Hold on to your kawaii, because it’s time for the annual J-POP Summit—one of the world’s biggest Japanese pop culture events! The festival, held every summer in San Francisco, introduces the West to the latest in Japanese trends from music, games, tech-innovations, and food. Oh, the food. Imagine Willy Wonka’s factory but filled with samplings and sales of some of the best Japanese fare from around the world, and this year ramen lovers are going to be in heaven.

In addition to the always entertaining lineup of professional Kendama performers and gothic maid rock bands, this year delicious Japanese delicacies are front and center. Launched in 2016, Ramen Summit returns this year as part of the main event and features top-rated ramen purveyors who will be on hand to show off their best broth and noodles.

West Coast ramen chefs Hinodeya Ramen & Bar, Marufuku Ramen, Orenchi Beyond, Nojo Ramen Tavern, and Yoroshiku will all showcase their best bowls to fans who are ready to slurp. To call these vendors masters is more than deserved. Hinodeya Ramen will be serving up their special Pirikara Spicy Dashi Ramen, a 130-year-old recipe that’s so flavorful it’s been preserved through four generations and was voted best ramen in Northern Tokyo.

For those who don’t care about the intense process of curating the perfect bowl of noodles, you are terrible humans. But if quantity is what you value over quality, you can always enter the ramen speed-eating contest. May those who enter have an iron stomach.

Slurping noodles is just the tip of the food pyramid. In addition to the noodlefest, there will also a separate ticketed event for those who want to partake in a Sake Summit, where prominent sake-makers and distributors from Japan and the U.S. will come to show off the best of the premium sake tasting. Award winning sakes will be available to taste including one that has been curated since the Edo period of Japan (1603 – 1868).

Aside from mouth-watering food, the weekend event will also display the latest in Japanese technology, including VR experiences and even a dating simulation game. Although if you can’t find the love of your life at the ramen pavilion, maybe true love doesn’t exist.

The J-POP Summit is Saturday, September 9th and Sunday 10th at Fort Mason Center For Arts and Culture in San Francisco. For more details and ticket info go to www.j-pop.com.

Will you be heading to the J-POP Summit? Let us know in the comments and share you photos with us by tagging @nerdist and @justjenn on twitter!