Tokyo Michelin restaurant guide out in November

15 March 2007 by
Tokyo Michelin restaurant guide out in November

The first ever Tokyo edition of the Michelin restaurant guide will go on sale in November, the publishers have announced.

The book, which marks the 22nd country with a Michelin guide, will be only the second Guide to be launched outside Europe following the New York edition launched in November 2005.

Tokyo is believed to have the highest number of restaurants of any city with an estimated 300,000 eateries.

Michelin said its undercover inspectors - a mixture of Japanese and Americans - had been visiting Tokyo restaurants since April 2006.

The announcement provoked some defensive reaction from local chefs.

"The French do not understand anything about sushi and are so far behind in handling fresh fish. So how can they judge us?" asked Yoshikazu Ono, head chef at Sukiyabashi Jiro, a Tokyo sushi restaurant.

He told the Associated Press: "If they want to appreciate Japanese cuisine, they must first study Japan's history and culture. Then they can write their guide."

But Naret said the inspectors would be eventually all be Japanese and insisted the Michelin Guides were not influenced by French taste.

"We're not a French guide," he said. "In France we're French, in Italy we're Italian, in Spain we're Spanish. "In New York we've represented the culinary diversity of having 45 different types of cuisine."

The red-cover guide, which will be the 16th in the collection, will be published in Japanese and English versions.

View a full UK list of Michelin-starred restaurants here >>

We should be celebrating more Michelin stars >>

Michelin stars released by the new Michelin Guide >>

Turning Japanese >>

By Daniel Thomas

E-mail your comments to Daniel Thomas](mailto:daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk?subject=Toyko Michelin restaurant guide out in November) here.

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