[Current Japanese Drama 2015] The Emperor's Cook/Tenno no Ryoriban 天皇の料理番

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The viewership rating of Episode 3 of “Emperor’s Cook” which was aired last May 10, 2015 is 12 % based on the Video Research survey, Kanto region.

Here are the ratings for each episode:

Episode 1 (4/26): 15.1%
Episode 2 (5/03): 11.4%
Episode 3 (5/10): 12.0%

credit: http://societas.blog.jp/archives/1027119302.html

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Tenno no Ryoriban Shooting Report

May 12th, 2015 (Tuesday)

~translation~

Tokuzo Serves

In the third episode, Tokuzo-san cooked and served Toshiko-san and Usami-san for the first time.

Cooking scene was of course nice,
but it was Toshiko-san’s expression that made us feel a pain.
While she was happy to hear Usami-san say he was promising …
Director said, ‘Feel loneliness than anxiety here.’

On the other hand, in the cooking scene,
Tokuzo-san was cute, asking Usami-san’s likes and dislikes earnestly,
and he moved at a good pace and comically.
But when he was cooking, he was very serious.
It was the first dish Tokuzo-san cooked,
so Takeru-san’s face looked a little nervous?
The sight of his conferring with the supervisor was impressive.

‘It is natural for Tokuzo to get nervous.
But it would be better if you could show his confidence, “I’ll prove myself to him!”’
They went on shooting talking like this.
In addition, as Takeru-san has been practicing cooking since last summer, he had to try not to be look skillful.
It was not good to be too skillful … but not good to be to clumsy, either.

Acting of facial expression … acting of cooking …
Anyway, the shooting took a lot of effort particular to ‘Tenno no Ryoriban’.

After the actual shooting of the last cut, when Director called, ‘Cut!’
Takeru-san could not help smiling with relief ^^

credit: stephany-310.tumblr.com

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TBS ‘Tenno no Ryoriban’:
The ‘Secret’ of Increasing the TV Viewing Ratings
May 13, 2015
~translation~

Topical serial dramas by commercial broadcasting stations that started in April are at the halfway point. The acting of the casts and ratings have often become a topic of conversation, but the struggle of those in charge of advertisement who inform the viewers of the appeal of the drama is little known.

Especially, ‘Tenno no Ryoriban’, featuring Sato Takeru (26), is TBS’s 60th anniversary special project and its promotion project has been going on for a long time. The shooting started in December last year but its promotion project had started in October.

About the poster, they conferred carefully with each agency which the casts belong to, based on the perspective of the drama’s world. Arranging the schedule of the interviews with dozens of the media, such as newspapers, magazines, and Internet companies, they often witness the shooting site, conferring with the persons involved like the producer at the same time.

The most distinctive feature this time is the collaboration with Café 1894 in Mitsuibishi Ichigo-kan Museum at Marunouchi, Tokyo. It serves the cutlet that made Akiyama Tokuzo, the lead character of the drama, decide to be a cook as a special menu.

The background of the drama ranges from Meiji to Showa, and Marunouchi is one of the important settings. The collaboration with the café fits with the concept of the drama and it took three months to realize it.

One of those in charge of the advertisement, Mr. M explains, ‘Aside from the advertising effect, it had to be successful as a business, so I conferred with them about twenty times.’ In addition, at Marunouchi, dozens of special posters created together with Mitsubishi are displayed.

Mr. M, who is also working actively on the Internet, emphasizes, ‘According to my experience, if the advertising effect spreads to one hundred thousand people, the ratings go up by 0.1%’. About placing the advertisement at Marunouchi, where big corporations stand side by side, in Chiyoda Ward, which has about eight hundred and twenty thousand people during the daytime and is one of the most populated areas in Tokyo, ‘Advertisement there is effective because that area is crowded with business people on weekdays, and with shoppers on weekends,’ he analyzed. Moreover he added, ‘How the lead character makes untiring efforts to be a first-rank cook should get to the heart of the business people’.

‘Tenno no Ryoriban’ aims to raise the ratings from Marunouchi, the center of Japan’s businesses. Mr. M said thoughtfully, ‘Even if the Internet has developed, in order to make some idea into reality, the relationship between people is important’. After he transferred to the publicity department, ‘In my work, I came to know more people,’ he said with a bitter smile, ‘Because of the social drink, I got up to 75 from 59 kilograms when I joined this company …’

Behind the great performance by the casts, a lot of involved persons are in the process of trial and error in order to develop the perspective of the drama’s world further. (MM)

source: http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/20150513/geo15051312150024-n1.html
credit: stephany-310.tumblr.com

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Latest magazine with stills from the next episode of “Emperor’s Cook”
credit: yskzmw via  __芹__

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Tenno no Ryoriban Shooting Report

May 14th, 2015 (Thursday)

~translation~

Learned to Know Paris

五百木-san appeared for the first time in episode 3.
It was he that taught Tokuzo about Paris.

By the way … do you know how to read五百木-san?
If you have watched the drama, of course you should know it^^
五百木 is pronounced ‘Iogi-san’.

Kato Masaya-san, who is playing this role, heard this name for the first time, he said.
‘Is it iOgi … or Iogi?’ He seemed to have difficulty pronouncing it.

Tokuzo-san started cooking in the British Legation, and in the third episode, he tried flambé.

During the shooting, the cooking instructor was beside him, teaching him and taking appropriate measures.

But the flame was so intense that Takeru-san made sure, ‘Are my e, e, eyebrows OK?’ …

Now, the British Legation I said is what we call embassy now.

after the fourth episode.

Please look forward to it ~!

credit: stephany-310.tumblr.com

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Takeru san, our super cool chef!
credit: 大大大大大梧桐

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Amusing “Emperor’s Cook” fan art. The facial expressions of Tokuzo’s father and father in law, in particular have been captured well
credit: kirapi

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“Emperor’s Cook” fan art by Ray.
Tokuzo trying to keep the big chef’s hat from covering his face. ^^

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Tenno no Ryoriban Shooting Report

May 16th, 2015

~translation~

Life of the Party, Shintaro-san

Now, the fourth episode is to be shown tomorrow.
We hope you’re all looking forward to the new development of the story.
Episode 4 will make a new chapter, so please don’t miss it!

Kiritani-san as Shintaro-san, and Sato Takeru-san as Tokuzo-san are,
as we’ve reported before, talking a lot closely outside shooting, too.
‘Wherever Shintaro-san is, there is always laughter!’ is really not an exaggeration.
In the scene where Okumura, the chief of the Kazoku-kaikan, invited Tokuzo to play,
somehow Shintaro-san happily stood up as if to say, ‘OK, I’ll go!’ in the rehearsal.
To his ad lib, the staff stopped him in a calm way saying, ‘Ah, don’t come with them, Shintaro-san’.

Looking a little bewildered at that (lol), he set the groove.

Talking of inviting him to play …
in the fourth episode, you’ll see Tokuzo-san’s unthinkable? stile …
It might not matter so much to the main story, please wait and see it, too!

credit: stephany-310.tumblr.com

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Sanskei Digital

Sato Takeru ‘Cutting Vegetables Has Become My Hobby’
May 17, 2015

… With Close-cropped Hair, First Time Since Junior High School Days, He Aims at ‘the Top’ as a Cook.

(Photos by 寺河内美奈: Actor Sato Takeru-san, acting in ‘Tenno no Ryoriban’)
‘Tenno no Ryoriban’ TBS Television Sunday at 9 pm

There was a naughty boy in Fukui, who gave up anything easily and was regarded as a nuisance by those around him. One day, he ate a cutlet by chance, which led him to decide to be a cook, and after hard training, he climbed up to the top of the heap –. The life of Mr. Akiyama Tokuzo (徳蔵) (篤蔵 in the drama), who served as the grand chef in Imperial Household Ministry from Taisho through Showa Era, was made into a drama.

‘Tokuzo-san was an actual person who lived a life full of ups and downs. I’ve never acted this kind of character before, so the role of Tokuzo is a “challenge” for me.’

In the third episode, he got promoted to ‘a cook in charge of vegetables’ in the kitchen of Kazoku-kaikan. ‘Tokuzo-san does what he should do properly, and heads straight toward his goal. That’s why he is loved by people around him. I think he is very happy and I have come to like Tokuzo-san better and better as I play this role’, he said.

He has an established reputation about his protean acting according to the character he plays. What he is careful about in this drama is ‘the right touch of the acting’, he said. ‘Tokuzo-san is a totally different type of person from me. I have to elaborate on the character to some extent, but too much elaboration makes the character inhuman. I’m acting very carefully about it.’

He is acting in the cooking scene, too. Originally, he never cooked before. So he started practicing cooking hard at a cooking school four months before the shooting began. ‘I’m cutting vegetable into strips at home. Cutting vegetable has become my hobby’, he laughed.

 Despite his image with long hair in the film ‘Rurouni Kenshin’ and others, he made a sudden transformation to close-cropped hair. ‘I have close-cropped hair for the first time since my junior high school days, when I was a member of the baseball club. I myself think I’ve changed a lot.’ His favorite dish is sushi and especially he likes kohada (medium‐sized gizzard shad). ‘I feel the craftsmen’s soul in sushi-chef’s work’, he said.

I asked him the high light in this drama. ‘His wife, his colleagues, his master … The high light of this drama is ‘the shapes of love’ from people who support a man. Of course the shapes of love are various and different. Please look forward to how they support Tokuzo, and what will become of Tokuzo’s dream in the future.’ His bright, stylish and somewhat mysterious atmosphere is very attractive.（本間英士）

credit: stephany-310.tumblr.com

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OFFICIAL STILLS OF EP. 4 OF "TENNO NO RYORIBAN"
from the official gallery
credit: takeruzone via takerubabe321 tumblr

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The viewership rating of Episode 4 of “Emperor’s Cook” which was aired yesterday May 17, 2015 is 12.7 % based on the Video Research survey, Kanto region.

Here are the ratings for each episode:

Episode 1 (4/26): 15.1%
Episode 2 (5/03): 11.4%
Episode 3 (5/10): 12.0%
Episode 4 (5/17): 12.7%

credit: http://tvmeter.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-4978.html

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Tenno no Ryoriban Shooting Report

May 17th, 2015

~translation~

Right back where he started …?

Did you enjoy the fourth episode?

Now, today
Tokuzo’s way to becoming a cook, which had been opened at Kazoku-kaikan, was closed.

It was because Araki-san told about his working in British Legation.
You may think, ‘Damn Araki ~’,
but Tokuzo-san also did Usami-san wrong, so it’s hard to say.

Yamada sensei, who is in charge of the historic authenticity, explains the relationships among the cooks in those days in detail here,
so please read it and enjoy the drama.

As I told you at the beginning, in the fourth episode, Araki-san was very active in a bad way,
and he was always shouting anyway.

Starting with the knocking-over-the-pan-of-oil incident …
to the way of cutting potatoes …

In the scene where he called over Tokuzo-san and said, ‘Cut the potatoes’,
he talked with Director,
‘This will mark the beginning of Araki’s turn. So it will be good if we can create a restlessness in the air.’
We, the staff in charge of the website, could only anticipate a nasty turn at their restless smile …

Araki-san is played by Kuroda Daisuke-san.
He called over Tokuzo-san, who was far away from him,
and ordered him to cut potatoes …
‘Isn’t it … a little too much harassment? (lol)’
he said quietly.
Actually Araki-san is kindhearted ^^

credit: stephany-310.tumblr.com

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Shintaro and Tokuzo

photo credit: miyuki0210 via takerubabe321 tumblr

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Tenno no Ryoriban Shooting Report

May 19th, 2015

~translation~

Tokuzo’s Counterattack

Tokuzo-san cut potatoes into ‘chateau’.

It seems that Tokuzo-san couldn’t help counterattack
against Araki’s harassment in frustration, and he stormed Araki …

One of the concerns in this scene was not only knife cuts of ‘julienne potatoes’

but also the acting of his anger on Araki, keeping Fukui dialect.
After the rehearsal, Tokuzo-san practiced his lines again and again with the dialect instructor, the producer, and Director.
‘That way of saying is too harsh.’ ‘Try talking with staccatos.’ ‘More rhythmically.’

Not only how the dialect sounds but the tempo and timing of Tokuzo’s lines was closely discussed for this scene.

credit: stephany-310.tumblr.com

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After the episode #1, poeple said on twitter, ‘The knife didn’t cut well because it was Sakaba-to.’

And after the episode #4, they called him ‘Imo-kiri Battosai (Potato-cutter Battosai)’ on twitter.

LOL

credit: stephany-310.tumblr.com

 

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Takeru san and Haru Kuroki for +Act.mini magazine vol.29
Tokuzo and Toshiko of “Emperor’s Cook”
credit: 竹棘sumi

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“Emperor’s Cook” was featured in magazines.
credit:  かおる♥健 32321

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Tenno no Ryoriban Shooting Report

May 20th, 2015 (Wednesday)

~translation~

Amazing Skills

In the fourth episode, many of you were surprised at Tokuzo-san’s amazing skills in using a kitchen knife, right?
In Tenno no Ryoriban’s cooking scenes, we don’t have any stand-in at all, and thus, of course, Sato-san himself is using a kitchen knife.

Enomoto-san had been given the stamp of approval by the cooking instructor before he started practicing cooking; ‘You have a talent for a cook!’
He said, ‘I want the viewers to know “It’s not done by a stand-in!” But on the other hand, if they think, “It must be done by a stand-in. It’s too fast!” it will also be good.’
But surely, including in the close-up shot of their hands, the casts are doing all the cooking by themselves.

For your information … to prepare the potatoes already cut into ‘julienne’,
each staff of cooking supervising section went through an ordeal of peeling one hundred potatoes.
Of course they are all professional, so it might be nothing special,
but more than one hundred potatoes a person is quite a large amount, isn’t it?

Talking of the pleasure of cooing scene,
the instructors serve us meals using these materials for the shooting later …
Salad, potato galette, we sometimes have a gorgeous dinner^^

Anyway, before the rehearsal, Tokuzo-san had been practicing cutting potatoes ‘julienne’ at a terrific pace.
After the actual shooting, when Director called, ‘Cut!’ he expressed his satisfaction; ‘All right!’

In the future, there will be more highlights as a more developed cook, so please look forward to them, too.

credit: stephany-310.tumblr.com

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Tenno no Ryoriban Shooting Report

May 22nd, 2015 (Friday)

~translation~

Opening of Banzai-ken

Now, the fifth episode will be aired the day after tomorrow.

After Tokuzo-san got kicked out of Kazoku-kaikan, he found
a restaurant named ‘Banzai-ken’, which sounds somewhat lively.
Not only the name but the couple who are running the restaurant are also lively … (lol)）

Sato Gajiro-san, who plays Sennosuke-san, the owner of Banzai-ken, is very cute.

He has different atmosphere from Kiritani-san, but he also softens the mood of the shooting site.

From the fifth episode on, the story will be set in Banzai-ken.
Tokuzo-san faces cooking in earnest, meets an obstacle … climbs up …
anyway, with ups and downs.

In addition, from the sub-title written in ‘Co-Producer Iida’s Most Dreary Days| Facebook …
it seems that you’ll see a change in the relationship between Tokuzo-san and Toshiko-san.

What fate will be waiting for Tokuzo-san returning to Fukui …?

The fifth episode of Banzai-ken arc starts at 9 pm on Sunday, the day after tomorrow.

Don’t miss it ~!

*note by steph*
The subtitle is ‘the Result of the Young Couple’.

credit: stephany-310.tumblr.com