On January 5, 2007, Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant noodles and instant cup noodles, passed away at the age of 96 in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Born Go Pek-Hok in Imperial Japanese Taiwan on March 5, 1910, Ando began his business career in the textile industry at the age of 22 and moved to Osaka, Japan, in 1933. At the end of World War II, Japan lost control of Taiwan and Ando was forced to choose between Taiwanese or Japanese citizenship, choosing Taiwanese citizenship (in order to retain family property) while continuing to live in Japan. In 1948, he was convicted of tax evasion and served two years in jail. Afterwards, he lost nearly all of his assets in a failed business venture. In 1958, Ando successfully developed a method of flash-frying noodles and marketed the first pre-cooked instant noodles as a product of a previous venture, Nissin Foods. The instant noodles quickly proved to be popular not just in Japan but around the globe. In the 1970s, Ando introduced the Cup o'Noodles following observations regarding how Americans ate his instant noodles. The new product, which further improved the convenience of his instant noodle product, combined with the decreasing costs of producing ramen boosted Ando's and Nissin Foods' success.

In 1966, Momofuku Ando became a Japanese citizen following his marriage Masako Ando and changed his name in the process, adopting the Japanese form of his Taiwanese given name and his wife's last name. They had two sons, Hirotoshi and Koki, and a daughter, Akemi.