role in Hattori's place for the battle. Hattori also battled Nakamura in his final battle with tuna as the theme owing to the longstanding Hattori-Nadaban rivalry, with Nakamura prevailing with tuna as the theme. Takashi Saitō (not to be confused with the baseball player): The top apprentice of Chen's father Chen Kenmin who also coached Kenichi after Kenmin passed away and then challenged him with prawns at the theme. Both chefs recreated one of Kenmin's signatures, prawns in chili sauce – Saito recreated Kenmin's original recipe, while Kenichi recreated his father's modern version of the dish (with ketchup, which he then served Canapé Style) and went on to win. In the 2000th Dish Special, Kaga said that Chen's prawns were his favorite dish to that point, and Chen himself also said it was the battle he remembered most including because it was the one battle that his mother Yoko watched in person. Isao Makio: A French chef who was a classmate of Sakai's at Izumi Municipal Junior High School in Kagoshima Prefecture, the two sat next to each other but barely talked, though the two were also on the same train to seek jobs and got off at different stations. After Sakai returned to Kagoshima to visit his parents' grave and unexpectedly reunited with his class and teacher, the class relayed his wish to meet Sakai and challenge him, which would be the first time they had met in 40 years. Sakai prevailed with Kagoshima black pig as the theme and the class in attendance. Lin Kunbi (no wins in two battles): A celebrity Fuchien Chinese chef who battled Michiba to a draw with potatoes as the theme, leading to the very first overtime in show history where Michiba prevailed with sweet potatoes as the theme. He later also faced Nakamura, who won with bell peppers as the theme. Kenichi Miyanaga: A graduate of Hattori Nutrition College who was also an assistant for several Kitchen Stadium Battles and eventually hired by Michiba after Michiba retired as an active Iron Chef and after Miyanaga graduated. Michiba chose him to face Morimoto in a battle to also push Morimoto, and Morimoto won with sweetfish as the theme. Yūji Wakiya (one win in three battles): A master of "neo-Chinese" cuisine, Wakiya lost to Iron Chef Sakai in Battle Sea Urchin but defeated Iron Chef Chen with papayas. He later became part of Chen's