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This Noisy Japanese Fork Really Wants to Ease Cultural Tension at the Dinner Table

When politeness meets aggression

By Emily Suzuki - November 29, 2017

in Food | Object Culture

Nissin, the manufacturer of Cup of Noodles, has been putting their designers to work in order solve various food issues related to Japanese culture. The first product released from the series is Otohiko—a massive electronic fork trained to recognize and combat slurping noises Japanese eaters tend to make while consuming noodles. Observe:

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Apparently, a team of audio engineers with an oversized windshield analyzed slurping sounds of various Japanese eaters. Then, they trained an app connected to the gigantic fork to recognize general slurping sounds so it can mask them with even louder ocean-like sounds. Oh to have been a fly on the wall at these meetings...

Shinya Kiyokawa supervising production

All jokes aside, Otohiko is a reminder that tech and design can help make cultural barriers less of an awkward experience. We've seen this addressed by Google with their recent translating earbuds, and now here it is with noodle slurping. Whether this fork is needed and actually helps ease any cultural barriers is up for debate, but Nissin's entertaining commentary on the matter is much appreciated.

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Production of the fork will only begin once there have been 5,000 reservations placed. Please reserve yours now before December 15th so my set of 5 will go into production.

Update 11/30: As readers O Studio and Bran Johnson mentioned in the comments and I failed to originally mention even though I just returned from Japan—Otohiko is especially puzzling because in Japan, everyone eats Ramen with chopsticks, and noodle slurping is actually considered a compliment to the chef. The fork will only be available for purchase in Japan, which makes the concept even more confusing—why is Nissin trying to suppress parts of Japanese culture to please Westerners? Overall, Japanese culture is very polite, so this could be a take on that. Whether it's a humorous or serious one is unclear, however.

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O Studio

6 years ago

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But... don't most Japanese people eat ramen with chopsticks? That's what I do, and what I did when I was in Japan.

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- Brad Johnson
  
  O Studio
  
  6 years ago
  
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  Yes. You are correct. In addition to that, it is not considered rude or awkward to make the noise in Japan. In fact, I've been asked if the ramen was not to my liking when I ate it without making the sound. My guess is that this is a wacky marketing ploy, and mainly aimed at Westerners.
  
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David B

6 years ago

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How is this not a joke?

1. No one eats ramen in Japan with a fork. I had a friend eat cup noodles with his eyeglass frames (winter ascent of Fujisan, forgot his chopsticks), but never a fork.

2. Is anyone really that put-off by slurping, especially after they're made aware of the cultural acceptance of slurping in Japan? I even have western friends with misphonia that don't mind slurping. Maybe my grandparents might have thought it rude, but no one goes to finishing school anymore.

3. The noise-canceling sounds emitted by the phone make it sound like you're slurping by the ocean. This is like a TOTO Otohime of instant ramen, only less effective and way less necessary.

4. You need a phone to act as a speaker? There wasn't space in the fork for this tech? It looks like a taiko stick. Hashtag ergonomics fail.

5. If the phone is doing the heavy lifting and emitting the sound, why even bother with a special eating utensil? Just use the microphone in the phone and release a free app for people that even care.

6. If the problem is the slurping sound that Japanese people make when they eat noodles, and it's only going to be available in Japan... who is the target audience for this? Are westerners supposed to carry this around and lend it out to the Japanese people around them so they won't be offended by the result of their own hobbling cultural perspective?

When I first saw the prompt, I thought that maybe the fork actually emitted slurping sounds FOR you, or at least have a small fan and blow on the noodles, so you poor westerners that can't figure out how to inhale while eating (thus cooling down the noodles and enhancing the flavor) can at least sound like you're enjoying your meal to your hosts. But then again, instant ramen is almost always eaten in solitude so no one can see your shame

This is Nissin trying to capitalize on the concept of "chindogu," an invention that seems to solve one problem, while being either unweildly, incredibly inconvenient, or cause all kinds of other problems for the user. It's a marketing stunt, and a bad one at that.

In the meanwhile, has anyone seen the silverware designed to stabilize tremors, so people with Parkinsons can feed themselves? Now THAT'S some innovative tech.

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Guillermo Vélez

6 years ago

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I think is more fun embrace the culture....on the other side great example product development, although the real problem is not how can i cancel the noise, is how do i respect the culture.
(sorry for grammar)

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