Japan votes noodle the tops

Noodles are now popular around the world

Forget state-of-the-art gadgetry, the Japanese believe their best invention of the 20th century was instant noodles.

And their second best idea - ahead of personal stereos, computer games and impossibly small cameras - was karaoke.

The Walkman was beaten down to third place

Instant noodles were created in 1958 by Japan's Nissin Foods.

Ironically, Japan's food industry initially rejected the product as a novelty with no future. It could hardly have been more wrong.

''Instant noodles, representing 'Made in Japan', are now not only just a national food but a global food,'' the Fuji Research Institute said, as it released the results of a survey of what the Japanese see as their best exports.

Walkman

Karaoke, which allows would-be Elvis Presleys and Whitney Houstons to embarrass themselves in front of friends and strangers, was second in the poll.

Pokemon: In at No 8

The Walkman personal stereo, first released by Sony in 1979, came third, followed by home computer consoles, compact discs and compact cameras.

Older respondents helped put the films of director Akira Kurosawa at number seven, just ahead of Nintendo's Pokemon cartoon and video game characters.

Kurosawa established his name in the 1950s with Seven Samurai, later remade as The Magnificent Seven, and his samurai adaptations of Shakespeare's King Lear and Macbeth.