been the birthday of 安藤百福 (Momofuku ANDO).
He is the man who invented instant Cup Noodle!

「カップヌードル」

He was born Taiwan on 1910 March 5th. At that time, Taiwan was a Japanese territory.

At the age of 22, he moved to Osaka, Japan and eventually became a naturalized Japanese citizen.
When he became a Japanese citizen, he changed his name to Momofuku Ando.
“Ando” is a common Japanese family name…but “Momofuku” is an unusual name in Japan. But his first name was changed to Momofuku when he became Japanese because it is an uncommon pronunciation in Japanese of his Chinese first name (pronounced “Baifu” in Chinese). It is written 「百福」 and literally means “One hundred fortunes“.

The logo of Google’s Japanese homepage today is of Momofuku ANDO.

Yamato and Gundam

A live-action movie version of the Japanese anime 「宇宙戦艦ヤマト」 (“Space Battleship Yamato“) has recently hit the movie theaters in Japan.

It stars Japanese sex-symbols Takuya Kimura and Meisa Kuroki (whom I wrote about in this post).

Japanese movies usually have theme songs by Japanese artists but this movie’s theme song is titled “Love Lives” and is performed by Steven Tyler (lead vocalist of the American rock band “Aerosmith“).

Here’s the official trailer which features a bit of the song:

And here’s the entire song:

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Last year I wrote a post about “Cup Noodle” in Japan giving away miniature Gundam figures with purchase of their instant ramen.

Well, Nissin Cup Noodle has teamed up with Gundam again.
In Japan you can buy a special, limited-time-only Cup Noodle that comes with a plastic reusable “Gundam” ramen cup.

The package of the Cup Noodle with the Gundam cup

The Gundam cup and the package of ramen noodles

インスタントラーメンの父

Do you know 「安藤百福」 (Momofuku Ando)?

He was the inventor of instant ramen.

He was born in Taiwan on 1910 March 5. In the 1940’s, he moved to Osaka, Japan and became a naturalized Japanese citizen.
Soon after, he started his own company called 「日清食品株式会社」 (Nisshin Food Corp.) and he made 「チキンラーメン」 (“Chicken Ramen”).
He sold these packages of instant noodles for ¥35 each.
They’re still popular in Japan today…the price nowadays is only about ¥60 (about US$0.75) for a package.

Chicken Ramen

In the early 1970’s, Momofuku Ando invented 「カップヌードル」 (“Cup Noodle“) which became a worldwide success.
I think “Cup Noodle” is called “Cup Noodles” (plural) outside Japan. Is that what they’re called in your country?

A package of "Cup Noodle" made for outside Japan is called "Cup Noodles".

Mr. Momofuku Ando died on 2007 January 5. Only three years ago, and only two months shy of his 97th birthday.

Well, the day before yesterday (2010 March 5), would have been Momofuku Ando’s 100th birthday…which is all the more special if you know that his interesting first name is written as 「百福」. The characters that spell his first name “Momofuku” translate literally to “One hundred good fortunes”.

So to commemorate the 100th anniversary of their founder’s birth, Nisshin Foods is having a few different campaigns.

First of all, the original instant noodle, 「チキンラーメン」 (“Chicken Ramen“), is being sold in a retro package that looks like the original package…and it’s being sold at the original price for a limited time: only ¥35 each.

Also, a package of original flavor 「カップヌードル」 (Cup Noodle) is now available for only ¥100 each.

And Nisshin is also selling a new product in honor of Momofuku Ando’s 100th birthday…packages of 「百福」 (Momofuku) noodles (either “Chicken salt broth Ramen” or “Duck broth Soba”) for ¥170.
These are in large packages because each noodle is 100 cm long!

And lastly, if you go to the 「ららぽーと豊洲」 (“Toyosu Lalaport” shopping mall) in Tokyo from 2010 March 27 – April 4 between 10:00AM – 6:00PM, you can see a special event for the 100th anniversary of Momofuku Ando’s birth.

They’ll have an exhibit that explains the history of Nissin Foods, instant ramen, and Mr. Ando.
They will also 「わたしのカップヌードル」 (Custom Cup Noodle) in which you can add whatever flavors you choose to your instant ramen for ¥300,
As well as other displays, shows and foods to try…including “Space Ramen”, which is the special package of instant ramen that Nisshin Foods made for astronauts to bring into space with them.

Have you ever tried 「カップヌードル」 (Cup Noodle)? Do you like it?
I like instant ramen. It’s good. But “real” ramen from a ramen restaurant in much better!
Have you ever tried Japanese ramen at a restaurant? I recommend 「坦々麺」 (“Tan-tan-men”)…it’s a spicy flavor of ramen. I like it alot. Have you ever tried it? Do you like spicy food?

Smallest Gundam

In Tokyo right now, until the end of August, is the biggest Gundam robot ever made.
I wrote a post about it (Click here to see it).

Well, from 2009年8月31日(月) ～ 2009年11月30日(月) (Monday, August 31 – Monday, November 30 (2009)), 日清カップ・ヌードル (Nissin Cup Noodles) will give away the smallest Gundam figures ever made.

Just like the giant 18 meter tall Gundam robot in お台場 (Odaiba, Tokyo), these figures that come in the top of the noodle package are in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Gundam‘s debut.

The Gundam figures

Only 1000 of this red and white figure will be made (making this one the most valuable):

Only 1000 of this figure will be available

First job interview

It’s the 梅雨 (rainy season) in Tokyo now. But at least so far, it hasn’t rained so much.

Last Tuesday night, it rained really hard…there was even 雷 (lightning and thunder).
Other than that, it’s only rained a couple days recently…and only a little bit.
So far, this year’s 梅雨 (rainy season) in Tokyo isn’t bad.

As I mentioned in an earlier post (click here), my oldest daughter wants to get a part-time job after school.

Her first job! I still think of my kids as my “babies”!

I agreed that she could work a few hours after school…as long as it doesn’t make her too tired for her “real job”—as a high school student!

So, today she went on her first job interview. It was at a ramen restaurant near our house.
They told her that they will call her on Saturday with the results of the interview.

If she begins working at that ramen restaurant, I’ll probably stop by there after work every once-in-while when she’s working! 🙂

I remember my first job interview. It was at a “Wendy’s” fast-food shop near my house in Florida when I was sixteen.
I was offered the job and I accepted it. So my first job was at that Wendy’s after school.

ラーメン・ガール

First of all, today is my mother’s birthday. So…Happy birthday, Mom.

Yesterday, I watched the movie 「ラーメン・ガール」 (“The Ramen Girl“).

Have you ever seen this movie?

It’s not bad. It’s much better than that other Tokyo-related but over-rated 「ロスト・イン・トランスレーション」 (“Lost In Translation“)!

A boring movie....

The movie “Lost In Translation” is about an American woman who follows her boyfriend to Tokyo when his work sends him here and he is too busy to spend time with her so meets another American who is working in Tokyo and just as lonely as she is.

If you haven’t seen it…don’t bother. It’s painfully boring.

The movie “The Ramen Girl“, though not great, is a much better movie than “Lost In Translation“.
Ironically, it has some similarities in the story.
An American woman follows her boyfriend to Tokyo when his work sends him here in this story, too. He decides she’s cramping his style and he moves to Osaka without her.
She becomes depressed and lonely and one night has a bowl of ラーメン (Ramen*) at a nearby Ramen shop that are all over Japan.
(* Real ramen. Not the instant type that is cheaply sold in supermarkets. It’s quite different.)

She falls in love with Ramen and decides she wants the Ramen chef to allow her to become his apprentice. Which is grudgingly agrees to…even though she can’t speak any Japanese and he can’t speak English.

It takes her awhile to understand that, in Japan, that a student is expected to take his role seriously and follow everything his teacher says…without question.
(Much the same lesson that “Daniel” learned in the movie 「ベスト・キッド」 (“The Karate Kid“).)

Karate Kid Japanese movie flyer

The movie 「ラーメン・ガール」 (“The Ramen Girl“) definitely wasn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen. But it was fun. It had parts that over-simplified or stereotyped Japan…but it also showed Tokyo better than alot of other overseas movies do. They even showed the Yokohama Ramen Museum briefly.

(You can also click here to read a review of this movie by “Manmanchi“).