My friend told me I had too many pictures and today isn’t going to be any different. I went to the Ando Momofuku Ramen Museum, walked around Ikeda, and then walked to where I was meeting several co-workers for dinner. Then when I got back the weird loud noise in my room, that I’ve had the past two nights, returned and it came from my Washlet! I think it’s water hammer, and the plumber agreed. They changed my room and I’m way behind. Plus, some dumb Mac program is making lots of connections to the intarwebs and the hotel doesn’t seem to like that.

So my first stop today was Hankyu Ikeda station, where the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen museum is located. I found that Ikeda had a tourist bureau and an English-language map! Of course, it led me astray, but that was later in the day.

My first stop was Kureha Jinja Shrine. It’s a shrine dedicated to one of two weaving princesses and is popular with those in the apparel business.

I guess you get more than one shrine here as well.

I headed to the instant ramen museum and it was much larger than I expected! 

I saw all sorts of people with instant ramen they’d made in the museum.

A picture of the man! Ando Momofuku!

I think this is a recreation of the shack he had in his backyard where he experimented on making instant ramen.

Seriously, a mad scientist shack. I love this guy.

There were lots of displays showing how he came up with instant ramen and Cup Noodle and then a video presentation of it as well. Then there’s the long line where people get to make their own Cup Noodle.

Actually, you just tell them what to do for the most part and you just draw on the outside of the cup.

There’s even a snack bar with, you guessed it, different types of Cup Noodle!

Upstairs is a kitchen where you can actually make your own instant ramen from scratch. I checked the reservation system and they’re booked all the way into December.

The instant ramen museum was the only place on the map on the south side of the station, so off I went to the north, uphill.

I knew I was lost when I saw something that looked like a castle to my right instead of to my left.

And seriously, down an alley and up a very long and narrow set of stairs.

At the top was just a sign that said, “West Gate.”

I found an impressive park.

And what appeared to be a castle turret.

I found what looked like the main gate. There were a few guys talking about something, and I finally figured out they weren’t talking about how I wasn’t supposed to be there, but about a wild boar. They told me I was at the Ikeda Castle Ruins Park and gave me a map in Japanese which was much clearer but still not very accurate.

My next stop was the Ichizo Kobayashi Memorial Museum. He started the Hankyu Railway.

The map mentioned a restaurant, but I guess you need reservations and there were lots of older ladies dressed up so it probably wasn’t my sort of place.

So off I went towards Ikeda Jinja Shrine, uphill. The neighborhood was weird. Houses bigger than large US houses in between apartment buildings. It all looked pretty fancy. What I didn’t find was any restaurants.

I finally found a Lawson and got a candy bar to tide me over.

This is what I saw otherwise.

Looks like I’m lost, but I”m just heading towards Ikeda Jinja Shrine.

Every time I see stairs like this I just hope I’m headed the right way. When I got to the top of these, I saw a little old lady from earlier. I guess I didn’t have to go down the slope and up these steps.

At the top of the steps was a pre-school group but the moms didn’t know where the shrine was. Fortunately a construction worker did and he opined behind him and I popped out here.

The shrine is actually behind me, but this is a picture of the gates down the slope.

The main gate.

A side shrine.

Ikeda Jinja Shrine is dedicated to the other weaving princess, Ayaha. The main shrine building was built in the early 19th century!

And two more shrines on the grounds.

 A closer view of the center of the grounds.

And here’s the main building built in the early 1800’s.

I figured out where all the kids wet coming from. Up beyond this gate was a zoo!

I headed downhill, back towards the station.

This is the “Big Harp” bridge.

Ikeda Gofuku-za Theatre which was originally established in 1892 but was gone in 80 years.

Across the street is the Rakugo Museum. It’s mainly a spoken form of art, comic storytelling, so there’s not all that much there but a video library and a stage.

There’s also a Billiken which confuses me.

This is supposed to be a sake brewery, and all I saw were empties outside.

I was starving and it was past 2PM so that meant most restaurants would be closed. I went down the shopping street looking for something.

I found a coffee roaster, and went upstairs to get some coffee at the very least.

My coffee took twelve minutes to arrive! Fortunately, it was very smooth and tasty.

I also got a snack of Japanese sweets and some vanilla ice cream with black honey.

Then it was off to head back to Itami, where I used to work. On the way, I first found what I think is Kodo Jinja.

The main shrine.

And down the row of gates to the side shrine.

 

Of course I ran into other shrines on the way, like this tiny one.

I also saw this weird building. I’m not sure if you can see the giant screws in the ramps.

And, in the middle of nowhere, what I thought was Kamo Jinja.

There’s a long path to the shrine.

This is just an odd name for a restaurant.

I’m getting close! This was “my” gas station!

If you’ve ever noticed the big scar on my left knee, this is the curve where I fell off my motorcycle and gave myself that scar.

My old apartment building.

The ditch where the drunk construction worker shoved me.

As was on my way here, to the vending machine in front of the book store (no longer there) to buy some, ahem, magazines.

I saw my co-workers. Mr. Hayashi (on the right) was on his way to his own going-away party so he just stopped by for a minute. On the left is my friend Shohei Moriwaki. Mr. Hayashi is quitting since he figured he’d retire soon anyway.

And finally, Mr. Hirose (another ham), Mr. Moriwaki, Mr. Shinsou, me, and Mr. Abe. Mr. Moriwaki works for Mitsubishi. The rest transferred to Renesas. Mr. Hirose is quitting, Mr. Shinsou is not, and Mr. Abe is “transferring” to another sub-company of Mitsubishi’s.

So there’s my adventures for the day. Time to hit the hay (it’s about 12:30AM now).