The Yo-Kai Express ramen vending machine at Haneda Airport has introduced two new menu items in collaboration with the popular ramen chain Ippudo! Guests can now enjoy Ippudo’s Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen and Ippudo’s Plant-based Tonkotsu-style Ramen. 

Guests can also enjoy Chicken Yuzu Shio Ramen, Tokyo Shoyu Ramen, Kyushu Tonkotsu Ramen, and Sapporo Spicy Miso Ramen. Each order only takes 90 seconds to prepare, so if you’re rushing to chow down before your flight, this is the way to go!

*Yo-Kai Express is a start-up company headquartered in Silicon Valley developing ramen vending machines. The company’s name comes from the word yokai (monsters) and reflects the brand’s desire to entertain people whenever and wherever they are. 

One of Sanrio’s most popular characters, the lazy egg Gudetama, is coming to Netflix in a new CG live-action hybrid series! Gudetama: An Eggcellent Adventure will air on the streaming service worldwide later in 2022. 

Gudetama was created following Sanrio’s Edible Character General Election, a project to brainstorm new food-themed characters held in 2013. The character came in second place, and from 2014 to 2020, Gudetama appeared in a number of animated shorts airing both on television and online. With over a million Twitter followers, you’d think he’d be a little more excited–but he’s the same unmotivated egg as ever. 

The new series will follow Gudetama as he finally leaves the safety of the refrigerator to explore the world with his newfound friend Shakipiyo to find their mother. Shakipiyo is a go-getting chick, and these polar opposites might not find the journey to be an easy one. 

The teaser shows Gudetama in his typical stupor, and it’s unclear exactly what hilarity the series is going to bring. Tune in later this year to find out!

©️ 2022 SANRIO CO., LTD. S／D・G　　著作：㈱サンリオ

teamLab Planets TOKYO DMM, located in Toyosu, Tokyo, have completed the refurbishment of their outdoor food stand, opening Vegan Ramen UZU Tokyo on October 8 2021. The new shop allows customers to eat vegan ramen from Kyoto in a new art space from teamLab. In addition, the teamLab Flower Shop & Art will be opening, a shop where customers can purchase orchids previously used in one of the group’s art pieces to take home with them. 

Menu

Vegan Ramen Flower (Cool): ¥1,980 (Tax Incl.)

Vegan Ramen Tea: ¥1,650 (Tax Incl.)

Vegan Ramen Soy Sauce: ¥1,320 (Tax Incl.)

Vegan Ramen Miso (Spicy): ¥1,320 (Tax Incl.)

Newly Released Works

Reversible Rotation – Non-Objective Space, teamLab, 2021

Table of Sky and Fire, teamLab Architects, 2021

Floating Flower Garden: Flower, Myself and Cognate, Garden and Myself as One

teamLab Planets Original Tote Bag

The menu at Vegan Ramen UZU uses no animal products like meat or fish, instead condensing the taste of vegetables into a delicious ramen that you can enjoy in a space designed by teamLab. Vegan Ramen UZU Kyoto first opened in March 2020 to great popularity, with many customers queuing for over an hour to get inside the store. 

At the new Tokyo store, customers can enjoy a bowl of vegan ramen while enjoying teamLab’s latest art installations, the Non-Objective Space and the Table of Sky and Fire.

Not only that, you can also take home some of the orchids used in the Floating Flower Garden: Flower, Myself and Cognate, Garden and Myself as One exhibit that was held from July 2, along with a section of teamLab merchandise such as stickers, patches, postcards, and more, at the newly opened teamLab Flower Shop & Art store.

Look forward to tasting this healthy ramen while immersed in an artistic space!

Gion’s Tatsumi Bridge, a picturesque area plucked straight from a painting. From there, continue south and into the backstreets, you’ll find the popular Kyoto Ramen store, Ramen Muraji.

The bridge takes you over the Shirakawa River which flows into Lake Biwa, with the connecting street spanning a distance of only 180m, with paths the width of three adults. Once you head into the alley, the scenery will completely change. 

The asphalt becomes cobblestone, surrounded by Kyoto-style lattice windows. Here you’ll find Ramen Muraji, located in a renovated 100 year old Kyoto-style building, perfectly blending into its surroundings. 

At first glance you wouldn’t believe it to be hiding a ramen shop,  with many people calling their discovery of the shop a once-in-a-lifetime encounter as they wander the streets of Gion.

The back alleys of Gion retain the history of Kyoto, with hidden shops shrouded by curtains, gently glowing lanterns, and carefully handwritten signboards. Each spot has been crafted to become a once-in-a-lifetime encounter with those who visit.

Ramen Muraji was built in the alley

Tatsumi Bridge, an area famous for retaining the distinctive Gion look.

Muraji’s Speciality White Chicken Ramen

Gion has been popular with Kyoto tourists for years, surrounded by attractive buildings and cityscapes. Located here is the Yasaka Shrine, a world heritage site which hosts the annual Gion Summer Festival. 

While the locals rarely explore the area, Gion is full of traditional beauty that has inspired many novels, maintaining the culture and history that has been passed down for generations. 

Why not relive the splendor of Gion at Ramen Muraji, a shop that was born 、

With its long history and culture that weaves towns, humans, and spirits together, why not relive the splendor of Gion with a historical cup of Muraji ramen? 

Ramen Muraji is a space where anybody can enjoy ramen, surrounded by Kyoto-style interior decor and Japanese-style decorations. 

Their chicken ramen, boiled in a plain water soup, boasts a selection of carefully selected ingredients that condenses the taste of Kyoto’s unique food culture. Kyoto Sake matched to the flavor of the ramen is also available.

Enjoy the charms of Kyoto’s food for yourself at Ramen Muraji.

As a company aiming to bring a new kind of happiness to many people, Ramen Kourakuen have announced their new slogan: All New Happy! 

In order to spread the message even further, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu has been appointed as Kourakuen’s new CKO – Chief Korekara (Future) Officer. 

Their new goal is to work towards each step of the New Happy 5 Plan in order to spread cheer across Japan.

Plus, a new Kourakuen commercial featuring Kyary Pamyu Pamyu will be released nationwide.

The special commercial will be promoting the new student discount set, where students will be able to enjoy ramen meals for ¥550 on weekdays, plus the mobile order service which allows customers to order their ramen in advance, meaning it’ll be ready when you arrive.

The students and workers shown in the commercial are so satisfied that their face morphs into Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s as she dons the Kourakuen logo on her cheek. Make sure to check out Kyary’s China themed hair and costume!

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Japanese ramen restaurant chain Tenkaippin. To celebrate, they have joined hands with men’s apparel brand MONO-MART to release a collection of ramen-inspired t-shirts in collaboration with Japanese illustrator Isogai Hitohisa. The limited-edition collection dropped on ZOZOTOWN on June 10.

Tenkaippin | Comment

“Thanks to all of our customers, Tenkaippin turns 50-years-old this year. It’s a turning point for us, and so we’ve decided to develop products in collaboration with an apparel brand for the first time. We hope it helps to spread word of the Tenkaippin name amongst the youth. Designs include photos of when we first opened, illustrations drawn for us, and more. Please enjoy Tenkaippin through these super rare tees!”

Each t-shirt in this collection is branded with Tenkaippin’s logo along with their ‘KOTTERI’ logo. There’s another with a photo of the brand’s legendary founder Tsutomu Kimura, another with the encouraging message ‘Righht effort,’ and more. Other designs include illustrations by Isogai Hitohisa on the back, various photos, and so on.

Mizkan launched a social media campaign last Tuesday in collaboration with Sanrio’s popular character Gudetama. As part of the campaign, the lazy egg character is featuring on the packaging for Mizkan’s ‘Tamago Shoyu Tare,’ an egg soy sauce topping for rice. There are eight designs in total, and all limited in stock.

The campaign invites foodies to make their best version of N-TKG, that’s an abbreviation of natto tamago kake gohan, or natto egg on rice. 30 lucky people have the chance to win an original Quo card featuring a Gudetama design. All they need to do is follow Mizkan on Twitter and post their creation along with the Japanese hashtag ＃マイベストNTKG (“My Best NTKG”) while quoting the campaign tweet.

N-TKG Recipe Maker

Mizkan have created a special N-TKG maker where you can make your own digital natto egg on rice. You enter six alphabetical letters which will give you a variety of toppings to creating your own dish. You can then use this as reference for actually making it in real life.

How to Make
1. Enter 6 letters into the recipe maker
2. Make your own original N-TKG using the toppings chosen by the letters you pick
3. Try making the dish yourself!

Floresta Nature Doughnuts, a doughnut cafe that hand-makes doughnuts using organic ingredients, is baking up two new Gudetama doughnuts with New Year’s messages on them. They will be served from January 9 to 24.

Florest Gudetama Collab Doughnuts | ¥450 (Before Tax)

The doughnuts capture the lazy and lethargic energy of Gudetama. The crowning Gudetama is made from Japanese pumpkin and is sat on a bed of sweet white chocolate. Both doughnuts are also available as a set coming with an extra of any of Floresta’s signature doughnuts.

Relax and take in the new year together with Gudetama.

Kamo Dashi Chuka Soba ROKU is a new ramen restaurant set to open at GOOD NATURE STATION, a shopping facility in Kyoto, on December 12, 2020.

The restaurant is produced by Yuki Iwasaki, a chef at VELROSIER which acquired its first Michelin Star in Michelin Guide 2021 Kyoto, Osaka & Okayama. It will serve ramen in a variety of duck-flavoured dashi broths made with duck from Kyoto and France.

Duck Sei Tanmen | ¥1,000

Duck Shiro Tanmen | ¥1,000

ROKU will initially offer three types of ramen dishes which includes the two pictured above as well as a special served each season. The Duck Sei Tanmen uses a broth made from a blend of duck meats and has a distinctly refreshing yet rich taste. The Duck Shiro Tanmen uses the same broth but adds chicken to the base together with mayu burnt garlic oil. The restaurant also makes its own thick noodles to enjoy with the soup. No tare sauce is used, allowing for customers to enjoy the umami flavour of the dashi and the various ingredients added.

The ramen bowls used are original wares created by TOKINOHA, a Japanese crockery brand specialising in traditional Kiyomizu ware which are perfect for enjoying your ramen.

MENBAKA Kyoto Fire Ramen, a ramen restaurant in Kyoto that’s particularly popular with foreigners in Japan, is expanding overseas by opening a new branch on the 5th floor of Singapore Orchard in Singapore on November 24, 2020.

MENBAKA Kyoto Fire Ramen

Menbaka first opened in 1984 and has gone on to become a popular ramen bar, focusing on the use of green onion in its dishes for its flavour and fragrance enhancement. In recent years, the Kyoto branch has seen a significant increase in the number of foreign visitors to Japan dining at the restaurant, and in 2017 it ranked number six in the country on Tripadvisor as the most popular restaurant in Japan with foreigners. It has gone on to be reported on in news and media outlets, including the video created by the Japan National Tourism Organization as part of its global campaign.

MENBAKA Kyoto Fire Ramen Singapore

The Singapore branch will open as a franchise of SOUTH EAST ASIA FOOD ENTERTAINMENT PTE. LTD. with carefully-selected suppliers and ingredients to ensure the taste is as close to the Japanese as possible. The restaurant will serve not only ramen but food entertainment as well.

Singapore Orchard, where the restaurant is opening, is a shopping mall and major tourist destination of Singapore. Like other countries around the world, Singapore is having to restrict the number of foreigners entering the country as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which has also led to restaurants limiting the number of available tables, social distancing measures being put in place, and so on. The restaurant’s opening date was originally scheduled for April 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic so its grand opening is now scheduled for November 24.

If you’re in Singapore and want to try some authentic Japanese ramen at the same time, be sure to visit MENBAKA Kyoto Fire Ramen.

KADOKAWA revamped and reopened the eat-in restaurant at Narita Airport’s Narita Anime Deck on October 27. Visitors can now look forward to dining at Zenkoku Gensen! Aji no Tabi Ramen Walker.”

The Narita Anime Deck opened inside Narita International Airport Terminal 2 in November 2019. It’s an entertainment facility where travellers from around the world can experience and enjoy Japanese anime culture in various forms such as with character merchandise, food, events, and a variety of photo spots.

The new dine-in restaurant features a long ramen menu of ramen dishes carefully selected by Ramen Walker, Japan’s biggest information site for ramen. There are nine strictly-selected dishes to choose from, as well as over 50 ramens for people to buy and take home with them.

The menu will change its line-up from time to time

Customers can order any of the nine ramen dishes on their own, or they can order from several set menus which enables them to taste different ramen dishes from around Japan. There are also over 20 ramen toppings to choose from, so guests are sure to be spoilt for choice.

The restaurant will also sell their own range of exclusive ramen-related merchandise.

But that’s not all, as Ramen Walker Chicken is also set to open at Tokorozawa Sakura Town in Saitama on November 6 as the world’s first booking-style facility where you can book a table at the most popular ramen bars across Japan.

Kourakuen Holdings Corporation launched a collaboration campaign together with Sanrio’s popular character Hello Kitty on September 26 which is set to run to October 25.

Hello Kitty takes over Kourakuen

For the duration of the collaboration, the Roppongi and Dogenzaka branches of Kourakuen will be decorated in all things Hello Kitty

Free folder with child meal sets

A free and exclusive A4 size folder will be given to all who order the children’s meal set. This is available at select branches only and the folders are limited in stock.

Kourakuen original merchandise

Kourakuen x Hello Kitty Soy Sauce Plate | ¥200 (Tax Included)

Kourakuen x Hello Kitty Folder | ¥100 (Tax Included)

A special line-up of original and exclusive merchandise will also be sold at all Kourakuen branches including soy sauce plates, folders, and more.