For the past 2 weeks, newspapers, tv, and blogs galore have been talking about the death of Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant ramen. Here is a collection of some of my favorite posts, videos, and links regarding Mr. Ando and instant noodles.
The animated version of the history of instant ramen (japanese only, unfortunately)
Cup Noodle’s history in graphic novel form.
Who wants a cup noodle timer!
This article has a great description of Mr. Ando’s last days: “On Thursday, the day before he died, Ando visited the company he founded and joined some employees for lunch. Chicken Ramen was served. He ate it.”
Hey, what a great article on Mr. Ando and ramen! (ok, it does talk about yours truly…but it’s worth reading! Honest!
This Cup Noodle commercial (filmed in space?!) celebrates Mr. Ando’s dream of instant ramen in space. (I really like the “no borders” tagline.)
A cartoon strip tribute to Mr. Ando.
…and finally…probably the most creative yet succinct eulogy I’ve read so far.
http://japundit.com/archives/2007/01/18/4764/
Mr adno was taiwnsee not Japanese his name was WU BAI FU, make that clear to the wortld
I have learned that the name NISSIN [??], for his firm, is comprised of two kanji, the first one [?]of course, NI, stands for NIHON or Japan. The second one [?], is a Chinese character for the CHIN Dynasty, when Wu Baifu was born. So in naming his company, he gave credit to both his adopted country, where he was always a gaijin, no matter how hard he tried to japanize himself, name included, and to his birth country/culture, China (Taiwan). I will try to find the kanji later. but this is true. NISSIN is an homage to the two parts of his soul.
?? = Nissin = Ni-Chin = Ni for Nippon, Chin for Chin Dynasty when Ando Sensei was born!
Comment by Danny Bloom ? 1/19/2007