A Japanese Man Has Been Eating Only Instant Noodles for 30 Years (7 photos)

If you eat the same noodles for 30 years in a row in Japan, you will definitely become a celebrity. Sokusekisai Oyama was recognized as the King of Instant Ramen in the country. He literally made his career on the fact that he eats more than 600 packages of such noodles a year.





That one with the red nose is just itching to try

He even built his career around it, becoming a professional taster of "snack packs", as they were called here before. But not in Japan, where some noodles are almost haute cuisine for gourmets.



There are REAL noodles inside these packages

He has eaten over 10,000 servings of instant noodles in his life (on average). At first, he ate noodles once a day, then he realized that he liked them and why limit himself – and began replacing two servings with noodles from a packet.

Of course, he is not crazy, because he eats something vitamin-rich or meaty as a snack between two noodle meals. He just likes to eat such noodles, and does not want to die.

I wish I could live like that





A reporter might catch him in a noodle shop!

How did Oyama end up like this? It's very funny and very Japanese. After university, he got a job as an illustrator, and in manga magazines it's a real sweatshop. He had to eat noodles from a bag in a hurry for weeks.

If his colleagues complained, Oyama suddenly realized... that he liked it! Others suffered from monotony, and he eagerly awaited his noodles for lunch.



Even the noodles inside the Japanese packages look thicker and denser

He ended up trying new flavors, becoming a professional instant noodle critic, and finally quitting his job.

Instant Noodle Championship

Oyama won the TV Tokyo Instant Ramen Championship in 1995.

This is a game show where contestants compete to see who knows the most about instant noodles.



It's Cup Noodle! I think I've tried it! But it was just a regular one

He then began collecting packages of all the instant noodles he consumed. Now he has over 6,000 different types of ramen packages, enough to open a museum. Although the Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama already exists.

His last notable TV appearance was in 2018, when he won Goku Kiwami Cup Ramen Arrangement King. It's a show about making instant noodles.



A TV presenter studies the board where Oyama has pasted his instant ramen wrappers

The contestants would choose a bowl of instant ramen they liked and add a few more ingredients to turn it into a "gourmet" dish. Then the judges, usually ramen shop owners, would vote on who had made the tastiest dish. Kind of like Hell's Kitchen, but always with instant ramen.

And what's interesting is that after 30 years and over 10,000 bowls of instant ramen, Oyama still looks great. And he continues to tweet periodically (it’s awkward to write “iksit’”, the name is stupid now) what ramen he tried today and how much he liked it. Oh, I don’t have access to all these brands, but it would be so funny to eat for a month following the advice of a ramen guy.



Here are his tweets with photos

In fact, if you walk past the shelves in Japanese stores, you can understand how you won’t get tired of such noodles in 30 years. Different chains put a lot of seasonings and sauces in more expensive packages, not like ours – just two packages and fat. They put real dehydrated meat and vegetables there to recreate the most authentic taste.