Market Report - Tokyo Dining Shines Despite Economy

ANCHOR:
And after weeks of bad news, our market report today will focus on one area of the economy in Japan that is not struggling. With the elite restaurant guide Michelin just out, Tokyo has been ranked as one of the world's best dining cities. Nine chefs received the highest "three-star" rating, while 173 restaurants were tapped in total, the most of any city in the world.
STORY:
Like the the U.S. where economic woes have hit spending, Michelin director Jean-Luc Naret says Tokyo may see some fallout, but gourmet restaurants should weather the storm.

[Jean-Luc Naret, Director, Michelin Guide]:
"What we noticed, and we just published our guide in the U.S., is that the top level restaurants are still really doing fine, what actually has been cancelled is the private functions that could have with banks, as you would imagine, and Thomas Kidder in New York as an example has quite a few of that. Here would be the same."

Winning a star in a city with 160,000 dining options can mean massive business and publicity. Japan aims to use restaurant fame to boost tourism.

Three-star sushi chef Hachiro Mizutani says since the first Tokyo guide last year, the inflow of international business has been sizeable.

[Hachiro Mizutani, Chef, Sushi Mizutani]:
"We've really seen a lot of tourists from Europe - English, French and Swiss visitors have been considerable. When we first started our restaurant it was mostly foreigners working in Tokyo who came with Japanese.''

Sushi Mizutani has a one-month waiting list in a city where people eat out an average of 3.7 times a week, but the chef says other restaurants in the capital's famed Ginza District have no lines and are feeling the pinch of tighter spending.

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