Kitta Izumi, known as Izu-sama amongst her fans, is best known for her roles as Rainbow Dash in the Japanese dub of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Cordelia in Milky Holmes, and Kuroki Tomoko from Watamote. But aside from being a seiyuu, she is also just as well-known for her love and affection for gyoza; she herself and media alike proclaim her a Gyoza Critic and has released 2 books of her own centered around gyoza.
Her love for making and eating gyoza has been approved as being on par with that of a true professional that she is invited to Utsunomiya's Gyoza Festival yearly and often hosts her own gyoza cooking classes fans can attend. Like Kagawa Prefecture is known for udon, Hokkaido Prefecture is known for milk, Ehime Prefecture is known for oranges, this city of Utsunomiya is known around Japan for its top-tier gyoza.
Consider that. A seiyuu invited to the top gyoza capital of Japan every year. The city admits her passion is real.
2017 Gyoza Festival marks her fourth year as the Utsunomiya City PR Ambassador. So naturally, she felt much more relaxed this year working with the same MCs year after year. During her talk stage, she claimed that the staff at the festival are so used to her by now that they no longer treat her as an MVP; which she enjoys, after all, because it shows that the staff are also more comfortable with her. Matter of fact, the staff forgot she was a guest and didn't warn her when to come on stage until 5 minutes prior (which she made sure to rag them about).
On Saturday November 4, she appeared on stage during the festival opening ceremony/ball drop...
...and personal talk stage!
She unfortunately left shortly after her talk stage in order to start setting up for her Dinner Show at a nearby hotel (which I will write in detail in a later post).
Izu-sama did not speak during the opening ceremony because it was a more formal occasion to commemorate the start of the festival. During her talk stage, though, she went all out as she normally does.
For those interested in watching the entire talk stage, an Izu-sama oshi recorded the stage so we can all bask in the glory that is Izu-sama eating and commenting on gyoza!
I also got the lucky opportunity to showcase my nationality when the MC and Izu-sama inquired who came from the furthest location for this event. Since I've lived in Kochi Prefecture now for a little over 3 months, I can't quite say I came from America SPECIFICALLY for the Gyoza Festival in Utsunomiya, but............I'm not lying when I say I'm from America. There was one fan who says they came from Philippines to see Izu-sama, but when I raised my hand saying I am from an even further location, she turned in my direction and responded, "Oh! America! ...Hi~!" (Yes, in English!)
So here is my ode to the Filipino Izu-sama otaku:
Dear Filipino guy,
Sorry I stole your thunder.
But I am not sorry, because I now turned Izu-sama's English switch on.
Sincerely,
tsukingkong
As could be seen from the first few seconds of the second video on the talk show linked above, she also briefly used English to express her satisfaction with the gyoza she was tasting.
Then
She turned towards me for confirmation to make sure she was using the correct English word.
And even pointed out that I was wearing her Pancake Gyoza shirt.
So naturally, all eyes of the entire stage and crowd were on me, and some nice Izu-sama wotas in front of me all crouched down so she could get a better view of me.
Thank you fellow wotas.
If you have watched any of her radio programs or talk shows lately, she has been using a lot of English due to her stay in America this past month. Her sister lives in America and is married to an American, so naturally, she has picked up on English enough to be able to communicate with her western family members and make new friends. So if you are a western fan thinking about coming to any of her events, fret not, her English is on point!
Aside from her few moments of English on stage, she also enjoyed picking on her fans by putting gyoza up to her mouth, putting it down, then back up because she was having too much fun watching fans massively taking photos the moment she put food up to her mouth. Her exact words: "It's so funny watching everybody get so excited watching me eat! I just want to keep teasing you guys and pretend I'm going to eat when I'm not."
But that's one thing that stands out the most about the Utsunomiya Gyoza Festival: yes, the food is good, but you can take pictures whenever and wherever you want! If you are a Izu-sama oshi, this is the ultimate event to wait for all year. Those who have gone to many events will know that most seiyuu events prohibit cameras, so kudos to the staff for allowing photos during this event.
Since it is a gyoza festival, I also enjoyed eating the various types of gyoza dispersed throughout the park this festival took place! This year, there were a total of 28 restaurants offering their own gyoza, and each set of 3 gyoza were 100 yen; that price can't be beat!
Day 2 of the Utsunomiya Gyoza Festival is just as good, if not better, than Day 1 of the event. The main attraction for Izu-sama fans in Utsunomiya on Day 1 of the festival is the Dinner Show afterwards as well as her various talk stages, but Day 2 of the festival is when she releases her handmade festival collaboration gyoza!!!
This year, she has been extremely obsessed with curry gyoza, so even in her gyoza class she had about a couple of months ago, it was focused on this theme. This time, she opted to add some cheese into the gyoza, and... IT WAS HEAVENLY.
Izu-sama spends an entire day with other staff members to make and fold gyoza the day before the festival begins, they freeze it, and prepare/make the gyoza on the day of. The staff members begin selling her gyoza at a special booth at the end of the park as she is on the main stage during the opening ceremony, so the gyoza go on sale to the public at 10AM and until all 1200+ gyoza are sold.
This year's gyoza had a nice crusty exterior, and although it was called Curry Cheese Gyoza, it had a stronger cheese flavor than curry. When I took a bite into the gyoza, the cheese oozed out of the gyoza and into my mouth similar to the feeling you get when you eat Gushers; the juice oozes out into your mouth the moment you add pressure to the gummy surrounding the center. The curry still had a strong flavor, but was lessened in flavor by what tasted like cream cheese that she used inside. I personally had to leave right after eating due to my work/commute schedule, but if you have the opportunity to, you MUST stay until the end of the day. Day 2 is when she really spends all day hanging around the festival and even personally sells gyoza to fans shortly after the opening ceremony is over.
This year, she also had a live radio recording at an adjacent booth that fans were able to watch for free, so that was an added bonus for many as well!
Overall, this is an event that wotas and normies can enjoy alike, but ESPECIALLY if you want to get close to Izu-sama, it is definitely worth the trip out to Utsunomiya!
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[Coming up!: Izu-sama Dinner Show (November 4, 2017)]