Instant Kaedama

So it seems I missed out on one of the great new inventions to hit the market after I left Japan – refills for Cup Noodle.
I must point out that this new product is hardly an original idea by its manufacturer, Nissin. In college, we routinely used empty Cup Noodle cups as bowls (mostly for regularly-packaged instant ramen crushed to fit), ashtrays, pen holders, a container for my cut-in-half-with-tin-snips 1-yen coin collection, and in a pinch, even as beer cups (curry flavor cups were best for this purpose).
But wait! I titled this post before I read what’s actually being sold – it seems that the actual product isn’t just noodle refills, they also include a non-disposable bowl! Now is that defeating the entire purpose of a Cup Noodle, or what? (from a business standpoint, isn’t this blurring the product lines?)
Since a bowl and a clump of freeze dried noodles isn’t really new, perhaps this isn’t such a hot idea after all… and it sure as hell doesn’t qualify as kaedama. The title above stays, though. I like kaedama, even just in print.