(un)Official Hattori Yukio Fanpage!

Irasshai!

Every fandom needs sub-fandoms. Iron Chef has its share; there's a Kishi Asako fanpage, a fanpage for the women of Iron Chef commercials, a Kaga Takeshi fanpage (well, there used to be, anyway; looks like that particular student isn't at that university any more) (but there's a fanpage about Kaga's outfits...) and at least two fanpages dedicated to the Iron Chefs in general.

That's all very well and good. But my favorite Iron Chef personality isn't one of the chefs, isn't Kaga, and isn't one of the regular judges -- though I admit that Dietman Kurimoto-san has a certain charm, and Iron Chef Emeritus Ishinabe-san is a total babe.

Nope, my Iron Chef hero is that mysterious, soft-spoken guy on the left, the font of culinary trivia and wisdom, the "color commentator", whose occasional flashes of whimsy reveal a great depth of character. If I had the option of meeting in person any one, but only one, of the Iron Chef personalities, I'd opt to meet Hattori Yukio.

Photo Gallery

Except where noted, these pictures were captured by me from Iron Chef show videos, using MacTV. (Click on any thumbnail for a larger pic)

	Entering the Kitchen Stadium to challenge Nakamura, having abandoned "his trademark suit" for traditional garb.
	Ready to challenge Nakamura. Note the spoon tucked into his hakama where there'd customarily be a folded fan...
	Looking "very heroic."
	"His eyes seem to glitter behind those glasses."
	Waiting for the judgement at Nakamura's retirement battle. Really, there's no way he could've won it, and I'm sure he knew that; this, for me, was the real picture of heroism in that episode...
	Bowing to Kurimoto-san (who's just been introduced) at the opening of the 2000 Dishes Special Battle. Douzo yoroshiku!
	Being introduced himself at that same show. (I love this, and so did the commentators at the time)
	In Hattori Nutrution College whites -- a flashback from an older battle.
	As president of Hattori Nutrition College (pic gotten from their site)
	Great portrait from the "Gourmet NORI World" site, where there's a page about him. I think he's some sort of advisor to them.

Facts & Links

• 
  Visit the Hattori Nutrition College Website (it's all in Japanese, so much the worse for me...)
• According to an interview with him in Food Press Magazine, in addition to appearing personally on Iron Chef, he's also appeared on "Bistro SMAP" (SMAP (Sports Music Assemble People) is a JPop "Idoru" group of charmingly scruffy-looking twenty-something boys, who star in (among other things) a variety show called "SMAPxSMAP", one segment of which dresses them up in chef outfits for some cooking... They've produced a cookbook...) He's also head of a "France Cooking Academy" association as well as being president and chairman of the board of Hattori Nutrition College. (All this from trying to find out his birthday! AltaVista searching in Japanese is fun!)
• He was born in 1945, the Year of the (Wood) Rooster.
• An interview (in Japanese) from Human Imaging Magazine with a very cool picture (a fascinating place to find an interview with him! I wonder what it's about?)
• His message from the1997 Symposium on World No Tobacco Day (a 1Mb Quicktime Movie) (You can see the intro page for the message too, if you like, which contains the text of the message in Japanese.) (As near as I can make out, his message is that smoking deadens your tastebuds; if you can't discern flavors, you can't make delicious cooking, and if you can't make delicious cooking, you can't make good-for-you cooking either.)

Feedback!

I'd like your feedback, especially if you're a Hattori fan. If you know anything about him, or have any pictuers of him that I don't have here, or can translate any of the Japanese pages for me that I have linked from here (particularly the Food Press one), I definitely want to hear from you. If you can arrange for me to meet him, I'll be your friend for life. ;)

Thanks for Visiting!

This page last modified 1/8/99