The New York Anime Festival has anime at its center, but the show is a celebration of the entirety of Japanese pop culture. Looking at our Guests of Honor -- illustrator Yoshitaka Amano, author Hideyuki Kikuchi, voice actress Rie Tanaka, and fashion designer Baby, The Stars Shine Bright -- you can see this pretty well. And I've got a new, exciting, and even more diverse name to add to this roster today. Chef Masaharu Morimoto -- star of Iron Chef and Iron Chef America -- will attend NYAF 2008 as a Guest of Honor.

Chef Morimoto got his start in Hiroshima where he spent nearly eight years studying sushi preparation and traditional Kaiseki cuisine. At the age of 25, he opened his first restaurant and quickly distinguished himself from his peers with a unique fusion of Western and Japanese cooking techniques and ingredients. Five years later, Morimoto sold his restaurant and traveled to the United States to further explore and define his fusion philosophy. Morimoto settled in Manhattan and spent the next few years working in some of New York City's most notable Japanese restaurants, culminating in the position of Executive Chef as Nobu Matsuhisu's famed Nobu Restaurant. In 1998, Morimoto's career jumped again as he was tapped to join the wildly popular television program Iron Chef -- a move which exposed his talents to the world -- as Iron Chef Japanese.

All of us here at the New York Anime Festival are honored to have Chef Morimoto join us this year. Masaharu Morimoto has done more to expose America to Japanese cooking than perhaps any other chef in the last decade, and we are eager to give him a platform in America's biggest city to celebrate his accomplishments and open a few more hearts, minds, and bellies to Japanese cuisine.

And festival attendees are then invited to visit Chef Morimoto's eponymous restaurant -- Morimoto -- from 7 to 9 PM on the last day of the New York Anime Festival for NYAF's Official After Party. Morimoto Restaurant is located at 88 10th Avenue in Manhattan. The New York Anime Festival's After Party will take place in Morimoto's downstairs bar and is open to all NYAF attendees, exhibitors, professionals, and press. Kanpai!