We’ve never wanted to peel off the lid of a building as much as this one: Nissin’s new Cup Noodle Factory in Shiga Prefecture of Japan’s Kansai region. This is the company’s first new factory in 22 years and at 100,000㎡ (approximately 24.6 acres) it stands as one of Japan’s largest food factories.
Nissin is, of course, the maker of Japan’s original instant ramen: Cup Noodle. As it happens, Cup Noodle is currently undergoing a bit or a renaissance in Japan in terms of popularity, thanks to the Japanese TV drama Manpuku, which tells the story of Momofuku Ando, who invented instant ramen.
The new factory “is equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities and IoT production technology enabling it to produce up to 1 billion serving of noodles annually.” That’s art director Kashiwa Sato (previously), who was tasked with the creative direction and interior design of the new factory.
The factory’s entrance makes it very clear to visitors where they are. The entrance is a gigantic Cup Noodle replica, which visitors enter and then proceed down a long corridor where 40 large-screen displays show videos of the production lines making 400 instant Ramen noodles a minute.
Unfortunately, for the time being, visiting the brand new factory will be reserved for local school groups and the company has not said when they will open it up to the public. But in the meantime, there are the Cup Noodle Museums. There’s one in Yokohama and Osaka.
