Make your own snack in a food factory
Some Japanese food companies open their factories and workshops so you can make familiar foods by hand: design your own cup of instant noodles, shape a biscuit or stuff your own sausages. Whatever you make goes home with you, so it doubles as a souvenir. Most sessions need a booking or a timed ticket, so reserve before the day.
You draw your own design on a blank cup, choose a soup and toppings at a counter, and watch a machine seal your one-of-a-kind Cup Noodles to take home. The museum stands by the harbor in Minato Mirai, an easy stop on a day in Yokohama. Workshop tickets are for set times and can sell out, so book online ahead.
This museum is in Ikeda, the town north of Osaka where instant ramen was invented, and here you can make Chicken Ramen, the very first instant noodle, from scratch. You knead, roll and steam the dough, then fry it in hot oil, the method that made instant noodles possible, and you can also design your own Cup Noodles. Book the Chicken Ramen workshop ahead, as places are limited.
After walking past the lines where Pocky and Pretz are made, you shape dough for Bisco, a small cream-filled biscuit Japanese children grow up with, into any form you like. Both the tour and the workshop need a booking. They are run in Japanese only, so come with someone who can translate if you need it.
At a workshop run by the meat company Nippon Ham in Ibaraki, you mix pork with spices, stuff it into natural casings and twist it into sausages to take home the same day. It runs only a few days a week, with one session a day. Booking is by phone in Japanese, so ask your hotel to call for you.