Fujita Noriko Returns
Air Date: 03/15/2006
Contestants: Sugita Kaoru (杉田かおる), Fujita Noriko (藤田憲子), Aoki Sayaka (青木さやか), Sakaguchi Ryouko (坂口良子), Nemoto Harumi (根本はるみ), Takigawa Hanako (多岐川華子)
Guest Judges: Kataoka Tsurutarou (片岡鶴太郎), Hosokawa Shigeki (細川茂樹), Tsuchida Teruyuki (土田晃之)
Theme Ingredient/Recipes:
Potatoes / Croquettes and Cream Stew
Recap: I love the things I learn about Japan when I'm doing the research on these episodes, especially uncovering what all the furor was over Fujita Noriko appearing in this episode. Although this is likely old news to sumo fans, Fujita Noriko was the wife of one of the great sumo wrestlers, and mother to two of the top competitors today. There was a nasty divorce about four years ago, and last May her ex-husband passed away. When it came to the funeral arrangements, there was a heated arguments between the two brothers about who should be the chief mourner. The Japanese press being what it is, this turned into an overnight media orgy (complete with live updates, interviews, etc that took place over weeks). Hmm, not unlike the LiveDoor raid that aired 'live' on most networks in January and caused an episode of this show to be pulled because it featured the CEO as a celebrity judge.
Anyway, they made a big to-do over her return to the show. I expected it to be the main focus of this episode, but instead it turned into a battle between Sayaka and Harumi over who would be the Captain for the April 12th special. After a quick intro of the ingredients and the start of Cooking Time, the show cut to the third of Sayaka's cooking challenges. This time the star she was cooking for was Tsugawa Masahiko (津川雅彦) and the dish he chose was stewed fish head (a traditional festival dish I believe). She did a very good job and ended up getting the Top-Epu ranking but not the Special-Epu that she needed to clinch. From what I can gather, the producers decided to have mini-battle during this episode between Sayaka and Harumi. I could be wrong, but I think Sayaka needed to beat Harumi to Captain the team.
Super-brief Cooking Time once again (there was footage in the previews that didn't even air here), then right into the Tasting Time.
Kaoru was the first up, and as they did a brief recap of her cooking, you knew that things weren't going to go well. She used Bleu Cheese in her Cream Stew. The tasting was fun as one judge exclaimed "Mai" (as in bad) and Kaoru asked hopefully "Umai?" (as in delicious). Apparently it smelled like a seal. Her croquettes were floating in oil and a bit on the raw side. She's just 7 episodes away from being hit with the 'Iron Rule'.
Ryouko had a strange combination for her Cream Stew as well. Sour Cream and Yogurt in combination is not good. I couldn't tell how her Croquettes were as they skipped the judging (if anyone can post a translation of why they were skipped, it would be appreciated.) It seems to be a common thing they are doing now and for the same reason each time. I think they do this when the dish isn't either really bad or really good.
Harumi was up next, and she pretty much hit it out of the park. Everyone loved both of her dishes. Then it was Sayaka's turn, and when she brought out a Brown-colored Stew instead of a Cream-Colored Stew, everyone was skeptical. But she also did a very good job with both dishes and got approval from everyone.
That battle over, left us with Haruko and Noriko. Haruko is on the path to replace Yingling as one of the worst cooks on the show. Not only did her Cream Stew feature huge chunks of potato (she basically cut them in half), but the sauce tasted like a hair conditioner. Better still, her Croquettes turned out more like dumplings because she tried to deep-fry them in a pan 2/3rds full of water and only 1/3rd full of oil. The oil floated on top of the water and the Croquettes sank to the bottom of the pan. instead of deep-frying them. They ended up chunky and raw.
After all this chaos, Noriko was pretty much an afterthought. She did good on the Cream Stew but had problems with the Croquettes.
The Ranking was a bit fun, as Kaoru's nameplate left the building and bumped Hanako from the Bottom-Epu ranking (but not by far, they share the same electrical post off the street). Harumi won a Special Epu Ranking while Sayaka is firmly positioned as a Top-Epu. Now this is where my lack of Japanese makes this analysis difficult.
It would appear that Sayaka will captain a team in the April 12 episode (the same one that she had for the New Year's Special. There will be 3 other teams competing (2 girls and 1 Men's team led by a woman), then the showdown between Sayaka and Joushima. It will be a 3-Hour Special and we won't get another episode until then. (which gives me time to catch up on the older shows).
Ranking (out of 104):
Nemoto Harumi: ?? -> 5 (Special Epu Ranking)
Aoki Sayaka: ?? -> 22
Sakaguchi Ryouko: 21 -> 63
Fujita Noriko: 79 -> 80
Takigawa Hanako: 103 (No Change)
Sugita Kaoru: 94 -> 104 (Bottom-Epu)
Contestants: Sugita Kaoru (杉田かおる), Fujita Noriko (藤田憲子), Aoki Sayaka (青木さやか), Sakaguchi Ryouko (坂口良子), Nemoto Harumi (根本はるみ), Takigawa Hanako (多岐川華子)
Guest Judges: Kataoka Tsurutarou (片岡鶴太郎), Hosokawa Shigeki (細川茂樹), Tsuchida Teruyuki (土田晃之)
Theme Ingredient/Recipes:
Potatoes / Croquettes and Cream Stew
Recap: I love the things I learn about Japan when I'm doing the research on these episodes, especially uncovering what all the furor was over Fujita Noriko appearing in this episode. Although this is likely old news to sumo fans, Fujita Noriko was the wife of one of the great sumo wrestlers, and mother to two of the top competitors today. There was a nasty divorce about four years ago, and last May her ex-husband passed away. When it came to the funeral arrangements, there was a heated arguments between the two brothers about who should be the chief mourner. The Japanese press being what it is, this turned into an overnight media orgy (complete with live updates, interviews, etc that took place over weeks). Hmm, not unlike the LiveDoor raid that aired 'live' on most networks in January and caused an episode of this show to be pulled because it featured the CEO as a celebrity judge.
Anyway, they made a big to-do over her return to the show. I expected it to be the main focus of this episode, but instead it turned into a battle between Sayaka and Harumi over who would be the Captain for the April 12th special. After a quick intro of the ingredients and the start of Cooking Time, the show cut to the third of Sayaka's cooking challenges. This time the star she was cooking for was Tsugawa Masahiko (津川雅彦) and the dish he chose was stewed fish head (a traditional festival dish I believe). She did a very good job and ended up getting the Top-Epu ranking but not the Special-Epu that she needed to clinch. From what I can gather, the producers decided to have mini-battle during this episode between Sayaka and Harumi. I could be wrong, but I think Sayaka needed to beat Harumi to Captain the team.
Super-brief Cooking Time once again (there was footage in the previews that didn't even air here), then right into the Tasting Time.
Kaoru was the first up, and as they did a brief recap of her cooking, you knew that things weren't going to go well. She used Bleu Cheese in her Cream Stew. The tasting was fun as one judge exclaimed "Mai" (as in bad) and Kaoru asked hopefully "Umai?" (as in delicious). Apparently it smelled like a seal. Her croquettes were floating in oil and a bit on the raw side. She's just 7 episodes away from being hit with the 'Iron Rule'.
Ryouko had a strange combination for her Cream Stew as well. Sour Cream and Yogurt in combination is not good. I couldn't tell how her Croquettes were as they skipped the judging (if anyone can post a translation of why they were skipped, it would be appreciated.) It seems to be a common thing they are doing now and for the same reason each time. I think they do this when the dish isn't either really bad or really good.
Harumi was up next, and she pretty much hit it out of the park. Everyone loved both of her dishes. Then it was Sayaka's turn, and when she brought out a Brown-colored Stew instead of a Cream-Colored Stew, everyone was skeptical. But she also did a very good job with both dishes and got approval from everyone.
That battle over, left us with Haruko and Noriko. Haruko is on the path to replace Yingling as one of the worst cooks on the show. Not only did her Cream Stew feature huge chunks of potato (she basically cut them in half), but the sauce tasted like a hair conditioner. Better still, her Croquettes turned out more like dumplings because she tried to deep-fry them in a pan 2/3rds full of water and only 1/3rd full of oil. The oil floated on top of the water and the Croquettes sank to the bottom of the pan. instead of deep-frying them. They ended up chunky and raw.
After all this chaos, Noriko was pretty much an afterthought. She did good on the Cream Stew but had problems with the Croquettes.
The Ranking was a bit fun, as Kaoru's nameplate left the building and bumped Hanako from the Bottom-Epu ranking (but not by far, they share the same electrical post off the street). Harumi won a Special Epu Ranking while Sayaka is firmly positioned as a Top-Epu. Now this is where my lack of Japanese makes this analysis difficult.
It would appear that Sayaka will captain a team in the April 12 episode (the same one that she had for the New Year's Special. There will be 3 other teams competing (2 girls and 1 Men's team led by a woman), then the showdown between Sayaka and Joushima. It will be a 3-Hour Special and we won't get another episode until then. (which gives me time to catch up on the older shows).
Ranking (out of 104):
Nemoto Harumi: ?? -> 5 (Special Epu Ranking)
Aoki Sayaka: ?? -> 22
Sakaguchi Ryouko: 21 -> 63
Fujita Noriko: 79 -> 80
Takigawa Hanako: 103 (No Change)
Sugita Kaoru: 94 -> 104 (Bottom-Epu)
posted by Idol Chef @ 11:07 PM
5 Comments:
At 3:32 AM,
Anonymous said…
Actually, they said that Sugita's dish *smelled* like seal. If it tasted like it, I guess that comment could be taken as a compliment ^ ^
At 4:21 PM,
Michael said…
For Ryoko's other dish, the subtitle was something along the lines of try a little harder next time. I don't have a hard copy of the show with me, so...
I think that you are right, this is a new thing that they're doing to cut down on time. However, last week they cut down on a good dish, so I think that they're either randomly picking dishes or picking dishes that people would expect just by looking at it that it would be fine...?
As for the comment about Takigawa Hanako, what they were saying is that her cream stew's white sauce tasted like shampoo and conditioner that you find in hotels...conditioner is called "rinse."
It looks like Aoki Sayaka will head the team after all. But I was pretty depressed that there was next to no Takeuchi Emi in this episode. I was kind of hoping that the "Aoki Sayaka vs. Takeuchi Emi" battle they joked about a few episodes ago would become reality, but...
I think that the funniest moment in this episode was when Fujita Noriko was talking about her Croquette, how she took the two different potatoes and turned them into one. They made a joke about how it was like her sons, trying to always keep them together. And then Sugita Kaoru said, "But they're still separate, aren't they?" Everyone cracked up, but you could tell that Kaoru was like, "Holy Shit I shouldn't have said that," especially because it got really quiet right as she said it.
At 5:55 PM,
Idol Chef said…
Thanks for the info, I modified the post a bit to reflect that, but left the additional info in the comments. Torn if it would be better to incorporate or just leave as comments (so credit goes where it's due ^^ )
I love the info about Kaoru's comments, she's always a little mouthy from what I've seen. IIRC she was the one happily getting drunk during the New Year's special. I too am saddened by the way Emi-chan is losing screentime. I felt way too otaku when she appeared with Reindeer antlers for that one Xmas episode. But I don't know if I could take her appearing on the show again, since the only two times I've seen her compete she always ends up in tears.
At 6:12 PM,
Michael said…
awww...you should recap the emi episodes, as I haven't seen any of them, but simply am aware of their existence...
At 7:03 PM,
Idol Chef said…
I will, they were before the Prime-Time episodes so should be relatively soon. But they are also episodes that I've already archived and would have to locate. Right now I'm working through things that are sitting next to the TV.
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