Plans to subject Japanese restaurants around the world to the scrutiny of a flying squad of “sushi police” have been dropped on the orders of the Foreign Ministry.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries had plans to launch a 270 million yen (£1.13 million) programme next year in which Japanese restaurants outside Japan would be scored on their authenticity. Eateries meeting the exacting standards of the sushi police would be awarded a seal of approval by the Japanese Government; those purporting to be Japanese but actually serving fusion cuisines or using nonJapanese ingredients would suffer the indignity of being classed “inauthentic”.

Government insiders say that the scheme, which had drawn an instant outcry from furious restaurateurs in the United States, has been scotched by officials in the Foreign Ministry, who believe that it could damage Japan’s reputation abroad. Newspaper editorials also questioned whether taxpayers’ money was being usefully spent patrolling more than 20,000 Japanese restaurants outside Japan.

Under new plans, the inspectors’ powers will be limited to dishing out nonofficial recommendations for particular restaurants. Their visits will occur only when restaurants specifically invite them.

The original plan, which was decried by Japanese political pundits as “food nationalism”, was the brainchild of Toshikatsu Matsuoka, the Agriculture Minister. During a recent trip overseas, it became evident to him that many restaurants in foreign cities that claimed to be Japanese were not serving “correct” Japanese dishes. Agriculture Ministry officials also wanted to ensure that genuine Japanese foodstuffs, such as miso paste, would be used wherever possible.

Despite Japan’s penchant for stamping its own culinary traits on Western foods — it is the home of the teriyaki burger, seaweed flavour crisps and wasabi chocolate — its officials were not happy about the process being reversed. Accordingly, the California roll, a derivative invented 35 years ago in Los Angeles, has long been regarded in Japan as a heresy.

Japanese purists do, however, have genuine fears about the impact that these derivative forms of sushi will have on the image of traditional Japanese cuisine.

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