1月に亡くなられたので今は昔という感じですが、安藤百福さんが米紙や英雑誌で取り上げられてその功績を高く評価されていました。
本田のシビックたソニーのウォークマンと並び称され、なおかつそれらと決定的に違うことはチームの産物ではなく、即席めんは安藤氏個人の独力の開発であると強調されていました。特に、米紙が日本人の業績をここまで褒めることは非常に珍しいことです。今や、世界で1日に1億食という即席めんですが、それを最初に開発したのが安藤氏です。ここまで褒められると、日本人としては嬉しいですね。
The New York Times newspaper has paid a rare tribute to the late Momofuku Ando, Japanese inventor of the popular instant noodles, saying he made a great contribution to people around world.
The quality US paper on Tuesday carried an editorial, titled "appreciations to Mr. Noodle," which says that each day as many as some 100-million people eat instant noodles worldwide.
Mr. Ando, founder of major Japanese company Nissin Food Products, died of heart failure at the age of 96 last Friday. He was known for inventing the instant noodle, which is so convenient that only hot water is necessary to make it edible.
The editorial also emphasizes that the instant noodle was the product of Mr. Ando's own efforts and not something developed through team activities in post-war Japan such as Honda's Civic car and Sony's Walkman music gadget.
The editorial is of a rare kind US papers have issued to praise achievement by an individual Japanese.