Ramen is Love

japan japanese food kabuki noodles ramen screen print shiba skull t-shirt yokai

If you've been following my work for some time you may have noticed that I LOOOVE ramen. I've made several designs about it along the years, and we even shot a look book in a ramen restaurant back in 2016.

I wanted to go further and design a full collection with a ramen theme so here it is ! I had a lot of fun creating all these illustrations.

The "Ramen is Love" collection was first put on pre-order in November 2021 and then fully released in January 2022. All the t-shirts and art prints were screen printed in France by L'Atelier du Grand Chic. The stickers were printed by StickerApp in Sweden.

The whole collection is still available on our website : www.yeaaah-studio.com

Hope you enjoy!

The "Best Food" t-shirt and art print show Fémur (one of our original characters) eating a bowl of ramen surrounded by his ghost friends Yû and Rei. The Japanese texts on the sides are a list of different kinds of ramen (shôyu, shio, miso, tonkotsu, chukasoba, tsukemen). On the front of the t-shirt you'll find Yû eating a bowl of ramen.

Yû is inspired by Japanese pop culture and folk tales. He is a yûrei (Japanese ghost) and wears a hitaikakushi (white triangle headband) on his forehead.

Japanese translations :
ラーメンフォーエバー - ramen forever
ずるずる (zuruzuru) - that’s Japanese onomatopoeia for slurping sound
イェーッ！スタジオ - Yeaaah! Studio

This is a compilation of fake instant noodles packagings that I had fun creating.
The front design of the t-shirt shows details from the Jigoku Ramen packaging (Japanese for Hell Ramen) that is on the back.

This is Mimi the shiba inu, pictured here as a waiter in a fictional ramen restaurant called Menya Y!S.

He greets new customers with the well-known Japanese word いらっしゃいませ (irasshaimase) that translates to “welcome in!”. He is wearing a traditional maekake (apron) with the logo of the restaurant on it. The interior of the restaurant is inspired by Kodawari Ramen, that are two must-see ramen-ya in Paris. The cooks are a nod to two t-shirt designs I did for Kodawari a few years ago (one with a chicken and the other with a red sea bream).

The front design is inspired by Japanese family crest designs (kamon) and shows a Japanese fan with the kanji 拉麺 (ramen) on it.
The back design is kind of a classic design inspired by vintage Japanese signs and packagings. For a more authentic retro look I chose to write the Japanese texts from right to left as that’s how they used to write until World War II.

Japanese translations :
麺 (men) - noodles
毎日 (mainichi) - every day
健康生活 (kenkō seikatsu) - healthy life

The t-shirt is available in black or white and the hoodie in black or navy.

The front design just shows a slice of Narutomaki which is a paste made from fish commonly used in Japanese cuisine. It is often served as a topping for ramen. Its little pink spiral is very distinctive.
The back design is inspired by vintage Japanese signs and packagings. It shows a woman eating a bowl of ramen while wearing a cat mask on the side of her head. That kind of mask is used in traditional Noh theater in Japan and often worn during festivals (matsuri).

Japanese translations :
自家製麺 (jikasei men) - homemade noodles
最高品質 (saikō hinshitsu) - best quality
イェーッ！スタジオ - Yeaaah! Studio

The back design is inspired by Japanese railroad station stamp designs. There is a stamp in each station in Japan and many people collect them all in one or multiple notebooks. There regularly are “stamp rallies” for special events where you have to find special stamps and collect them in an exclusive leaflet. If you’ve ever visited Japan I bet you’ve collected a few of these!
The front design shows a fictional Y-City Rail card. The word “multipass” on it is an obvious nod to Luc Besson’s movie “The Fifth Element”.