Chairman Takeshi Kaga © 2007, Fuji Television Network

Want to meet the ultimate foodie? It's Takeshi Kaga—or at least the character he plays on Japan's cult classic, Iron Chef. Kaga is the show's MC, portrayed as a wealthy and eccentric gourmet who lives in his castle with a small army of fine chefs. The character's chief pleasure in life is staging food battles between his honored Iron Chefs and premiere chefs of the culinary world. It's the eccentric nature of Kaga's character that accounts for the flamboyantly sequined, Liberace-esque wardrobe he sports.

If you think you've seen Kaga before, it may have been in a PBS special with the international cast of Les Miserables; Kaga was Jean Valjean in Japan's 1994 production. He was also the first Japanese Tony in West Side Story (1977) as well as the first Japanese Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar (1976).