Why Tokyo Ramen?
In 1998, a friend and colleague, Bill Marsh, and I planned to launch a site dedicated to Japanese popular culture, including music, movies, television and print media. Bill, whose Web design skills were far superior to mine, spent long hours putting together a beta version we decided to call Tokyo Ramen. We recruited music writer Steve McClure, media maven Phil Brasor and tabloid press expert Mark Schreiber as our collaborators. Then, in July, just as Tokyo Ramen was set to make its debut, Bill was killed while crossing a street by a speeding motorcyclist, leaving his wife and small son.
This tragedy, combined with our ignorance of Bill's work, put the site into a limbo from which it never emerged. Now, in my own small way, I would like to revive the Tokyo Ramen name in a new form -- and in Bill's memory.
