Andō Momofuku - The ramen king and I: how the inventor of instant noodles fixed my love life: a memoir

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Table of Contents

GOTHAM BOOKS
Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL,
England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Published by Gotham Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First printing, May 2009

Copyright 2009 by Andy Raskin

All rights reserved

Ramen in the Morning (Asa Kara Ramen no Uta) and portions of Afterword 1 (Atogaki Sono 1)
from Spider Monkey in the Night (Yoru no KumozaruMurakami Asahido Cho Tampen Shosetsu)
1995 Haruki Murakami. Reprinted with permission.

Gotham Books and the skyscraper logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Raskin, Andy.
The ramen king and I : how the inventor of instant noodles fixed my love life: a memoir /
by Andy Raskin.
p. cm.

eISBN : 978-1-101-03281-7

1. Raskin, Andy. 2. Raskin, AndyRelations with women. 3. JournalistsUnited States
Biography. 4. EditorsUnited StatesBiography. 5. Authors, American21st century
Biography. 6. Man-woman relationshipsUnited States. 7. Ando, Momofuku, 1910-2007.
8. NoodlesJapanMiscellanea. 9. JapanDescription and travel. I. Title.
CT275.R2656A3 2009
973.931092dc22
[B] 2008032423

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors rights is appreciated.

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

http://us.penguingroup.com

FOR MY FAMILY,
WITH THANKS TO CAROL WASSERMAN

PROLOGUE

It is said that real human nature reveals itself under extreme conditions. As I starved in prison, I realized that eating was one of the highest forms of human activity. Perhaps I have to go back this far to trace the origins of the development of instant noodles, though I did not have the slightest idea for Chikin [sic] Ramen at the time.

Momofuku Ando, Magic Noodles: The Story of the Invention of Instant Ramen

There used to be a Japanese TV show in which two young hostsa male and a femalewould scream, I wanna ___! They always filled in the blank with some crazy thing, like sing a duet with Yasir Arafat! Then they would go out into the world and try to do what they screamed about, with one catch. They had to go apo nashiwithout an appointment.

Among the shows best-known episodes were I wanna eat Akashi-style dumplings with United Nations representative Yasushi Akashi!; I wanna officially change my first name, in honor of the Barcelona Summer Olympics, to Barcelona!; and I wanna get treated to sushi by the wife of the manager of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team! In their most famous adventure, the hosts screamed, I wanna trim Prime Minister Murayamas eyebrows! and Japans then highest officialan aging member of the Socialist Partylet them do it.

I was thinking of that show as the train sped from Kansai International Airport toward downtown Osaka, birthplace of Nissin Food Products. I was certainly arriving apo nashi. It had been two months since Mr. Yamazaki, a low-level employee in Nissins public relations department, stopped answering my e-mails. His silence suggested that there was very little chance I would get to meet Momofuku Ando, the ninety-four-year-old billionaire who, in 1958, invented instant ramen in his backyard.

As for why I wanted to meet Ando, I wasnt entirely sure. I suspected, though, that it had something to do with my love life.

PART I

LETTERS TO ANDO

I should be thinner. I should do yoga. I should be married like the people in the New York Times wedding announcements. I should be richer. I should be able to hit higher notes on the trombone, given that I have been playing the instrument for more than thirty years. I should be more discreet.

I should live closer to my parents so I can spend time with them, because one day they will die and I will feel more alone than I can imagine.

I should not be so concerned with my parents, given how old I am.

I should eliminate processed sugars from my diet. I should find great parking spots, the way my father always does. I should be less afraid. I should call my sister more. I should reestablish contact with my high school friends Dan and Dave and Sam, because if I ever do get married, Ill have few old friends at the wedding, but mostly because I miss them.

I should not write about the letters.

I should be in the moment. I should be taller. I should employ more adverbs and similes, and rely less on anaphora. I should own a big house on Belvedere Street and decorate it for Halloween. I should glide on the dance floor. I should have no cavities.

On Saturdays, when playing Ultimate Frisbee in the park, I should make smart throws and spectacular diving catches. I should not want attention or validation. I should give things another shot. I should be more organized.

When Grandpa Herman bought me the Partridge Family album for my tenth birthday, I should not have cried because it was not the album with I Think I Love You on it. I should be friendlier with the guys who run the body shop. I should keep things under wraps. I should not be suffering from what the inventor of instant ramen identifiedjust prior to inventing instant ramenas the Fundamental Misunderstanding of Humanity.

Because then there wouldnt be so many shoulds.

But there you are.

I should start in Uji City, on January 2, 2007.

Blessed by a stunning mountain landscape and famous for its fragrant green tea, Uji City is situated midway between Japans ancient capitals Kyoto and Nara. The region is home to Byodo-in, the 950-year-old Buddhist temple that decorates the back of the ten-yen coin, and to the tourist destinations known collectively as the Ten Spots, each in some way associated with one of the final ten chapters of

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