New Noodle Waterslide Toys Give Summer Tradition An Amusement Park Makeover

Streaming Noodles: A Summer Tradition

Nagashi soumen 流しそうめん is a Japanese tradition, typically enjoyed in summer, in which thin white noodles made of wheat and salt called soumen are sent flowing down a bamboo slide with flowing water and caught mid-stream with chopsticks, dipped in a cold soy-based mentsuyu broth, then eaten on the spot. It's a refreshing and entertaining way of enjoying noodles which has been enjoyed in Japan for generations.

mono / © PIXTA

Takara Tomy's noodles waterslide toys

Since 2013, Takara Tomy has been making Nagashi soumen "noodle waterslide" toys allowing families to enjoy Nagashi soumen at home in an entertaining way. The noodles are deposited at the top, slide down plastic ramps arranged in a curving course and end up in a pool at the bottom. In each of the eight previous models, the noodles either flowed from top to bottom, following movement seen in the traditional version, or moved around in a circular pattern in a rotating pool.

Noodles in Space

If previous versions of their noodle waterslide toy were the equivalent of a merry-go-round, then you could say that their latest version is Space Mountain.

With the hyperbolic name Big Stream Soumen Slider Galaxy 『ビッグストリームそうめんスライダーギャラクシー』, this ninth iteration has a space theme in its design, and, for the first time in the series, the surprising gravity-defying feature of noodles traveling upwards instead of downwards.

This is made possible by a "hyperdrive tube" which shoots the noodles up to the top of the slide.

Promotional video

It's probably easier to understand if you see their promotional video:

The Big Stream Soumen Slider Galaxy can be used alone or combined with the separately sold Big Stream Soumen Slider Extra Neo 『ビッグストリームそうめんスライダーエクストラネオ』to create an even taller slide.

Either way, you'll be able to enjoy your thin noodle of preference—whether they're soumen, rice vermicelli or angel hair pasta—in a fun new way this summer with this toy.