Call it the Pancake Revolution.

During the past five years, Japanese diners have become enamored with inventive takes on classic Western breakfast dishes. Unlike many homegrown culinary trends, though, this movement is being driven by big-name chefs and dining groups arriving from overseas with their sensibilities — and menus — intact. The emergence of these restaurants reflects a new sense of cooperation between foreign brands and domestic operators who, through personalized franchising and licensing deals, are satisfying an appetite for authentic cooking that refuses to be altered to suit local tastes.

Among the luminaries to recently debut in the Tokyo area are Australian breakfast maestro Bill Granger, whose scrambled eggs have been called the best in the world by the Times of London; Eggs 'n Things of Honolulu, whose whipped-cream-topped pancakes have become a culinary rite of passage for two generations of Japanese tourists; and downtown New York restaurant Bubby's, a progenitor of the "locavore" movement that made its name by serving grandma's cooking to Tribeca hipsters. They've been joined by venues both upscale (Union Square Cafe) and down-home (Sbarro pizza parlors and Mister Softee ice cream).