Jealous noodle chef takes revenge

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From Richard Lloyd Parry in Tokyo


YEAR after year, as Yoshiro Haga’s wealth and fame increased, his old friend and mentor, Toshio Kawashima, could only look on in jealous fury.

Mr Haga’s business grew and expanded while his friend sweated unrecognised in his single shop. His face appeared on television and in magazines, while the older man laboured in obscurity. Yet the secret formula on which Mr Haga’s success was based had been given to him by Mr Kawashima. Finally the sense of resentment became too much.

One night, Mr Kawashima and a colleague picked up Mr Haga, tied him up, put a bag over his head, and drove him around for six hours beating him up, to teach him what happens to those who steal secrets. Yet this dispute was not about industrial chemicals or a cure for cancer, it was over a recipe for Japanese noodles.

On Tuesday, Tokyo police arrested Mr Kawashima for the kidnap and assault of the man acknowledged as the creator of some of Japan’s finest ramen, or noodle soup. Mr Kawashima is said to have told police: “I taught him everything he knows about making a good soup and running a business, but he never greeted or thanked me. So I thought I’d make him taste a bit of pain.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1693013,00.html