Western Meals No Longer To Be Required For International Hotel Listing In Japan

Above, the Hotel Asia Center of Japan in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

One of the things that I like about staying at the Hotel Asia Center of Japan in Tokyo are their buffet breakfasts.

They are reasonably priced (around ¥900) and they also have great croissants (I think they bake them there). One can choose having either a Japanese-style or western-style breakfast (or mix the two, as I sometimes do).

In view of this, a news item in Kyodo News caught my attention.

The story is:

The Japan Tourism Agency will lift a decades-old requirement that hotels must serve western-style meals to be registered as "international tourist hotels," effective Friday, agency officials said Thursday. 

The decision was made because "washoku" Japanese cuisine has been added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, while nearly 70 percent of tourists visiting Japan come from Asia, the officials said. 

Under the registration system launched in 1949, offering western-style meals was among criteria aimed at meeting western standards, but the requirement was eased in 1993 to serving western-style breakfasts.

I do hope that hotels such as the Hotel Asia Center of Japan continue to serve western-style breakfasts, even though they will no longer be required to do so. Otherwise, I'd have to go to a local McDonald's (no problem here, they're all over the place) or hunt down a Denny's Restaurant if I want a western-style breakfast. I don't mind having Japanese food for lunch and dinner. I just prefer a western-style breakfast.

To read the full article, go here.