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The Emperor's Cook (Japanese: 天皇の料理番, Hepburn: Tennō no Ryōriban) is a 2015 Japanese television drama based on the novel Tennō no Ryōriban by Hisahide Sugimori, depicting the life of imperial cook Tokuzō Akiyama. It premiered on TBS on 26 April 2015, starring Takeru Satoh in the lead role. The 1st episode is 108 minutes, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th episodes are 64 minutes long. The series was well received by the public, earning the highest viewership rating in its time slot during its run time.

Plot

Tokuzō Akiyama is a good-for-nothing young man living in the countryside, who gets easily absorbed in activities he finds interesting, but quickly loses interest and moves on, creating trouble for his family. He is married off to a merchant household to teach him discipline, and his wife gradually grows to love his personality. Tokuzō, however, falls in love again: this time with cooking. As he delivers goods to the army kitchen, the army chef introduces him to cutlet, which prompts Tokuzō to learn the craft. On a whim, he decides to leave his wife to study cooking in Tokyo. Amid hardship and humiliation, the young man who never felt compelled to stick to a job, keeps his dream to become the emperor's cook at only 25 years of age.

Cast

• Takeru Satoh - Tokuzō Akiyama
• Haru Kuroki - Toshiko Takahama
• Kenta Kiritani - Shintarō Matsui
• Tasuku Emoto - Tatsukichi Yamagami
• Saki Takaoka - Ume Morita
• Gajirō Satō - Sennosuke Morita
• Sei Ashina - Kayano
• Ryū Morioka - Kurasaburō Akiyama
• Anna Ishibashi - Mitsuko Takahama
• Yoshiyuki Tsubokura - Okumura
• Jinta Nishizawa - Masashi Sasaki
• Daisuke Kuroda - Araki
• Takeshi Ōnishi - Sekiguchi
• Mamoru Watanabe - Sugiyama
• Hirotaka Ōkuma - Fujita
• Yūji Kido - Suzuki
• Ryōhei Suzuki - Shūtarō Akiyama
• Tetsuya Takeda - Professor Shōgo Kirizuka
• Hideaki Itō - Sergeant Yūkichi Tanabe (Cook of the 36th Infantry Regiment)
• Yumi Asō - Okichi (Shūtarō's lodging house landlady)
• Masaya Kato - Takeshirō Iogi (Chef to the British Minister to Japan)
• Yōjin Hino - Kinnosuke Takahama
• Satoko Ōshima - Harue Takahama
• Jun Miho - Fuki Akiyama
• Tetta Sugimoto - Shūzō Akiyama
• Kaoru Kobayashi - Kamaichi Usami (Chef of the Peer's Club)
• Hiromi Go - Japanese Ambassador to France Shin'ichirō Awano
• Noémie Nakai - Simone
• Kazuyuki Asano - Viscount Hayato Fukuba (Director of the Imperial Cuisine Division, Ministry of the Imperial Household)
• Kazue Itoh - Takigawa (Lady-in-waiting of Empress Teimei)
• Emi Wakui - Empress Teimei
• Zen Kajihara - Emperor Showa
• Sapphira Van Doorn - Françoise

Episodes

Production

The drama was filmed in various locations in Japan (including Fukushima, Ibaraki, Kobe, Okayama) and in France. Takeru Satoh took cooking classes to portray the character and did the cooking scenes without a stand-in.

Accolades

References

1. ^ "佐藤 健" (in Japanese). TBS. Retrieved 2016-09-16. trans
2. 【TBS】佐藤健主演『天皇の料理番』初回は15.1% (in Japanese). oricon ME inc. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
3. 26日スタート「天皇の料理番」。原作の主人公はかなりの「やんちゃ」佐藤健はどう挑むのか (in Japanese). Excite Japan Co., Ltd. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
4. 佐藤健さん「天皇の料理番」 (in Japanese). The Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
5. ^ "THE EMPEROR'S COOK Wins 4 Awards at the 2015 Tokyo Drama Awards!". TBS. 2015-10-26. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
6. ^ TBS official website (in Japanese)
7. From the telop of Emperor's Cook episode 10
8. SIS Company Inc. official profile page of Zen Kajihara (in Japanese)
9. 第85回ザテレビジョンドラマアカデミー賞 (in Japanese).
10. "吉田羊、熱愛報道後初公の場 関係者が制止で言及せず" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2016-09-16.

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Official website
• The Emperor's Cook at IMDb

• Japanese drama television series
• 2015 in Japanese television
• 2015 Japanese television series debuts
• 2015 Japanese television series endings
• Nichiyō Gekijō
• Television shows based on Japanese novels
• Japanese cooking television series
• Japanese historical television series
• Television shows set in Tokyo
• Television shows set in Fukui Prefecture
• Television shows written by Yoshiko Morishita