Edible tinned gifts
~ Tin of corned beef
~ Tin of tomato soup
~ Tin of beef stew
~ Tin of cherries
~ Tin of sardines
Food featured
~ Shunraku ramen (Osaka)
~ Udon noodles with vegetables cooked over a fireplace (Kamigori)
~ Iwana trout (Kamigori)
~ Suiton soup (post war Osaka)
~ Seikoken ramen, dumplings, fried rice, grilled pork (Itzumi Otsu)
~ Chanpon rice (Yamane Diner in Shinagawa, Tokyo)
~ Kaminari Okoshi (Asakusa, Tokyo)
~ Curry and rice, corn soup (Kōkichi Noro's restaurant, Osaka)
~ Urashima Milk formula (gift from Katsuo Sera)
~ Curry, spaghetti Napolitan, ketchup rice, tomato soup, coffee and tea, fruit punch, panna cotta, oden stew, rice omelette (Parlour Shirobara, Ikeda)
~ Pacific saury (Ikeda)
~ American cookies (gift from Katsuo Sera)
~ Minoike mandarin oranges (gift from a neighbour)
~ Castella cake (gift from Toshiko)
~ Dewars Whiskey (gift from Katsuo Sera)
~ Secret ramen soup recipe: onions, shitake mushrooms, dried sardines simmered for two days
~ Karinto snacks (gift from Fukuko's mother)
~ Grandma Suzu's savoury egg pudding
~ Morokyu
~ Grandma Suzu's pork and potato stew
Mampei Tachibana's inventions/ business ideas / employment history
~ Image slide projector - (Tachibana Industries)
~ Root vegetable chopper - (Risō Kōsaku-sha)
~ Water purifiers
~ Personal stamps
~ High quality salt manufacturing - (Tachibana Salt Company)
~ Daneihon sold to hospitals and regular people nationwide - (Tachibana Nutritional Foods)
An animal protein paste with nutritional and digestive properties that you can spread on bread and consume to prevent fat soluble vitamin deficiency and malnutrition).
The current formulation includes:
Beef bone marrow for protein, vitamin A, vitamin D
Canola oil and plums for vitamin E
Kelp for everything and to help it taste good
Sea salt for minerals
~ Sponsorship for their youngest employees who missed out on their basic high school education during the war and to encourage them to study in the evenings and graduate.
Tachibana Nutritional Foods believes that if their employees are more educated, the quality of the company will improve. The company will raise up their employees and in return the employees will help the company grow.
~ Director
At Ikeda Credit Union.
~ A multi-purpose kitchen tool - (Odajima Factory)
Mampei and Shigeru Kanbe helped Kenzo Odajima (President of Odajima Factory) and his son Tadashi develop a device that allows regular kitchens to juice, blend and chop vegetables using just one small gadget.
~ Ramen that can be made at home
Mampei's dream new ramen must meet all of the following five criteria:
- Taste good
- Affordable
- Convenient
- Shelf stable (in the late 1950s, not many households owned a refrigerator)
- Safe and healthy for pregnant women and kids
The broth has to be a flavour accepted by everyone and people won't get tired of: chicken meat and chicken bone broth with sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce, sweet rice wine and garlic.
The basic noodles recipe:
500g flour
1 x egg (for nutrition)
Powdered eggs shells (for calcium)
Vitamins
Kneading water:
200g water
5g brine
8g salt
A touch of sesame oil
The noodles should be 1mm thick and 8 inches long.
Noodles are grouped into 180-200 strands for one portion.
Individual noodle portions are shaped into waves then steamed for seven minutes. Then dried in the shade to bring the water content down by 45%.
Soup essence is poured on top, then deep-fried in a metal cage (to regulate the size and shape) in lard and sesame oil at 160 degrees for two minutes.
Noodle blocks are cooled before packaging.
Instruction for consumers:
Hot water is poured over the block of noodles, wait three minutes and voila...instant ramen!
BANZAI !
Product name: Manpuku Ramen
First packaging design by Tadahiko:
Company name: Manpuku Shokuhin/Manpuku Foods
Price per packet: 20 yen
Released for sale: 25 August 1958
Second packaging design by Tadahiko:
Instigated by Professor Omiya, the National Institute of Nutrition conducted an analysis and concluded that the product contained the following:
Calcium
Phosphorus
Iron
Vitamins A, B1, B2
Niacin
They recommended it as a health food.
~ Noodles in a container
If it's in a cup, you can eat it outside of your home. For example, in a park, in a baseball stadium, even whilst walking.
Mampei wants to create a product that will affect Japanese people's lifestyle and food culture.
Manpuku Noodles' cup plays three roles:
- It's a container that holds the noodles
- Once you pour hot water in, it turns into a cooking device
- When you eat it, it turns into a bowl
The container has to be light, sturdy, well-insulated and cost effective. The material decided upon: styrofoam.
The soup essence of beef consomme with a touch of soy sauce is made into granulated form to sprinkle over the noodles.
The noodles need to be fatter, shorter and chewier to appeal to the Western market. The noodles will also be pre-seasoned.
The toppings will be colourful, Western-style and high-end. It has to be cutting edge in taste and appearance and be cooked in three minutes in the cup.
Toppings chosen:
- Freeze-dried scallions
- Freeze-dried-scrambled eggs
- Freeze-dried poovalan shrimp from the Indian Ocean
- Freeze-dried 'meat cubes' made using ground beef, soy protein and vegetable essence
Aluminium sealed lid. Then the whole thing is shrink wrapped for extra security during transportation.
Cup packaging design: it has to be Western-style, new, and well-accepted internationally.
Tadahiko decided to give his apprentice, Junya Nagi, a chance to design the packaging for this product.
The trend of the nuclear family is increasing. As the trend progresses, Japan's food culture will be changed drastically. Many will start eating alone at random places instead of with their families. Our instant food is easy and safe to prepare for everyone in this new era.
Price of Manpuku Noodle: 100 yen.
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"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work" - (Thomas Edison).
つづく
* Information derived from the TV series Mampuku which the Domestic Goblin binge watched via Netflix in June/July 2026 *
* Images either derived online or from DGs own scene pauses *
