Cup Noodle Museum officially opened this week in the Minato Mirai area of Yokohama. I was overwhelmed at the entrance, including the array of products which unveil the history of the Cup Noodle and other products by Nissin (in particular, by the founder, Momofuku Ando). They use amusing stories to show the history and display gadgets you can try yourself. The location of the Museum overlooking the Port of Yokohama fits the grand design and high aspiration the founder had for the product.
Each floor has distinctive concept and story visitors can not only enjoy finding out, but also experiencing themselves. They include chicken noodle factory and My cup noodle factory where guests can make their own “unique” cup noodle by choosing the type of soup, ingredients, and by drawing their own cup. (I hear this is very popular at Museum in Ikeda, Osaka.)
I also liked the Noodle Park where kids can go through the production process by being a “noodle”. My contact with Nissin Foods goes back over a decade when I wrote a case study of the company as one of the companies with continuous innovation. I was impressed with not only the foresight and grand scale of the original vision of the founder but also the effort made by the people of the company to continue innovation. CNN News reported last night of the opening of the Cup Noodle Museum last night.
Yoko Ishikura is a Professor at Hitotsubashi University ICS in the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy in Japan. She has held positions as a professor at the School of International Politics, Economics and Business of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, as a consultant at McKinsey and Company Inc. Japan and a visiting professor at Darden School.
Professor Ishikura is a consultant to a number of multinational companies and has been a frequent speaker at management conferences, seminars, and workshops throughout the world. She was a member of the Regulatory Reform Committee for the Japanese government and the International Competitiveness Commission for METI. She is currently a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum.
She is the author of Strategic Shift from OR choices to AND paradigm, Building Core Skills of Organization , and the co-author of the following publications: Managing Diversity in the 21st Century, Strategy for Cluster Initiatives in Japan , and Building a Career to the World Class Professionals – all in Japanese. Her books in English include: Asian Advantage, Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management and Trust and Antitrust in Asian Business Alliances.
Professor Ishikura’s current research interests are focused on global competition, innovation, and knowledge management. She received her BA from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; MBA from Darden School, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia; and DBA from Harvard Business School.
