It’s not very long now until we reach the dawn of a new era in Japan, an event that happens only when a new Emperor ascends to the throne. There will be many cultural festivity events during the week that the new Emperor takes his place, and tons of corporate companies are already beginning the celebrations. One brand in particular, PeyoungMaruka Foods Corp., the makers of the popular Peyoung brand of instant yakisoba noodles, have taken the opportunity to throw in their contribution to the historical event with a new, limited time variation of their iconic product. When I heard what the new secret ingredient was, I knew I had to head over to the closest conbini and get one for myself.
Ah yes, what could possibly be better than enjoying luxurious, gold flake-topped instant noodles to celebrate the changing of the times!? Almost like a ritual I opened the gold packaging and took out all of the seasoning packets and inspected them one by one until I picked up the gold flakes.
I really don’t know what I was expecting, to be honest. Inside a clear packet was the tiniest little sprinkle of (hopefully) food-grade shiny gold flakes to garnish my, uh, dish with. It was neat! Like a sad little firework on the loneliest birthday in your 20’s. The noodles tasted the same as always, I was happy to have an excuse to indulge in my yearly Peyoung noodles. If anything, it’ll make a cool gift for my friends in the United States who probably have no clue about some of the crazy measures that Japanese companies do to promote their products.
If your curiosity is piqued, you can grab a package of the Gold Flake Peyoung Yakisoba noodles for just under 300 yen (around $2 USD) from just about any conbini or grocery store. Happy new era!