Entertainment

Iron Chef Japan gets a new chairman

‘Iron Chef ” — the camp-classic, original Japanese edition — is coming back.

And it will have a new, younger Chairman Kaga — but that’s the problem.

“Iron Chef” — which began in Japan in ’93 — became a cult hit in the US in the late ’90s when the Food Network dubbed the show into English.

The hammy voices — which were so obviously added later — reminded viewers of bad Saturday-morning TV Kung Fu shows, and the show took off here.

Thirteen years after it left the air in Japan, the show is going back into production — but with a new chairman, a singer named Hiroshi Tamaki.

The original chairman, Takeshi Kaga — who acted as a sort of feudal host of the show — is not returning, though no reason why was given.

In Japan, fans have taken to the Internet to protest the change — saying that Tamaki is too young and too good-looking for the host role.

Kaga was already a well-known movie actor with a larger-than-life presence when he took on the role of chairman in the early ’90s.

Food Network stopped airing the over-the-top Japanese version nearly a decade ago. But using the same over-dramatic format, it created “Iron Chef America” in 2005 starring Bobby Flay and Mario Batali, among others.

It is expected that Food Network will try to get US rights to the new Japanese version after it debuts .