Thursday, November 22, 2007

Michelin Japon: Bibendum fait des jaloux.



Quelle excitation chez les japonais, Bibendum est ici, et je couvre le sujet pour RTL. Jean Luc Naret, directeur des guides Michelin (cartes et guides) et la sympathique Fabienne de Brebisson, Vice présidente Media relation, me font une présentation au micro alors que plus de 300 journalistes et 18 chaînes de télévisions japonaises font le pied de grue pour s'offrir le patron des Michelin.

C'est vrai que l'édition japonaise du célèbre Guide Michelin est fascinante, première édition pour 2008 qui octroie plus d'étoiles à la capitale nippone qu'à celle de la France et décerne 191 étoiles à 150 restaurants de Tokyo. Jusqu'ici, Paris était la ville la plus récompensée, avec 65 étoiles. Ce sont 8 restaurants de la capitale japonaise, dont deux spécialisés dans le sushis, qui ont reçu la récompense la plus élevée, les trois étoiles. (Paris peut toutefois toujours s'enorgueillir d'être la ville la plus cotée, avec dix restaurants à trois étoiles.) "Tokyo est une étoile brillante dans le monde de la cuisine", m'a déclaré le directeur des Guides Michelin, Jean-Luc Naret, lors d'une conférence de presse à Tokyo lundi, jour de la parution de l'édition nippone du guide. La mégapole japonaise est devenue "le leader mondial dans le dîner gourmet".



Trois inspecteurs européens et deux japonais ont passé un an et demi à visiter incognito 1.500 des 160.000 restaurants recensés à Tokyo pour attribuer les récompenses, selon Michelin. Le guide du groupe classe les établissements sur l'excellence de leurs plats, service, décor et tenue. "Ces inspecteurs ont découvert tellement de bons restaurants que tous les établissements qui figurent dans le guide de Tokyo compte au moins une étoile, une première dans le monde", selon Jean-Luc Naret.

Hamadaya à Nihombashi, Kanda à Azabu et Joël Robuchon à Ebisu, trois perles et donc 3 étoiles au Michelin. Le seul japonais que j'ai trouvé grognon lors de cette distribution des prix Bibendum est le critique gastronomique Hattori Yukio. Bizarre dans un pays qui adore la compétition au point de l'avoir érigée en méthode de perfectionnement (maternelle, université, profession) et il a vite quitté la splendide réception donnée au Tokyo International Forum de Yutakucho à deux pas de mon press club..



"C'est un prix de l'arrogance et de la "self-estime" me dit-il. Bon, c'est vrai que ce guide lui prend une part de marché... D'autres chefs m'ont dit ce soir que cette poignée d'étoiles Michelin n'était qu'un geste fait pour faire plaisir aux chefs japonais de la gastronomie française. Le "food business" comme me le rappelait l'un d'entre eux génère chaque année des milliards de yen de revenus.

Prix de l'arrogance? Ou plutôt la rage du jaloux, jaloux tout rouge comme ces cuistots australiens ou américains avec leurs "viande hachée frites" et certains de mes confrères américains oeuvrant pour leur nationalisme alimentaire made in US-OGM. Hattori bouillonne, lui qui lance un jour des éloges à la gastronomie française et le lendemain la conspue et prime la cuisine italienne...

Le guide dresse également une liste des meilleurs hôtels, et des célèbres Tofu-ya (fabricant de fromage de soja). On peut tirer la toque à tous ces inspecteurs qui ont lancé le premier boulet dans le paysage gastronomique et hôtelier nippon vu et interprété tout de même selon l'art de vivre à la française...



NB: I suspected that our Japanese friends would not appreciate the selection of the restaurants made by the Guide Rouge Michelin, and it is clearly what sweats in the Yomiuri shimbun, the world biggest sold newspaper. The critical article of the Japanese conservative newspaper runs in the Editorial National page of the English version of the Daily Yomiuri while it is in the Culture page on the web page. Click the article title or copy and paste this URL:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/culture/20071123TDY04303.htm

Look, fingerprint and don't smile!

Every country is heading towards such a system and truly there is a bad feeling, "un malaise", in some particular countries, where nationalism (xenophobia some say) fits security and police enforcement mania. Example was given this week in Japan who began taking fingerprints and photographs of foreign nationals aged 16 or older, at their entry at its 27 airports and 126 seaports nationwide. It is a revised immigration law as part of antiterrorism measures.



[The photo demonstrates that Japan always uses women in case of crisis management]

Foreigners who are terrorists or just foreigners who overstayed their visa, I wonder? I have no appetite to fly with such mad men but I wonder what will happen in a country like Japan who loves monitoring its population and has a bad trend to consider foreigners like potential criminals... Lately even Japanese policemen are allegedly obliged to carry with them a GPS device to inform their superiors of their gestures and moves, after some insensitive cops were allegedly found harassing teen agers and sometimes, as in one case, committed a "crime passionel"!

But, is it efficient and well set? Here again time will say and our Japanese hosts will maybe improve the system. "Kaizen desu". Indeed as one of the French consulate official told me: " The problem lays with what to do with a fingerprints data base" and he added that the problem is to know if this data base will be adequate and technically adapted to the mission.

Now facts from agencies and complaints from residents and humanitarian organizations:

Quotes: "The Justice Ministry has instructed regional immigration bureaus to forcibly take fingerprints from foreigners who refuse to be fingerprinted or to leave the country, sources close to the ministry said. The ministry's Immigration Bureau sent the directive to regional immigration bureaus prior to the introduction of a system on Tuesday, under which all foreigners who enter Japan, except for a limited number of people such as special permanent residents and visitors under the age of 16, must be photographed and fingerprinted at airports and ports.

The ministry HAD explained that it HAD no intention of forcibly taking fingerprints from foreigners who visit Japan. The directive cites a clause in the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, which empowers immigration officers to conduct body checks on foreign visitors if such measures are necessary for safety reasons. It then urges immigration officers to forcibly take fingerprints from those who refuse to cooperate and film them on video.

Japan became the second country after the United States to introduce the system that collects biometric data from foreign visitors amid lingering calls for a review by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations and human right groups that claim the data could be made available for criminal investigations on an unlimited basis. Entering foreign visitors must show their passports and submit entry cards before they are guided by immigration officials to have their face pictures taken and index fingers scanned.

The revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law was enacted in May last year in a bid to block entry into Japan mainly of individuals designated as terrorists by the justice minister. Under the law, scanned fingerprints and other biometric data will be stored in a computer to be instantly checked against those of past deportees, in addition to about 800,000-900,000 pieces of information relating to suspects wanted by the Japanese police and Interpol. The measure excludes ethnic Koreans and other permanent residents with special status, those under 16, those visiting Japan for diplomatic or official purposes, and those invited by the Japanese government.

Meanwhile, a total of 67 civic groups in and out of Japan released a joint statement Monday opposing Japan's biometric screening of foreigners entering the country that started Tuesday morning. Representatives of the groups including those from Japan, Europe and the United States said at a news conference in Tokyo they have mailed the joint statement to Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama. Adopting the procedures of taking fingerprints and photos of foreign passport holders aged 16 or older was a highly political decision taken after almost no public discussion or policy reviews, the statement says. It added that the policy treats all foreign visitors to Japan as if they were criminals and that collecting their personal information under a centralized management system could pose risks of violating privacy. The joint statement was compiled by Privacy International, a nongovernmental organization headquartered in Britain." End of quotes (Agencies)