Trends are only ever truly visible in retrospect, but all the indications are that 2002 will be viewed as the year in which washoku -- Japan's native, homegrown food -- finally made its big comeback.
This assessment is not based on the amount of column inches and glossy photographs devoted to Japanese ryori by the local press -- after all, the media here feed and massage new trends the way Kobe cattle farmers tend their prime wagyu steers. What is undeniable, though, is that most of the hot restaurant openings in recent months have not been French, Italian, ethnic or Pacific fusion, but ultra-chic ventures in the vernacular mode. Welcome to the era of the new Japanese cuisine.
But this is no overnight revolution. Rather, it has been a gradual process, gathering steam slowly until it has finally reached critical mass. Anyone fortunate enough to have visited one of the wonderful Shunju group of restaurants-cum-bars around Tokyo will already be quite familiar with this concept.