The Feb 1, 2007 issue of Shukan Bunshun
The Japanese magazine shukanbunshun just published an interview with Momofuku Ando’s eldest son (by his first wife) ???? (sorry, I don’t know the “English” version of his name), with some revealing details about Mr. Ando’s life.
As many people already know, Mr. Ando married his first wife in Taiwan and had his first child (????), then moved to Japan when he was 23. ???? was sent to Japan to be with his father when he was still a child, and found out that his dad had a second wife in Japan. He suspected that his dad married the second wife (also Taiwanese) while still living in Taiwan, and that he might’ve moved to Japan to hide the marriage. While living in Japan, Momofuku never sent any money to his first wife, who got by with help from her friends and relatives. And no, Momofuku and his first wife were never divorced. Unfortunately, Momofuku’s second wife died after having her first child.
Momofuku met his 3rd wife, Masako, during wartime, and it’s their son Koki Ando who is now the President of Nissin Foods. ???? lived together with Momofuku and Masako for a while in Osaka, and Momofuku even made ???? the president of Nissin Foods in 1981. Unfortunately, that only lasted for about 2 years as father and son clashed on company issues. Accordingly to ????, he was forced to resign by his father, and they didn’t talk to each other since. However, ???? spoke highly of his step-mother Masako, who apparently raised him as one of her own and even stood up for him during his conflicts with his dad.
In 1983, Momofuku hired a personal assistant, who was with him from morning to night. She was never married, and ???? suspects that they might have had a closer relationship, but there was no proof. She was also with Momofuku when he passed away.
After Momofuku died, ????’s sister (by Masako) begged and pleaded with him to go to the funeral. He didn’t, but finally relented and visited his dad’s grave.
(Sorry the links are in foreign languages. I wasn’t able to find anything in English about this.)
source: Yahoo News, Taiwan
LOL. in short, dude was a P-I-M-P. you can tell just by looking at him that he was a definitely a playa in his early days!
????: Ando Hiroshi.
Thanks for the writing.
Thanks for the clarification!
He was only married once. To Masaka Ando. Not 3 times