Third Time’s the Charm: Ichi kaku 一角 Japanese restaurant’s annual ramen eating contest returns for third year

By Faith Hatton, posted Oct 30, 2025 on BizFayetteville.com

Graphic provided by: Ichi kaku Japanese Restaurant

Fayetteville N.C.’s Ichi kaku Japanese Restaurant is looking for some hungry contestants to participate in the upcoming 2025 Ramen Eating Contest.

Returning for its third year, this year’s contest will be held on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m.

Five contestants will need to eat five pounds of ramen noodles, toppings and soup and finish first in order to take home the trophy and title of victor.

Ichi kaku Owner and Head Chef Yohei Kamiya shared that portion sizes were a big consideration for this year's contest and will actually be smaller than previous years.

“It’s more than three bowls of ramen. Last year it was seven pounds, but no one could finish. It’s really hard, you need a professional food eater. Five pounds I think people could finish. Last year I saw people who finished almost the whole bowl of ramen,” shared Yohei.

This year’s theme for the event is “Go Beyond Your Limit” and applications are still open to participate. Yohei shared that he would like to open participation to a wide range of contestants.

Five contestants will need to eat five pounds of ramen noodles, toppings and soup and finish first in order to take home the trophy and title of victor.
Photo provided by: Ichi kaku Japanese Restaurant

To meet this goal, he has extended the application deadline to Friday, Nov. 7.

“I didn't get a lot of challengers, so I think I should have one more week,” shared Yohei. “We’ve got to choose who's going to be a competitor. If we have to choose, like only young people it's no fun,” shared Yohei.

T-shirts for the event will be available for purchase. Photo provided by: Ichi kaku Japanese Restaurant

This year’s contest will be hosted by local on air talent and talk show host Tameka Bright, and feature a Japanese Car Show brought to the area by the group CruZin Auto Performance. The event will also feature music, themed merchandise and more.

“We want to appreciate the customer. I want people to come and enjoy this contest and music and the car show,” shared Yohei.

For the latest updates and announcements for the event, follow Ichi kaku on Facebook here. Applications for the 2025 Ramen Eating Contest can be found here.

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