Japan's instant noodle inventor dies at 96

TOKYO: Japan on Saturday bade farewell to Momofuku Ando, known as the inventor of instant noodles that have become a global household product, after he died aged 96.

Ando died of acute heart failure on Friday, said Nissin Food Products Co, the company he founded in 1948 in the aftermath of World War II and built into a multi-billion dollar empire.

Japanese newspapers published lengthy obituaries of the businessman on Friday with the influential Asahi Shimbun praising him for bringing instant noodles to the world and into space.

The mass-circulation Yomiuri Shimbun said Ando started from scratch in developing an instant noodle which has grown with the age of mass consumption and added a new chapter in the history of the world's food culture.

Born in 1910 in Taiwan under Japanese occupation, Ando initially owned clothing companies in the cities of Taipei and Osaka while he was a student at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto.

After founding the precursor of Nissin, Ando put on the market Chicken Ramen, the first instant noodle product in 1958. The chicken-flavoured dried noodle cake could be served in minutes by pouring hot water over it in a bowl.

He invented the product, which soon became a hit, at a time when his business ventures were in trouble. As managing director of a credit union that went bankrupt, he had given up his assets to cover the debt.