Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient. The series ended on September 24, 1999, although four occasional specials were produced from January 5, 2000, to January 2, 2002. The series aired 309 episodes. Repeats are regularly aired on the Food Network in Canada, the Cooking Channel in the United States, and on Special Broadcasting Service in Australia. Iron Chef can be viewed on Peacock TV in the United States. There are 5 spinoffs, with the latest being Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend.
Masaharu Morimoto is a Japanese chef, best known as an Iron Chef on the Japanese TV cooking show Iron Chef and its spinoff Iron Chef America. He is also known for his unique style of presenting food.
Chen Kenichi, whose name is often romanized Chin Kenichi, was a Japanese chef and restaurateur best known for his role as the Iron Chef Chinese on the television series Iron Chef (料理の鉄人). Nicknamed The Szechuan Sage, he wore a yellow outfit and rose into Kitchen Stadium holding a large Chinese chef's knife in his hand. He was the only Iron Chef to have held his position throughout the life of the show. He was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a Japanese father of Han Chinese ancestry, Chen Kenmin and his legal name was Ken'ichi Azuma.
Hiroyuki Sakai is a Japanese chef who specializes in French cuisine. Sakai is best known as the second, final, and longest-serving Iron Chef French on the Japanese television show Iron Chef, first appearing at the beginning of 1994 and continuing to appear over the show's nine further seasons. Sakai has the third best winning percentage of the Iron Chefs, trailing only his Iron Chef French predecessor, Yutaka Ishinabe and the first Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba. He was named the "King of Iron Chefs" after emerging victorious from the show's grand finale, a tournament involving all the active Iron Chefs. He went on to defeat the top chef in the world, Alain Passard, in the final Long-Gang Chicken battle. His record on Iron Chef is 70–15–1.
Masahiko Kobe was a celebrity chef specializing in Italian cuisine, most notable as the "Iron Chef Italian" on the television series Iron Chef, where he appeared wearing a chef's uniform decorated like the Italian Flag and holding a tomato.
Iron Chef America is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the original Japanese program, the program is a culinary game show. In each episode, a new challenger chef competes against one of the resident "Iron Chefs" in a one-hour cooking competition based on a secret ingredient or ingredients, and sometimes theme.
Marcus Samuelsson is an Ethiopian-born Swedish-American celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He is the head chef of Red Rooster in Harlem, New York.
Koumei Nakamura, is a celebrity chef. Most famous for being the second Japanese Iron Chef on the show Iron Chef, he has worked at numerous restaurants such as the Oriental Hotel in Osaka, Nadaman in the Hotel New Otani, and the Nadaman Singapore in the Shangri La Hotel. He later became the manager of Nadaman in the Hotel New Otani. He now has his own restaurant in Ariake, Tokyo. On Iron Chef he wore a purple outfit trimmed with gold in the Japanese style.
V6 was a six-member Japanese boy band formed by Johnny & Associates. The group debuted on November 1, 1995, with the single "Music for the People", which was used as the image song for the 1995 World Cup of Volleyball. Their first four singles, including "Music for the People", were all cover versions of the same-titled Eurobeat songs composed by Italian producers such as Giancarlo Pasquini, Andrea Leonardi, Alberto Contini, Sandro Oliva.
Downtown is a Japanese comedy duo from Amagasaki, Hyōgo consisting of Hitoshi Matsumoto and Masatoshi Hamada. Formed in 1982, they are one of the most influential and prolific comedy duos in Japan today. They are best known for their stand-up acts, hosting numerous Japanese variety shows and their sarcastic, short-tempered stage personas.
Ron Siegel is an American chef who formerly worked in San Francisco. In August 2012, it was announced he was joining San Francisco restaurant, Michael Mina, as executive chef. He had been Chef of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, taking over for Chef Sylvain Portray in 2004. Siegel is perhaps best known for his 1998 appearance on Iron Chef, becoming the first ever U.S. citizen to win in Kitchen Stadium. His cooking style is known for blending haute French cuisine with subtle Japanese touches.
Hitoshi Matsumoto is a Japanese comedian and filmmaker. He is one half of the comedy duo Downtown, alongside Masatoshi Hamada, and is one of the most popular comedians in Japan. He was born in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture.
Masatoshi Hamada is a Japanese comedian best known as the tsukkomi half of the popular owarai duo Downtown alongside Hitoshi Matsumoto. His nickname is Hama-chan (浜ちゃん). Hamada is married to Natsumi Ogawa, with whom he has two children.
Toshiro Kandagawa was a Japanese chef, known primarily for his strict following of classic Japanese cooking styles.
Onihei Hankachō (鬼平犯科帳) is a series of historical novels written by Japanese author Shōtarō Ikenami. Following the character Heizo Hasegawa in the Edo period of Japan, Ikenami wrote the first story for the December 1967 issue of the light novel magazine Ōru Yomimono published by Bungeishunjū. It was well-received and began serialization in January 1968. Ikenami wrote 19 books in the main series before he died in 1990. As of 2021, the series had 30 million copies in circulation.
Arpège is a 3 Michelin-star French restaurant in Paris. The chef is Alain Passard. It was previously known as L'Archestrate by Alain Senderens. Passard bought the restaurant from Senderens in 1986.
SMAP×SMAP, often referred to simply as Sma-Sma, was a Japanese television variety show hosted by boy band SMAP. Debuting on April 15, 1996, it was produced by Kansai TV and Fuji TV and aired on Fuji TV every Monday from 10:00 p.m. to 10:54 p.m. (JST) until it ended on December 26, 2016.
Hōsei Tsukitei, formerly known as Hōsei Yamasaki is a Japanese solo comedian and rakugo performer, signed with Yoshimoto Kogyo. He is best known for being one of the five members of Downtown Gaki no Tsukai's regular cast. His role on the show is usually divided up between the suberi-kyara and the ijime-kyara.
Yoru no Hit Studio, was a Japanese music television program. Broadcast live weekly on Fuji TV from 1968 until 1990. During its broadcast history, it frequently changed its titles, presenters, air time and day. The program is also colloquially known as Yoru Hit and Hit Studio.
