Аспаздық әке (Aspazdyq äke)

Japanese manga series

Cooking Papa (クッキングパパ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tochi Ueyama. It has been serialized in Kodansha's seinen anthology magazine Morning since June 6, 1985. Kodansha has collected its into individual tankōbon volumes and it as a total of 168 volumes as of March 2024, making it one of the longest manga series by number of volumes. The story revolves around a salaryman who can cook well and full recipes for the dishes featured in each chapter are provided at the end of the chapter. The series has been adapted into a 151 episode anime television series of the same name by Eiken and directed by Toshitaka Tsunoda. The anime series was originally broadcast in Japan on TV Asahi between April 1992 and May 1995, A Japanese television drama adaptation aired on Fuji TV on August 29, 2008. Cooking Papa won a Special Award at the 39th Kodansha Manga Awards in 2015.

The story revolves around a salaryman named Kazumi Araiwa who can cook well but is unwilling to let it be known within his workplace. He lets everyone in the company believe that his wife Nijiko Araiwa cooks his meals when, in truth, she could not prepare anything. While he cooks every dish that is found within his daily tasks everyday in life, he still needs to take care of his son Makoto Araiwa and later his baby daughter and Makoto's baby sister, Miyuki Araiwa.

Cooking Papa is written and illustrated by Tochi Ueyama. He was born on February 22, 1954 in Fukuoka City, now Hakata ku. Ueyama began drawing manga in elementary school and pursued it as a career by his first year of junior high school. He officially began as a manga artist in the late 1970s. A one shot manga by Ueyama titled Cooking Boss was published by Akita Shoten in a few issues of Monthly Shōnen Champion in 1982. The story follows Ajitomo Araiwa, a high schooler who loves to cook. Shortly thereafter he achieved a serialization in Kodansha's weekly anthology Morning with Ōaza Aza Basara Chūzaijo, which centered around a rural police station. Its wholesome and heartwarming slice of life themes set the tone for his next work, Cooking Papa, which was picked up by the same magazine. Cooking Papa originated as a casual sketch by Ueyama depicting a father cleaning a house while carrying a child on his back. He was asked by the staff at Morning to expand on the concept. The author had himself learned to cook at an early age while home alone with his siblings. Weekly production on Cooking Papa starts with Ueyama preparing a dish and photographing every step for his assistants to illustrate. Ueyama uses common ingredients found at a local supermarket close to his home, stating he wants anyone to be able to prepare the meals. An original food called onigirazu was depicted in the manga's 22nd volume. This is a modification of traditional Japanese rice balls (onigiri) but is quicker and easier to make. Onigirazu was posted on recipe sharing websites such as Cookpad around 2015, decades after the original chapter was published, eventually leading to the food's international popularity. Despite the timing of the series' debut, Ueyama claimed that has never had a progressive agenda when writing it in this regard and that he chose the premise because it was interesting. Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes, with the first one published on January 18, 1986. Until October 2023, 167 volumes have been released.

The anime of Cooking Papa was aired on TV Asahi Thursday every week from April 9, 1992 to May 25, 1995.