The glitterati of the Kansai culinary world gathered at the Nara Prefecture New Public Hall in Kasugano, Nara, on Tuesday to celebrate the launch of the "Michelin Guide Kyoto Osaka Kobe Nara 2012." In particular they were there to welcome the historical host city's entry into the exalted company of Michelin-endorsed destinations of merit.
The region's top chefs, local celebrities, politicians and representatives of the tire maker-turned-arbiter of global culinary taste heard Bernard Delmas, the president of Michelin's Japan branch, announce: "No longer can anyone say, 'Nara ni umai mono nashi (Nothing is tasty in Nara).' "
Delmas was referring to a phrase first coined by novelist Naoya Shiga in his 1938 work "Nara," which swiftly entered common parlance and has dogged the former capital's culinary reputation ever since.