Yakitate!! Japan (TV)

The term "Japan" in the series does not mean the country Japan. It's a pun; since bread in Japanese is "pan", the term actually means "Japanese bread".

Yukino smokes Black Devil cigarettes.

Reproductions of several of Azuma's JaPans are sold in Lawson convenience stores in Japan.

In Ep 37, Pierrot is reading the Flight Manual for the P51 Mustang (a WW2 fighter), not the one for the flying boat they're in.

In the final episode, you can spot Ash from Pokemon in the crowd.

Kanji Time in Yakitate! Ja-pan: Tsuki in Tsukino is Moon. Yuki in Yukino means snow. Kanmuri means crown

The Yakitate!! 9 was originally the Yakitate!! 25 in the manga.

A parody of FIST of North Star when Ken Matsushiro explains about the yeast, Hatsuga Genmai and the four elements of the brown rice which it can be helpful to people's health.

In Episode 5, when Kawachi was doing research on how to make the ultimate French bread, the cover of one health magazine showed a girl with softball. This was taken from one of Hashiguchi Sensei's earlier works called "Windmill." (First volume published in 1998). At that time, Hashiguchi Sensei still had his full name written in Kanji, whereas during the publication of Yakitate!! Japan, he changed to have Takeshi be written in Hiragana.

During the competition in Episode 7, an animated version of Dr. Yukio Hattori is featured on the judging panel. Dr. Hattori is, as the anime says, the president of the Hattori College of Nutrition, and is more widely known as a very knowledgable commentator on the popular cooking show Iron Chef.

The yellow haired mamono that eats yellow-tail fish mentioned by Kuroyanagi in episode 30 is a reference to Gash Bell from Konjiki no Gash Bell.

Quedam is a reference to the Cirque du Soleil show Quidam. Another Cirque show, Saltimpanco (i.e. Saltimbanco) was mentioned in Episode 33 as a rival circus that had travelled to Japan before "Quedam".

In episode 44, there is a spoof part of "Initial D" shown while Mikhail Schukapper is talking about his past

In Episode 48, there is a scene where Pierrot disguises himself as Conan of "Detective Conan".

In episode 50, Kuroyanagi is reading the Epoch Times. The headline "Roddick crashes out in first round" is from the Aug 31, 2005 edition.

In Episode 55, a Dragon Ball Z Skit-Parody about Super Kuroyanagi (Chou-Saiyajin Goku) battling with a refrigerator-cladded Kyousuke (Freeza) in DBZ due to Kuroyanagi's reaction. It progresses to become Super Kuroyanagi 2 and 3 (Chou-Saiyajin Goku 2 and 3) due to Kazuma's Ja-pan.

In Episode 56, a Parody of One Piece due to Kazuma's Wafuu Japan (Tenobe Man) as Kuroyanagi reacts as Monkey D' Luffy himself.

Tetsuo Iwashiro (or at least Tetsushou) from the Manga Wild Life takes a cameo or special participation in Episode 58 as a doctor and a judge by the voice of Kuroyanagi's heart.

In episode 59 there is a parody of Naruto and Sasuke from the series Naruto.

A spoof-parody of Lord Of The Rings in Episode 68. Where Shigeru took a role of Legolas, Meister Kirisaki as Gandalf and Yukino as Sauron. Plus the loquat owner as the gollum (remember the precious connotation) Also Tsukino took a role of Arwen

The basic concept of the reaction in episode 68 was taken from the extended volume 10 omake from the manga. In the omake, the old man was not present, and the Lord of the Rings parody was not as apparent. During Azuma's (Azuzu's) dream, the loquat asked to be made into a tart, and at the end of the omake, in the real world, Azuma is experimenting with making a loquat tart.