Back to the drawing board for Nissin as Kyabebanban fails to set the world on fire.

We tried to warn you all. Nissin, maker of instant noodle hits such as Cup Noodle and U.F.O., had boldly embarked on a product to change the world, and you just didn’t listen. Now, the Kyabebanban is no more.

The Kyabebanban was developed to address a pressing issue among instant noodles makers and consumers in which little pieces of cabbage stick to the lids of U.F.O. instant yakisoba noodles and wind up in the trash. While a single incident doesn’t appear to waste much of the leafy vegetable, Nissin estimates that over four tons of cabbage is thrown away every year across Japan.

Nissin had held a campaign urging people to remove the cabbage by either taping the lid before serving or just scraping it off with something, but it appears people didn’t listen and the waste continued. So, the brainstormers at Nissin’s Product X (“Product Pekeh”) decided to see if technology could succeed where human nature failed and came up with Kyabebanban.

Utilizing the latest in rubber band technology, Kyabebanban administers shockwaves into the lid, which have been proven effective at reducing sticky cabbage by 81 percent. That would amount to 3.38 tons of rescued cabbage nationwide.

Even for an individual Kyabebanban user who purchased one for 4980 yen (US$45), after enjoying their 7,781st U.F.O. the thing practically starts making money in saved cabbage.

And yet despite all these advantages, Kyabebanban failed to meet it’s 1,000 preorders necessary to begin production. They did come close, however, earning 839 requests by the 31 May deadline, and if comments are anything to go by, Nissin is steadily earning a groundswell of support for their products that flirt with absurdity.

“Sorry, I just didn’t have anywhere to put something like that…”
“I’m sorry Nissin couldn’t get the necessary number of preorders.”
“Nissin has my support on their next stupid (in a good way) endeavor!”
“I’d like to thank my 838 comrades who ordered the Kyabebanban for trying to make the dream a reality.”

This marks the second failure to launch for Nissin’s Product X following the Otohiko, a fork that covers up the sound of people slurping their noodles.

It doesn’t look like they are feeling dissuaded in the least, however, and will likely unveil their next creation in the next few months. Meanwhile, the scourge of eating instant noodles while driving remains a problem in Japan and Product X may just be the only team daring enough to find a solution.

Source: Nissin Product X, Standby
Images: YouTube/Nissin Group Official Channel