The "Sushi Police" Debate

It was in November, 2006 that Japan's government published its intention to create some kind of system to certify Japanese restaurants abroad that served genuine Japanese cousine. Not a bad idea, actually, but the US press immediately jumped into the "Sushi Police" debate, making a fuss about the proposals. Washington Post even quoted "some observers" - anonymous of course - that supposedly had suggested that Japan's push for "food purity overseas" was "yet another expression of resurgent Japanese nationalism". Eh?

Government officials defended the scheme, explaining that the real purpose was to set benchmarks for how Japanese food is made overseas: "We take our food very seriously", said Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Japan's agriculture minister.

What suprises me is that other newspapers, such as The Independent, had already covered this topic in a very factual way a couple of weeks earlier. Yes, they also use the term "Sushi Police" but there was none of the nonsense about "resurgent nationalism" invented by the Washington Post.

In March, the Agriculture ministry's advisory council gave up on the official certification plan, and the 270 million yen budgeted for the project was reported to be in jeopardy. Under the new program presented in May, Japanese inspectors' powers will be limited to providing non-official recommendations for particular restaurants, and their visits will occur only when restaurants specifically invite them.

With some 20,000 Japanese restaurants around the world, I suppose they will unfortunately have very little impact.

The Comite d'evaluation de la cuisine japonaise (Committee for the Evaluation of Japanese Cuisine) in France has a much better idea. According to Asahi Shimbun, they sent anonymous evaluators to Japanese restaurants around France, and published its results in January. The guidebook to authentic restaurants - ones that deserve to call themselves Japanese - is currently available in select restaurants, hotels and travel agencies in France. Voila!

(Photo: Real original Japanese organic food at Asmara in Naka-Meguro, Tokyo)