Originally Posted by
Pickles
My take in this whole list-driven discussion is that many, if not most, of the restaurants being talked about in this thread are fine establishments, and you can't go wrong with them. I've been to many, but not all of them, and have opinions about the ones I've been to.
There are also hundreds of restaurants not on some list or another, some of which are even better than those on the lists. I've been to a fair number of those too. Just as a data point, note robyng's link to tabelog's top 30 sushi joints, of which only 10 are on the Michelin "guide" and the "temple" of them all, Jiro, barely makes the top 50.
Specifically, of those 30 sushi joints, I've been to pretty much all of them, and most of them involve picking up the phone a couple of days in advance and making a reservation. No theater, no drama, no hand wringing, no endless discussions with people you don't know and don't know you about what you're going to like or not, and whether you should start dialing at 9:00 AM first of the month. Couple of them, the ones which specifically overlap with some of the more "famous" mis-guides or bloggers or whatever floats in the cyberspace, are a biatch to get in, most likely because of said excess of attention. Frankly, is Saito better than #21 on the list, or whatever? In some ways, yes, in most ways no.
If people here and elsewhere want to establish a theater-like atmosphere about going to some restaurant or another which is, in the end, a subjective decision and not really differentiated enough to somebody who hasn't tried enough of them, that's just fine by me. In general, I have no issue with most of the restaurants being discussed, even if I may have a preference for some place not being mentioned. But I don't think there is enough material difference to provide an alternative to somebody who probably wouldn't know the difference anyway, so let them go with the well-known and hard to get in great restaurant instead of the not-so-well known and easier to get in great one.
Where I do draw the line is at places like Hei Fung Terrace or whatever, where the experience is certainly not worth a damn, and I have no problems saying so. Of course, to each his or her own, but sometimes a point needs to be made.
First, I must disagree with your assessment of Chinese cuisine in Japan. Certainly, it has been refined (Japonified) over it's 100+ year history so if you're a purist maybe that's unacceptable, but by that line of reasoning one would have to forgo every other foreign cuisine in Japan including French, Italian, Yakitori, Tempura (and sushi for that matter). IMHO one of the great things about Japanese cuisine is the creativity, refinement and perfection. Not to mention the fact that for 30 or 40 years the only place haute Chinese cuisine survived outside a few restaurants in HK was in Japan. Enough of that rant, suffice it to say that I'm a great fan of Sino-Japanese cuisine.
Totally agree on your other points though. The standard and number of restaurants in Japan is so high that you don't really need a list to in order to figure out where to eat. One of the great things about the Japanese restaurant scene is the ability to constantly experience new cuisine, new decor, new service, etc.