How are restaurants rated in Japan?

How are restaurants rated in Japan? What is the Japanese equivalent of the Michelin star? What is the Japanese equivalent of a three-star rating? And how are these rating awarded and listed? Thanks.

There is no official rating system! And no Japanese publication comparable to the Michelin Guide. Michelin guides are, however, available for several areas of the country. Online rating sites for restaurants typically use a scale from 1 to 5 just like it is generally common around the internet, e.g. like Tripadvisor.

There is no official Japanese guide, but Michelin stars are used for major places. For example, Tokyo has surpassed in number of Michelin Stared restaurants then Paris!

There's no "official" rating system anywhere - the Michelin Guide is just one particular book, with its own system. Other popular guides include the Forbes Travel Guide (formerly the Mobil Travel Guide), which uses a five-star system, and the Gault Millau guide, which also uses a five-star system.

There are of course Japanese guidebooks; for example Tokyo Ii Mise Oishi Mise, which is probably more useful than the Tokyo Michelin Guide for finding good, non-expense-account restaurants. They use a five-star system, rating food and service separately.

There's no "official" rating system anywhere

The French do have an official system for hotels. I would't be surprised if there is a country that maintains an official system for restaurants. Until recently the Japanese government had an official rating system for sake with a few bureaucrats assigned to drink and test lots of sake.

Sorry that book title is actually "Tokyo Ii Mise Umai Mise" - well worth checking out as an alternative to Michelin for Tokyo.

Until recently the Japanese government had an official rating system for sake

That sounds interesting - do you know what it was called? When did it end?

That sounds interesting - do you know what it was called? When did it end?

日本酒級別制度 ended in 1992:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E9%85%92%E7%B4%9A%E5%8...

Thanks!