Iron Chef

Iron Chef is a Japanese television program made by FujiTV. The original Japanese title is Ryōri no tetsujin (料理の鉄人, "Ironmen of Cooking"). It began airing in 1993 as a half-hour show, and after 23 episodes was expanded to a one-hour format. Aired as a prime-time TV show, the series lasted for six years and more than 300 episodes. The final regular season episode was broadcast in September 1999, with specials continuing to 2002.

Related Topics:
FujiTV - 1993 - September - 1999 - 2002

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The program has an eccentric flavor, even for a game show. Its host is the flamboyant Takeshi Kaga (鹿賀丈史), known on the show as Chairman Kaga (主宰). Its extravagant production values contrast with well-informed yet curiously pedestrian voice-over narration and polite but generally insipid commentary ("This is really very good") from the judges, not all of whom are food professionals.

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The English name Iron Chef comes from the show itself: Kaga would use this translation of the Japanese title when summoning his chefs at the beginning of the battle.

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