Japan Echo Web

Why Tokyo Dazzles Michelin

Michelin Guide 2008 Tokyo caused a great stir when it went on sale in 2007, but this was tempered in Japan by a haze of skepticism over the release of Michelin’s first guide to a city outside Europe or North America. The New York Times reported on such ambivalence in a story titled, “Michelin Gives Stars, but Tokyo Turns Up Nose” (February 24, 2008).

The book nonetheless sold well, with 90,000 copies snapped up on the first day of sale—a new record for the venerable guide. It made its biggest impact, though, in Europe, as it gave stars to 150 restaurants in Tokyo, more than double the 64 listed in the guide for Paris the same year. Tokyo also overwhelmed other cities in the total number of stars awarded.

Michelin maintains that its criteria for rating restaurants are consistent in all regions, so by far outperforming runner-up Paris, Tokyo—by Michelin standards—has become as the culinary capital of the world, a status that it is unlikely to relinquish anytime soon.

The 2010 edition of the Tokyo guide, moreover, listed 11 three-star restaurants, for the first time surpassing the figure for Paris, which claimed 10 such restaurants. Tokyo thus boasted the world’s highest figures for not only the number of starred restaurants and total stars but also for the number of coveted three-star establishments.

In an interview with the Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo, Jean-Luc Naret, the sixth director of the Michelin Guides, gave several reasons for Tokyo’s high marks. His comments, paraphrased here, are worthy of note, for they reveal a deep understanding of Japanese dining; they were directed toward Korean readers, so one can assume that flattery was not his motive:

The quality of Japanese food is also excellent. The level of chefs in Tokyo is higher than in any other city, and their unique skills were well transmitted. Tracking down how such skills and traditions have been handed down through the generations or centuries is not easy, but I gave particularly high marks to the degree of specialization. . . . Almost all the shops I visited were narrowly specialized into sushi, sashimi, yakitori, udon, and other shops. This made an extremely strong impression. This characteristic enabled a large number of Japanese restaurants to achieve a degree of specialization that other countries will simply not be able to overtake. (February 5, 2009)