'Ramen' is phonetic for 拉面 (lamian) which is a type of Chinese noddles. That's also the reason 'ramen' in Japanese is written using katakana ( ラーメン ): It is a

'Ramen' is phonetic for 拉面 (lamian) which is a type of Chinese noddles. That's also the reason 'ramen' in Japanese is written using katakana ( ラーメン ): It is a foreign word.