Ordering at a Jiro-style ramen shop involves its own language. When the bowl is nearly ready, customers are asked whether they want garlic and regulars fire back their order in shorthand: ninniku for garlic, yasai for the heap of bean sprouts and cabbage piled on top, abura for pork back fat and karame for a saltier, punchier seasoning. At Ramen Butayama this week, another word joined the lexicon: “puku puku.”
How To Get Butayama’s “Pukupuku” Stickers
Say it when your ramen is called and, if you’re a female customer, you receive a sheet of limited-edition puffy stickers depicting tiny bowls of ramen, pork, storefronts and even Butayama’s famously specific ordering system. The collaboration with women-only sticker-swapping cafe Sharepuku began on September 25 and runs through October 1, or until the stickers run out, with just 6,000 sheets distributed across Butayama’s 56 locations nationwide.
The giveaway appears to be bringing in customers who might not otherwise have walked through the door. TV Asahi visited one Butayama location where staff said the clientele is ordinarily overwhelmingly male. Shigeru Inaba, a Butayama block manager, told the broadcaster that he felt the number of female customers had increased by around 20% to 30% since the promotion began.
A woman in her 20s told TV Asahi that she wanted the stickers and had invited a friend to come with her. A fifth grader, visiting for the first time, said she came for the stickers.
Why Jiro-Style Ramen Feels Intimidating
Jiro-style ramen has carried a reputation for being difficult for newcomers to navigate, partly because of the portions and partly because ordering can feel governed by unwritten rules. One woman said she had watched YouTube videos beforehand to learn how the call system worked, while another said she had expected Jiro shops to be greasy, dirty and intimidating before finally trying one herself, according to Money Post.
Butayama already offers a more standardized, chain-store version of the genre; its website spells out the call system, while the sticker sheet itself reproduces the restaurant’s call guide and menu so that someone who has never eaten there can see how ordering works. The promotion goes one step further by taking the part that can feel most intimidating and turning it into a joke. To get the cute thing, you have to participate in the part of the restaurant that might otherwise make a first-timer nervous.
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Updated On September 30, 2026
