J-Gov't to certify real Japanese food

[kurohinge1]

[SIZE="4"]"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet", but only IF certified! [/SIZE]

[SIZE="3"]Government to certify real Japanese food[/SIZE]

The agriculture ministry said Thursday it will introduce a program in the next fiscal year to certify restaurants overseas as serving genuine Japanese cuisine.

The program is aimed at promoting "authentic Japanese food culture" overseas as many restaurants in other countries that claim to serve Japanese food are actually offering dishes that are not traditional Japanese cuisine, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said.

"I hope that the new system will help promote the export of Japanese farm and marine food products, to disseminate proper knowledge about Japan's culinary arts and to facilitate Japanese food companies' push into foreign markets," agriculture minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka said.

And I thought I was a pirate! This has huge potential for abuse.

If the "agriculture ministry" actively brainwash tour operators and outbound J-tourists (many who don't like FG-food) to only feed at "certified" restaurants, they will have created a gravy-train as restaurants fall over themselves to ensure they get certified. And I wonder whether they will insist on some ingredients being exported from Japan before a restaurant can be certified!

What the spokesman really meant was "We've found a way of milking large amounts of money we don't deserve from restaurants in other countries and increasing the export of Japanese produce at the same time"

[Big Booger]

But how are they going to verify the dioxin levels? Surely they have some sort of kit they can offer restaurants to make sure the levels of dioxins are up to Japanese specs.

[Socratesabroad]

And I thought I was a pirate! This has huge potential for abuse.

And I wonder whether they will insist on some ingredients being exported from Japan before a restaurant can be certified!

What the spokesman really meant was "We've found a way of milking large amounts of money we don't deserve from restaurants in other countries and increasing the export of Japanese produce at the same time"

I was going to disagree with you - I even looked up the Michelin Guide & stars as prep - and then changed my mind. Seems that the guide and a few others are all put out privately (as opposed to being put out by the gov't).

And regretfully, kurohinge, I think you've pegged the Ag Ministry's stance:

We've found a way of milking large amounts of money we don't deserve from restaurants in other countries

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

Stock up on curry rice India, the sights are lined up.

[Jack]

This has some merit if it can be done properly. I have always wanted someone to certify so-called "Japanese restaurants" in Canada as real Japanese because of all the shitty Chinese and Vietnamese-owned joints that pass for Japanese food. There must be over 300 or 400 so-called Japanese restaurants in Toronto alone but only a dozen or so are real Japanese-owned and serve decent Japanese food. The rest are Chinese-Vietnamese-Korean owned. The Chinese especially make bad Japanese food. Like everything Chinese, it has to be cheap and fast.

You can tell a Japanese-owned place by the size of the restaurant. It's usually small with the owner behind the sushi bar. Chinese-owned places are much bigger with 4 or 5 Chinese sushi chefs who have learned to make sushi overt two weekends from other Chinese peole who have themselves learned to make sushi iover two weekends from other chinese guys who have learned to make sushi over two weekends...

[Mulboyne]

I don't think it will be particularly helpful. Japanese chefs regularly experiment with ingredients and techniques - Nobu Matsuhisa and Masatoshi "Gari" Sugio are two notable examples - and their creations are deemed to be Japanese cuisine. If a foreign chef tries a new direction then he should be given the same latitude but I can see how a government ministry might not see it that way.

If the Indian government had taken such a precious attitude to curry in England then virtually all the first restaurants opened would have failed an authenticity test. Most Indian restaurants in Japan still use japonica rice because of import restrictions so they would fail too. Many are still good places to eat. Those Chinese/Vietnamese-run Japanese restaurants might not be to your taste but if they are still in business then some customers must like what they do.

[Jack]

I don't think it will be particularly helpful. Japanese chefs regularly experiment with ingredients and techniques - Nobu Matsuhisa and Masatoshi "Gari" Sugio are two notable examples - and their creations are deemed to be Japanese cuisine. If a foreign chef tries a new direction then he should be given the same latitude but I can see how a government ministry might not see it that way.

Those Chinese/Vietnamese-run Japanese restaurants might not be to your taste but if they are still in business then some customers must like what they do.

The Chinese-Vietnamese run places are plain awful (i.e. sushi rice that is too sweet or too sour and no wasabi in the sushi and no fancy fish other than stupid salmon an maguro) but I can appreciate that those who don't know still patronize the joints. Some of the fish are borderline rancid.

Remember that most people don't know the difference between Chinese/Japanese/Korean or other Asians so as far as they're concerned so long as they see an Asian behind the sushi bar they think it's Japanese. Even my fucking family when they talk to my wife they talk about fucking chinese customs to her thinking that she must know about those because she is Asian. Example: my brother's wife (a FG)talking to my wife about Japanese wedding: "of yeah I have been to one and the bride wore a traditional red dress". Jack to brother's wife "that's a fucking Chinese wedding you bitch. My wife is Japanese".

I still think that some kind of a certification might be helpfull or usefull.

[eddie]

This has some merit if it can be done properly. I have always wanted someone to certify so-called "Japanese restaurants" in Canada as real Japanese because of all the shitty Chinese and Vietnamese-owned joints that pass for Japanese food. There must be over 300 or 400 so-called Japanese restaurants in Toronto alone but only a dozen or so are real Japanese-owned and serve decent Japanese food. The rest are Chinese-Vietnamese-Korean owned. The Chinese especially make bad Japanese food. Like everything Chinese, it has to be cheap and fast.

You can tell a Japanese-owned place by the size of the restaurant. It's usually small with the owner behind the sushi bar. Chinese-owned places are much bigger with 4 or 5 Chinese sushi chefs who have learned to make sushi overt two weekends from other Chinese peole who have themselves learned to make sushi iover two weekends from other chinese guys who have learned to make sushi over two weekends...

you've worked out a way to discern the good ones from the bad ones...you think it's really gonna help to have the japanese government help make your dining decisions? it's just a way to market their us-versus-them attitude overseas...i'd probably *avoid* a good japanese restaurant just to spite the government. dining really shouldn't be political. leave my stomach to me...i can figure it out.

[Jack]

you've worked out a way to discern the good ones from the bad ones...you think it's really gonna help to have the japanese government help make your dining decisions? it's just a way to market their us-versus-them attitude overseas...i'd probably *avoid* a good japanese restaurant just to spite the government. dining really shouldn't be political. leave my stomach to me...i can figure it out.

It could be like a Michelin star system or Zaggat. So long as there is a certification system it can help some of the so-called connoisseurs make up their mind when they go to a restaurant. I know that you FGs will blast anything the Japanese government does because you are so racist. In Toronto the city has a certification system which is Green, Yellow or Rred based on the quality of cleanliness and hygiene. That's all based on what the "government's" inspectors find. I find it helpfull because I never go to a restaurant that posts anything but a green certificate on the front door. But I forgot, that's a government in Canada doing it so it's OK. If it was Japanese it would be unacceptable. If i was government in japan I would kick all of you FGs out in a nanosecond.

[GomiGirl]

Jack - I think you need to take some happy pills or have a nap... why the aggression.... plus your brother must be pleased with the way you speak to his wife... yelling and swearing at people is not going to help your case - what ever that is.. but you are too inconsistent to follow your train of thought.

[dimwit]

Actually, Jack's point about the system being useful is quite valid. In cities like Toronto with small Japanese population but a large Chinese/Vietnamese population putting any east Asian behind the bar is quite common. That and the fact that North Americans seem to have developed an all-consuming love affair with sushi has resulted in some truly rotten Japanese food restaurants. When I go home I would love to have a guide of which restaurants are authentic.

[Mulboyne]

I don't need the US government to tell me where to get a decent burger in Yokohama or the Italian government to certify cappuccinos in London. I trust my own judgement together with recommendations from friends, magazines and the net. It's really not that difficult to tell that a bento sold in a Barcelona store under the label "Jap Food" isn't likely to be to your taste.

I take issue with the Ministry's unspoken contention that overseas restaurants employing non-Japanese and serving tonkatsu on a bed of fried vegetables are somehow perpetrating a fraud. Nor can I accept that there are unbreakable rules regarding how Japanese food can be prepared and served. What do we mean by "authentic"? Do we just mean good? I've seen some pretty rancid dishes on offer in Tokyo kaiten sushi restaurants staffed by freeters who have undergone three weeks training. Are they "authentic"? They are certainly not good.

Harumi Kurihara, doyenne of home cooking programmes, is also trying to promote Japanese cuisine overseas.

'I'm sure there is a fear,' she said via an interpreter on a visit to London last week. 'Japanese cuisine has the impression of being difficult, and that is what I want to remove. My basic philosophy for the recipes is to have meals that are easy to achieve. Use microwaves, use tinned foods, use leftovers. While running your life you can quickly rustle up a meal that's tasty, healthy and delicious. 'For example, you can't get shiso leaves over here very easily, so use a mixture of fresh mint and basil instead and you get something similar with a Japanese flavour. Instead of it becoming a tense moment, enjoy it and get over it.

That seems like a better way forward to me.

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Quality control quest for a better burger

The plan to polish up the "Sasebo burger" image may end up on the back burner. The burgers, named for the southern port where they first came into vogue in the 1950s, are made at shops all around the city. The quality ranges from sublime to extremely greasy. To ensure each burger offers the same level of great taste in every bite, the Sasebo Convention and Visitors Association has been trying to get all shops serving them to follow the same standards of service and quality. They are also asking the shops to register to gain the right to display a "genuine Sasebo Burger" logo. Given the wide variety of burger shops, however, the association is having trouble getting them all aboard. It has yet to set a common burger standard, either.

... Worried that the golden eggs might disappear, the association took note of a revision to the trademark law in April. The change allows famous local delicacy brands to be registered, meaning that any business that sells the authentic product can display a registration mark that guarantees its quality. Some local burger joints reject the idea. "Taste and service can differ widely, depending on the store and the customers," the owner of a well-established burger shop said... Kazuko Fujitani, 69, manages a long-standing burger shop in Sasebo's Yatake district. "We understand the significance of a trademark registration system, but I think it will be hard to come up with a standard approval system," she says. "One of the best things about Sasebo burgers is that each one is unique"...more...

[Taro Toporific]

Asahi: Quality control quest for a better burger
...asking the shops to register to gain the right to display a "genuine Sasebo Burger" logo....

Are "Sasebo Burgers(tm)" any good?

In Tokyo, the best burgers oddly are Hawaiian.

[ichigo partygirl]

Are "Sasebo Burgers(tm)" any good?

In Tokyo, the best burgers oddly are Hawaiian.

god-damn i love those burgers.
Ironically (for me) i realized after i had eaten a few of them that the meat in the burgers came from my home town/province. mmm NZ goodness.
You gotta love Hawaiian burgers in Japan made with NZ meat - globalisation people.

[eddie]

god-damn i love those burgers.
Ironically (for me) i realized after i had eaten a few of them that the meat in the burgers came from my home town/province. mmm NZ goodness.
You gotta love Hawaiian burgers in Japan made with NZ meat - globalisation people.

gotta say...i think kua'aina burgers are sub-par. the meat tastes low-quality...i know i'm in the minority.
there are lots of good burgers in tokyo...but i don't count kua'aina in that lot.
of course, i like mos burger, so maybe i'm just low-brow.

[GuyJean]

..i like mos burger, so maybe i'm just low-brow.

No way, man. B's be the best; a mess to eat but fresh as fuck.. and the crispy fries were great too.. Too bad their happy hour doesn't exist anymore..

GJ

[Greji]

[quote="GuyJean"]No way, man. B's be the best]

At one time, Johnny Rocket at Roppongi Crossroads used to have great burgers, fries and malts. The quality really went down right before they closed. Now it's Homeworks for one of the best home styled burgers. Don't GJ spoof you. He's actually a big Mac freak!

[Mulboyne]

Chosunilbo: Japan Prepares to Send 'Sushi Police' on Worldwide Crusade to Improve Japanese Cuisine

...Although isolated for many centuries, this island nation has been a gastronomic crossroads for decades. Some of the Italian and French restaurants located here are rated nearly as highly as any found in Europe. But the Japanese also relish pizzas topped with corn or squid, hamburgers smothered in mayonnaise and wasabi, or chowder brimming with tofu - that is to say, fermented soybean curd. Visitors from Rome or Boston may be appalled at such culinary interpretations. But the Japanese are obviously open minded in modifying the cuisine of other nations...However, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tomohiko Taniguchi, phrasing things most diplomatically, explains that the Japanese have less tolerance for what, of late, is passing for their native cuisine overseas...
...This is prompting Japan's Agriculture Ministry to convene a panel of food experts. They will establish certification standards for Japanese restaurants outside the country. Just what the certification standards will be, or who the conclusions will be aimed at, has not yet been determined. A reporter calling the ministry for more information was told, politely, to call back next March...
...Mily Togasa, whose father was Japanese, is a chef and owner of a Japanese restaurant on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. She says Japanese food inspectors should have an open mind about what is deemed authentic. "The stickiness of the rice, the different kinds of vinegars used for the rice and also the seafood you get in the different local areas are going to vary - some of which you cannot even get in Japan," she said. "So it really depends on the criteria that they're thinking
...The notion of Japanese inspectors setting cooking standards for soba in Sao Paolo, or teriyaki in Tehran - or sushi rolls in New York - has met with a certain amount of skepticism among international journalists here who were told of the plan. So much so that Taniguchi, the Foreign Ministry's usually unflappable spokesman, finally abandoned all pretense of support for the idea "What's called 'sushi police' is not going to do good for the better image of Japanese food, I believe," he said. The food bureaucrats across the street at the Agriculture Ministry, however, are undaunted by such criticism. They are forging ahead with their plan to police the world's sushi platters...more...

[Mulboyne]

MBO.com: Japanese scrutinize 'authentic' eateries

On a recent business trip to Colorado, Japan's agriculture minister popped into an inviting Japanese restaurant with a hankering for a taste of back home. What Toshikatsu Matsuoka found instead was something he considered a high culinary crime - sushi served on the same menu as Korean-style barbecued beef. "Such a thing is unthinkable," he said. "Call it what you will, but it is not a Japanese restaurant"...Some observers here have suggested that the government's new push for food purity overseas is yet another expression of resurgent Japanese nationalism. But the mentality in Japan also echoes a similar movement by several nations - including Italy and Thailand - now offering guidelines and reward programs to restaurants abroad to regain a measure of control over their increasingly internationalized cuisine...
...A trial run of sorts was launched this summer in France, where secret inspectors selected by a panel of food specialists were dispatched to 80 restaurants in Paris that claimed to serve Japanese cuisine. Some establishments invited the scrutiny, while others were targeted with surprise checks. About one-third fell short of standards - making them ineligible to display an official seal emblazoned with cherry blossoms in their windows or to be listed on a government-sponsored Web site of Japanese restaurants in Paris...
..."What people need to understand is that real Japanese food is a highly developed art. It involves all the senses; it should be beautifully presented, use genuine ingredients and be made by a trained chef," he continued. "What we are seeing now are restaurants that pretend to offer Japanese cooking but are really Korean, Chinese or Filipino. We must protect our food culture"...more...

[Samurai_Jerk]

What Toshikatsu Matsuoka found instead was something he considered a high culinary crime - sushi served on the same menu as Korean-style barbecued beef. "Such a thing is unthinkable," he said. "Call it what you will, but it is not a Japanese restaurant"

我々日本人 blah, blah, blah ...

I guess this douche bag has never been to an izakaya. Or do they not count as real Japanese restaurants either?

"What people need to understand is that real Japanese food is a highly developed art. It involves all the senses; it should be beautifully presented, use genuine ingredients and be made by a trained chef," he continued. "What we are seeing now are restaurants that pretend to offer Japanese cooking but are really Korean, Chinese or Filipino. We must protect our food culture"

I really would like to hear what he thinks about spaghetti topped with ikura and nori, pizza topped with mayo and corn, and doughnuts stuffed with curry.



Jack,

Your argument about the Michelin stars doesn't really hold up. That's a certification of quality not authenticity and it isn't limited to French cuisine. And even if it was, it's not being done by any government. This sounds like another excuse to waste tax payer money on a useless program. I'm sure it will also be used to discriminate against restaurants not run by Japanese nationals. It'll end up alienating people more than promoting Japanese food. Besides, I don't want my tax money spent on something this asinine. If a group of Japanese chefs and food critics wanted to get together and make a system for ranking the authenticity and/or quality of Japanese restautants I don't think anyone would really mind.

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]As the article below notes, there's one FG on the food panel: Jeannie Fuji.

CantonRep: Making a Fuss Over Food Fusion
Ever wonder whether the negi toro you ordered at that sushi place was the real deal? Well, the Japanese government does. Officials in Tokyo, concerned that diners are getting a less-than-genuine taste of their nation's cuisine, are devising a sort of bureaucratic Zagat guide that will confer a stamp of authenticity on restaurants that meet the government's standards. In California, where Asian cuisines are mixed and matched in a blender of ethnicities and subcultures, the plan could be a recipe for contention. Only about 10 percent of the state's 3,000 Japanese restaurants are Japanese-owned, with many operated by Koreans, Chinese and Vietnamese. That has left some restaurateurs wondering whether nationality could become a litmus test for authenticity. "How can they tell if this is a real Japanese restaurant or not?" asked Charles Choongnam Ha, a native of Seoul, South Korea, and owner of California Rock & Roll Sushi in Brea. "Will they watch us make sauce? Will they taste the food? I don't know what they're thinking."

Ha's 27-year-old son and sushi chef, Jason, is more direct. "They're jealous because we own so many of the sushi restaurants now. ... They're trying to say, 'Japanese food is ours.' " The Japanese government, citing similar programs in France, Italy and Thailand, has named a panel of experts to set up the program and determine grading criteria. (One option: a voluntary system that would include only restaurants that asked to be rated.) The 11-member group -- mostly representatives of the country's food service, travel and tourism industries -- held its first meeting in Tokyo on Monday and isn't expected to report back until February.

Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Japan's agriculture minister and the driving force behind the grading plan, offered only broad outlines of his goals. The aim is to "offer authentic Japanese cuisine to people,'' said Matsuoka, a conservative lawmaker known for his nationalist leanings. "Other restaurants try to do Japanese food, but they don't know how to do it," said Fusae Funayama, manager of Oami restaurant in Lake Forest. "They don't know what's good and what's bad."

What qualifies as authentic Japanese food? Ramen, a noodle and broth concoction so popular in Japan it was the subject of the foodie cult film Tampopo, is Chinese. Curry, another Japanese favorite, is Indian in origin. Sonoko Sakai, a food author and film producer who grew up in Tokyo, acknowledges the difficulty of defining what is "purely Japanese" in a world of fusion cuisines. "But you need to have a culture of respect" for the food, she said. "When I go into some of these fast-foody Japanese restaurants, you know they're just doing it because sushi sells." In theory, a restaurant owner or chef won't have to be Japanese to receive the government's blessing. But in published comments, Matsuoka complained about finding Korean barbecued ribs on the menu of a sushi restaurant in Colorado. Such comments make restaurateurs like Ha nervous. "I don't know why they think like that," he said. "The American government doesn't judge the American restaurants in Africa or Hong Kong or Korea." It's also not clear who the target audience is. Japanese tourists searching for a taste of home? Americans who don't realize that crunchy rolls are as Japanese as Big Macs?

"The perception of Japanese cuisine is different for native Japanese and locals," said Jeanie Fuji, the only non-Japanese member of the panel. "I thought California rolls were Japanese food before I came to Japan, and I don't think Americans would appreciate Japanese traditional sweets if restaurants serve them," added Fuji, whose husband has an onsen, or hot-spring inn, in Yamagata prefecture in northern Japan. Tourists and business travelers from Japan probably would appreciate knowing where to find restaurants that meet their exacting standards, said Carol Martinez of LA Inc., the city's convention and visitors bureau. "Japanese like to go to a restaurant where the chef was trained in Japan. They can tell the difference," Martinez said. "One of the selling points for Los Angeles is that they can get the genuine article here." Panel member Rikifusa Satake, an official with a chef's association in Kyoto, a city known for its sophisticated cuisine, is pushing for a hard-line approach. The system, he said, "should be tough, checking the quality of skills, ingredients and taste." Said Jason Ha: "If the Japanese decide that this is not traditional Japanese food, American people are going to think it tastes bad." Neo Park, the manager of Furusato, a Korean-owned sushi restaurant in Koreatown, is not concerned about government ratings. He said his restaurant does just fine with a clientele composed mainly of Koreans, whites and Hispanics. "Our customers are looking for taste," Park said, "not certification."

[Mulboyne]

Reuters: Japanese overseas food checks may get budget chop

A Japanese government plan to certify whether Japanese restaurants abroad are serving "authentic" cuisine could face the chop from finance officials keen to trim fat from the budget. The agriculture ministry, which wants to introduce a certification system to promote "authentic Japanese food culture" overseas, had sought about $2.3 million in funds to implement it in the budget for the year from April 1. But the funding was deleted from a draft budget unveiled this week, forcing Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka to try to revive it in last-ditch negotiations later on Friday. "This is one of several important points of the final budget negotiations," Yoichi Masuzoe, a ruling party lawmaker who personally opposes the plan, told Reuters. "It's political."

The proposal has come under fire as "food nationalism" and a waste of tax money, but Matsuoka, the farm minister, touted it in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's online magazine last week. "As a Japanese person, I think that our country's food is something to be proud of," Matsuoka wrote, expressing horror at the "Japanese" fare he'd found at some overseas eateries. Among the creations that dismay some food purists is the "Philadelphia roll", which purports to be sushi but uses smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber instead of raw fish, and Vietnamese, Thai or Indonesian cuisine masquerading as Japanese. A certification system would "deepen the understanding of Japanese food" overseas, boost exports of Japanese farm products and perhaps even attract more tourists to Japan, Matsuoka wrote.

Critics, however, note that not only has Japan itself adapted foreign cuisine to its own tastes, but it now considers dishes such as "tonkatsu" pork cutlets and batter-fried "tempura" seafood and vegetables to be Japanese, despite their Western origins. "Who can say what is authentic Japanese cuisine?" said Masuzoe, the lawmaker who opposes the initiative. "Some nationalist members of the 'agriculture tribe' said, 'We have to defend Japanese food'," he said, referring to lawmakers with close ties to domestic farmers. "But this is not a matter for government interference, and to make Japanese food acceptable worldwide, each country can modify it."

The Finance Ministry unveiled a draft budget on Wednesday and other ministries are trying to get pet projects reinstated ahead of final cabinet approval on Sunday.

[Taro Toporific]

Reuters: Japanese overseas food checks may get budget chop

....[Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu] Matsuoka wrote, expressing horror at the "Japanese" fare he'd found at some overseas eateries. Among the creations that dismay some food purists is the "Philadelphia roll", which purports to be sushi but uses smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber instead of raw fish...

Damn, I hate fake sushi like the bleached dog doo-doo served on Northwest Airlines. But the Agriculture Minister Matsuoka can eat my big, fat カ]http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/images/vbimghost/129458ccc9ac418a.jpg[/img]

[Mulboyne]

I don't really mind that Japan takes different food cultures from around the world and does what it wants with them. That didn't stop me being a bit taken aback at today's lunch set offering at my local cafe:

イタリアン チキン カレー

(Italian Chicken Curry)

It quickly sold out.

I checked on Google to see if this is a common dish and it seems that this blogger saw it four days ago in an Italian restaurant in Tokyo's Yoyogi Hachiman while an Osaka joint also has it on their menu. Apparently popular in both places.

[GuyJean]

(Italian Chicken Curry)

I'm assuming this has been approved by both the Italian and Indian governments..

GJ

[Taro Toporific]

Matsuoka: Food checks not 'sushi police'

The Yomiuri Shimbun / Jan. 16, 2007

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka said Saturday during his visit to the United States that the ministry's certification system to support qualified Japanese restaurants overseas, which is to start in April, was "not an attempt to exclude certain restaurants [run by non-Japanese owners]."

The ministry announced in November its plan to establish the certification system for Japanese restaurants abroad, but the decision provoked opposition from some U.S. media. Voice of America radio reported that Japan planned to dispatch "sushi police" to improve the quality of Japanese cuisine overseas.

The minister's remark was intended to quell such criticism.

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Experts choose 50 'authentic' Japanese restaurants in Paris

...A number of judges on the panel visited each of the candidate restaurants without identifying themselves, and checked if their interiors are Japanese-style, whether they employ licensed Japanese food chefs and whether the rice, soy sauce and Japanese sake they use are made in Japan, and evaluated the quality of the food. The judges graded the restaurants and recommended those that received scores higher than 70 percent be classified as "authentic" Japanese restaurants...

Website here. The PDF file listing them (in French) gives details of the owners and head chefs.

Edit: Roy at Q-Taro spotted this picture of a white bread sushi roll which is due to go on sale for setsubun at the bakery and cafe chain Vie De France. The company is 100% Japanese, owned by Yamazaki Baking.




Incidentally, you can buy Yamazaki's sliced white bread on Amazon.com. Under "Gourmet Food".

[Greji]

[kamome]

Hey boothe, I also loved the Johnny Rockets at Roppongi Crossing. It was definitely one of the best post-drunken grease fests in the city. I still remember my feeling of disappointment when I found out they had closed up shop.