The MICHELIN Guide adds three new cities in Japan

11 May 2010 - The MICHELIN guide is continuing to branch out in Japan. Scheduled for release in November, the MICHELIN guide Tokyo will also cover the cities of Yokohama and Kamakura, while the second edition of the MICHELIN guide Kyoto & Osaka, to be published in October, will include Kobe.

“We are continuing the development of the MICHELIN guide in Japan by adding three new cities in the 2011 edition. Indeed, Yokohma, Kamakura and Kobe have, each, a very interesting gastronomy. In all three cities, we hope to find high-quality restaurants, hotels and sometimes ryokans that will delight our readers,” explains Jean-Luc Naret, Director of the MICHELIN guides.

“The selection of hotels and restaurants in these three cities, as in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, will be made by inspectors and an editorial team based in Japan,” says Bernard Delmas, President of Michelin Japan. “Written originally in Japanese, the two guides will mainly target our customers in Japan.”

Michelin inspectors, all of them hospitality professionals and Group employees, have been anonymously exploring Kobe, Yokohama and Kamakura since mid-2009. In the cities already covered – Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka – inspections of newly selected establishments and starred restaurants resumed immediately following the release of the most recent edition.

The first MICHELIN guide France was published in August 1900. For more than a century, the MICHELIN guide collection has made traveling easier by providing a selection of the best restaurants, hotels and guesthouses throughout the world. Today, the 25 guides in the collection cover 23 countries on three continents and include more than 45,000 addresses around the world.

With 109,000 employees in 170 countries, Michelin is the world’s leading tyre manufacturer, operating 72 plants in 19 countries on all continents. Dedicated to the improvement of sustainable mobility, Michelin designs, manufactures and sells tyres for every type of vehicle, including airplanes, automobiles, bicycles, earthmovers, farm equipment, heavy-duty trucks, motorcycles and the space shuttle. It also publishes travel guides, hotel and restaurant guides, maps and road atlases and offers electronic mobility support services on ViaMichelin.com. The Group’s research and development programs are carried out at Michelin Technology Centers in Europe, the United States and Japan.