This Ramen Shop in Japan Is Offering Noodles for Life for a $935 Flat Fee

Can you put a price on good noodles? One ramen shop in Japan can.

According to Hypebeast, the Nishi Chiba location (located in Chiba Prefecture in Japan) of the Musashiya ramen shop chain is now offering a lifetime supply of ramen noodles for anyone who wishes to pay a flat fee of 100,000 Japanese yen ($935 USD). After that, you can eat there for free whenever you want.

This one-time fee may seem high, but not so much if you think about all the noodles you could possibly consume in one lifetime.

There is a catch: the promotion is only available to students, according to Hypebeast. This is a good thing, considering that students have busy lives and not a lot of income, so they could certainly use a free meal while they cram for exams. But also, they would need to come up with close to $1,000 for the privilege to do so. If they’re really lucky, maybe mom and dad can chip in.

But if they’re able to get over that hurdle of the initial expense, the value of the promotion practically pays for itself. According to Sora News 24, a bowl of Musashiya’s standard ramen costs 600 yen (just under $6 USD). Going on that math, the diner-in-question will break even after 167 bowls. So, if you have one bowl per day, every day, for about six months, you’re essentially free and clear.

Even if they only get ramen twice a week, Sora News 24 calculated it would only take one year and eight months to start getting some real bang for their buck. It certainly beats making the stuff at home using those instant packets.

According to Sora News 24, the restaurant chose that hefty price tag because it is also the same amount as the standard stimulus payment that people are getting from the Japanese government in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Not a bad way to spend that cash if you don’t have to worry about bills and such.

But even if you can’t cash in, getting good and affordable ramen in Japan is, obviously, a piece of cake. In fact, you don’t even need to go abroad (though we recommend you do) to get a delicious, hot bowl of noodles — one of the best bowls of ramen on earth can be found at Ichiran in New York City.