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I never expected to have this available for everyone today, but thanks to a tip from an e-mailer, I’m able to have it up on the day the episode aired in Japan. This episode is in Japanese with no subtitles. Except for the removal of the commercials, this episode is presented the way it aired on Japanese television earlier today.
The first battle features new Iron Chef French Yuusuke Suga vs. Kenichi Miyanaga. The theme ingredient is Sake (Salmon), the same as the very first Ryouri no Tetsujin episode 19 years ago this month.
The second battle features new Iron Chef Chinese Yuji Wakiya. You may remember that Wakiya was named an Iron Chef during the Millenium Cup special, but he never did battle in Kitchen Stadium as an Iron Chef until now. The challenger is also familiar with Kitchen Stadium. He is the son of the original Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi.
Without further ado, I present to you the Iron Chef Revival Special. In the words of the new Chairman, Good Gastronomy.
(Today has seen the greatest number of visitors in the history of the Iron Chef Collection. Thanks to everyone for coming and participating in the discussion. Let’s keep it going.)
John Krisfalusci says: Yay! Thank you for uploading this! I will see for myself if this new Show and Cast are worthy of the original Iron Chef Japan ^_^.
I have almost all the uploaded original Iron Chef Japan episodes and this download will certainly be an exception to my huge library of old shows! Cheers~
ES says: John,
Do you have the early Ishinabe battles? Footage from the 1st season, including Ishinabe is impossible to find (except for his Christmas battle and the 2000th dish team battle)
– ES
John Krisfalusci says: No, unfortunately I, like many other Iron Chef Japan fans over the years collected episodes through torrent and anything that was left out, you can find on this great site~!
The ones that are available as far as any Yutaka Ishinabe episodes are the ones you mentioned (vs. Jacques Borie and the one uploaded recently vs. Mr. Sawaguchi).
I do know for a fact that video stores in Little Tokyo, California and other Korean/ Japanese video stores used to have them on VHS to rent but this was years ago. I remember my aunt would rent every week and watch Iron Chef in 1993 when we lived in the Valley. I also know there was no dubbing, no subtitles but just the actual air date in it’s original format because I would always ask my aunt what they were cooking and talking about LOL.
I just hope some are just collecting dust and waiting for someone to pick them up and rip them to digital format instead of being destroyed forever >.<
tetsujin070561 says: John, when I first began taping the show and collecting old episodes back in 1997, all the J-video stores out here in Cali had them for rental. However, all the older rental copies were impounded and therefore lost to us. Those tapes, marked “Hobankyo” were licensed to those stores for a specific period of time. When that term ended, the stores were supposed to destroy the tapes. Of course, none did, and when Fuji TV realized this, it got court orders in US District Court and sent State and local law enforcement to raid the stores and impound all the tapes. Needless to say, this didn’t go down very well with the proprietors of those stores. Just one more reason why Fuji TV has long been hated by just about everyone here in the States who has done business with them.
John Krisfalusci says: Good heavens! I had no idea Fuji TV were that protective over their property rights… I had a good friend who worked at a Korean / Japanese video store in Southern California who said that each series from various companies would give certain dates of when to rent, how many weeks to rent out etc… and when those dates ended, the tapes were just ‘overwritten’ with newer series or shows to save store space, they called it ‘video recycling’ back then.
Along the way, some tapes do get untouched or lost in a huge volume of back archives and they just sit in a back section for years until a new owner will come and find no use for them and just give them away or toss them in the dumpster.
I suppose now these old tapes if they do exist somewhere and long forgotten are quite valuable and worth lots of money now no? I am in Northern California now but I am sure San Francisco has video stores that behaved just like Southern California and probably any major city across US . I will keep a good eye out as always! ^_^ Cheers~
John Krisfalusci says: Well this is what I think after watching the premiere.
The new chairman, Chairman Tamaki doesn’t seem to have the ‘oomph’ that Chairman Kaga had. Maybe it is his first time, you can tell he was a bit nervous from his breath holding angst.
When he unveils the ingredients, the impact of his words is nowhere near the passion that Chairman Kaga gave. And if you are going to use ‘Good Gastronomy’, at least give it some emphasis! ^_^
Other notables, commentator Dr. Hattori looks tired but great commentary, Iron chef Kenichi looks like my dad now. I suppose the stress along with age can do that to you, but he is bubbly and energetic as ever!
Oh and is it true that Iron chef Rokusaburo Michiba is really sick or was it part of the show?
One of the past challengers Sommelier Tasaki is back as a judge and he sure looks confident as ever! For those who are curious, he battled Iron Chef Kobe in 1998 and won (secret ingredient manuro).
You see Honorary chef Yutake Ishinabe and he looks like he aged very charmingly. Reminds me of a skinny Santa Clause now hehe.
As far as the camera presentation while they are cooking and the outlay of the stadium looks very updated and great and to the point! The new floor reporter caught me offguard but I suppose that is the new trend to be somewhat hip LOL.
And to see some of the clips of home life at the end is soo humbling. Reminds me of my childhood hehe.
Well that’s my impression I actually enjoyed watching and again thank you for uploading this! I saw all of it without skipping and took notes along the way! haha.
Backup says: I would not be surprised if Michiba’s illness was true, I’m honestly still surprised he’s alive.
tetsujin070561 says: Battle MANURO, really John? I’ve heard the old saying that a great chef can take chicken sh*t and turn it into chicken salad, but…..(lol)
Benny Kallstrom says: Many thanks for uploading this special battle. I love this new Iron Chef Japan.
Backup says: Gotta correct you here chief, the first battle was Miyanaga vs. Iron Chef French Suga.
ES says: I very much enjoyed; thank you SO much for the effort in presenting this to the rest of us that didn’t have the means to watch live.
I liked just about everything; would prefer that the Chairman got to dine but I am sure some things had to change. The flamboyancy of the original shows and I am sure that it will continue. I was hoping IC French would have Ishinabe’s green outfit, and I wish ALL of them were holding something, but it’s ok. Also, IC Japanese and French look so young! Just like Chen when he started.
The formula is essentially like the original and it works better than any other incarnation I have seen from any other Iron Chef-type show, US or international.
I surely hope Michiba-san is just playing up the illness for the storyline, but, as somebody else said, as the oldest of the original Tetsujin I too am surprised that he is still alive, and pleasantly so.
Not sure how I feel about the 4th Iron Chef space, but at least whoever ends up populating will get to be right next to instead of off to the side. I still think it should be Kobe, or at LEAST Kobe battles once to set the Italian tone and then gives way to another.
– ES
Benny Kallstrom says: It would be great if you somehow get the next battle to show here on ironcheffans
I’ll be honest and say that it has been much easier to find this than I ever thought it would be, especially this quickly. At the risk of jinxing everything, I don’t think it’s going to be hard to get the regular episodes each week.
I’d love to be the source people go to for the episodes because more traffic brings more comments and more information we might not otherwise have. But I’m happy for any ways people get their hands on the episodes. It’s all about bringing Iron Chef back.
John Krisfalusci says: @tuthead Looks like everyone is waiting for the next episode as well! ^_^ Hehe
I hope you enjoyed them as much as we did!
It’s not bad, but I wish the new Chairman would be a bit more lively and crazy like Chairman Kaga did. I can tell you one thing, I’m very jealous of his looks and he wouldn’t have a problem getting all the pretty women in that stadium! Haha ~ Cheers!
TC says: Do you mind if this episode and the following ones are put up as torrents (with all credit going to you, of course)? It’d allow more people to see the show and hopefully get a subbing group to take it up.
No problem at all. Just wondering what tracker(s) you had in mind for posting it? If you have smaller, more J-entertainment/anime/dorama centric sites in mind, that would be a lot better than the large public trackers that might attract the wrong attention. (Fuji has basically ignored the older Iron Chef episodes on the web, but they might not appreciate this new one being out there.)
FYI, there is a version of this special up on d-addicts right now. It’s not the same file I have, but it appears to be of very good quality. I do not know if that capper plans to continue uploading once the regular shows start.
Miwa says: The evaluation among hundreds of Japanese audience on Japanese web site was not good unfortunately. Because of music, saund and reporter (comedian, not professional caster like before)’s skill etc.. So I wrote “come on Fuji TV!!” comment on the web. If not, I am afraid that it will be finished soon.
So…Michiba was sick? The show said? It reported a short documentary that his disciple the young challenger “Miyanaga”, Michiba’s disciple, got serious sickness and Michiba walked around and searched for a good doctor for him and took care of him so hard. Famous Michiba was kind to him different from job teaching and brought fruits to the hospital and peeled for him by himself. That’s why they both had tears on their eyes. Michiba’s young disciple said “He is almost my father”.
Miyanaga was an office worker for 1 year after university and quit soon. And started part time job at Japanese Izakaya bar, and by chance, worked as an assistant staff at kitchen sutadium at old IC series by chance just as a part time worker and Michiba found his talent and suddenly hunted into his restaurant “Rokusan-tei, Ginza”. You can find Miyanaga in 1997 world cup in Kyoto’s video supporting Iron chef, Japanese “Komei Nakamura”.
Chen Kentaro’s carrier at Chinese is short. Because he was an Italian chef at first 5 years! But he changed to Chinese after watched father Kenichi’s final IC battle with Sakai (french) at the old IC’s final show. (laughing) Also, Kenichi fell down for his sickness and he studied at China and took over his reataurant.
tetsujin070561 says: Hello, Miwa-san. Thank you for your reportage on the reaction to the new show. My main complaint is that the new KS is very, very ugly – like rococo on steroids, and almost serves to distract the viewer from everything else. I also felt that the cooking segments were a bit short, but maybe I am imagining that. Also, I feel the new graphics are inferior to those displayed on the old version.
The cooking segments were fine, and the tasting segments were okay. I am waiting to see how subsequent battles appear when they are aired. Too bad famous food critic Mr. Yamamoto is not on the panel, nor Kurimoto-san, Kano-san and Hosogi-san. The “nomination” segments are a waste of time, IMHO, and I hope they will not continue.
The art and science of haute cuisine has changed greatly since 1999. It would be interesting to see a tetsujin and chosensha who are well-versed in “molecular gastronomy” for instance.
Heather says: The Kitchen Stadium might seem ugly to some people, but I like the look of it, it’s a lot less “Western” and more Edo Castle. It’s a bit over the top, but imo that’s how it should be. A sterile, steel kitchen like in the American version is good for straight-up, cold presentation, but this has a lot more operatic flair. Hopefully Tamaki-san will warm up to the task and suit this stadium a bit more. He is too modern in his manner of speech, he needs to be more exaggerated. Not so he’s becoming Kaga, but less restrained. It’s understandable though, they have to be careful with the first episode.
I think the cooking segments are only short this time because of the long introduction and the two battles. It’s likely they’ll return to their usual length once the show has teethed. As for the nomination panels… does anyone know how long those are set to go for? I wouldn’t think it would be more than a few weeks. Surely they must pick a fourth Iron Chef promptly!
Speaking of a challenger skilled in molecular gastronomy, they had a challenger on ICA who brought in a laser! I haven’t seen that episode, so I don’t know how well molecular gastronomy works in a speed-based environment (a lot of popular techniques involve freezing, very delicate measurements and things to be served absolutely immediately, so it would seem to be a severe disadvantage) but it would be interesting. I hope to see more South and South-Asian cuisines like Indian and Vietnamese rather than more Chinese/French/Japanese too as these cuisines are very popular now, especially with younger people.
tetsujin070561 says: Heather, “Edo Castle” is absolutely perfect…however, I still have a soft spot for the original series KS set-up, because I think the more Spartan prep and cooking areas were conducive to the display of culinary technique. Just a quibble, though.
I also had the thought about the shortness of the cooking segments possibly being due to the extra proceedings inevitable in a re-launch.
You’re certainly correct about the time-horizon problem for many “molecular” techniques, although we’ve seen the really simple stuff on ICA such as “caviar” making and foams. I’m sure flavored smoke would be no problem, as would all kinds of stuff such as the serving of granulated ingredients, etc. Some of the more involved processes would be impossible, however.
It would be great to see chosensha who specialize in many different cuisines.
Korean and Thai specialists would seem natural, as well.
Jack says: Just wondering unfortunately I do have an interest in Japanese; the language and culture but I still only have very basic knowledge of the language. So was wondering if anyone has seen or could point me in the direction of a subtitled version of this video?
tetsujin070561 says: Jack, I think the only chance of that would be a “fansubbed” video.
Miwa says: tetsujin070561-san,
Thanks for your comment. You are quite right. I, too, thoght that every object and graphics art were cheap kid’s toy. Volgar. Maybe young generation Fuji tV staffs made it by just watching old video without any advice by old staff..?
Nomination system is, yeah, wast of time, but it may continue for a while because they say that is their main purpose of new IC in order to gather attention from high class vourmet people’s nomination volition according to Fuji TV’s web. After new IC is decided, it will stop, I guess?
As you say, the art and science of haute cuisine has changed a lot since 19 years ago. Chairman Tamaki said that too. In fact, 19 years ago, we general young Japanese didn’t know Paprika nor western vinegar nor Robuｃhon in those days^^! Now every Japanese can find them in every local super market. Hattori-san said that IC show let us know world wide food and changed chefs’s social status.
BTW, Old ICJ’s video can not be found in any video shop in here Japan too. Sad. Fuji TV’s right protection maybe.
PS
Old French Tetsujin “Sakai” will open his restaurant in DFS in Waikiki, Hawaii soon, right?! I want to go.
tetsujin070561 says: Yes, Miwa-san, I was startled by the graphics. Maybe this can be changed.
I think that Dr. Hattori’s comment about the original show and its impact on the social status of chefs is perfect. Ryouri no tetsujin was, in my mind, the first show to exhibit, and thus demystify, haute cuisine and the culinary arts.
Fuji TV is ever-vigilant about its IP rights. I remember well that some of my friends and acquaintances in the original US community received some rather threatening letters from Fuji’s IP attorneys. Supposedly, Food Network, which had just begun airing the dubbed versions purchased from Fuji, attempted to intervene by explaining to Fuji that it was creating a lot of issues for the FN version with its heavy-handed efforts against US RnT website owners, including a possible viewer boycott of the FN version…!! So, I’m not surprised that there isn’t anything in any store in Japan. By the way, we’re still hoping to one day locate a copy of Mr. Iron Chef 1994 and the Hong Kong specials. For a few years after the series end, the specials were rebroadcast around New Year’s on SkyPerfect 721/739. It would be great if Fuji TV were to rebroadcast them sometime.
I heard about Sakai-san’s new restaurant in Waikiki. If you go, please enjoy it, and feel free to take photos and post them here…(hint, hint, please).
Tom Curtis says: Anybody have any subs? 😀
Lee B. says: You uploaded the new ICJ! I feel like a teenager! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!
This is absolutely thrilling. Thank you so much!
