A super-effective way to get a taste of Japanese summertime food culture.

Befitting its status as a Legendary Pokémon, Rayquaza has a lot of cool powers. Since its first appearance in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire it’s been able to fly, create gale-force winds, and shoot laser beams.

Now Rauquaza has acquired a new ability: delivering Japanese noodles.

One of Japan’s favorite summertime foods is hiyashi somen, wheat noodles served cold and dipped in broth, and one of Japan’s favorite ways to eat hiyashi somen is nagashi (“flowing”) somen.

Instead of plopping the somen noodles on a plate, they’re placed in a sort of water slide with continuously flowing water. Using your chopsticks, you pluck a mouthful of noodles out of the stream as they come by, keeping them moist and cool until the moment you eat them.

Nagashi somen can be done with a network of sliced-in-half bamboo poles, but Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy Arts has now made a motorized version featuring Rayquaza and a handful of other big-name Pokémon species.

The water flows from Rayquaza’s mouth, but Pikachu, Quaxly, Piplup, and Psyduck aren’t just here for decoration. They’ve got jobs to do too. Since nagashi somen is usually something eaten together with friends or family, it’s important to decide on house rules as to which section of the slide everyone is allowed to grab noodles from, in order to prevent a fierce clashing of chopsticks right at the very top of the course. So to help keep things organized, Takara Tomy Arts recommends attaching the Pikachu and other Pokémon markers to the slide at positions to designate the OK-to-grab area.

Takara Tomy Arts is calling the set the Somen Slider Pocket Monster, and it’s scheduled to go on sale June 1, priced at 14,690 yen (US$99), just in time for the start of hot, humid weather in Japan and the best time to enjoy this fun, cooling food.

Source, images: PR Times
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!