After exploring the finest eateries of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, the Michelin Guide has set its sights on three more Japanese cities.

Yokohama and Kamakura will be added to the 2011 edition of the Michelin Guide Tokyo, while Kobe will be added to the Kyoto-Osaka guide.

“Yokohama, Kamakura and Kobe each offer very interesting culinary characteristics,” said Jean-Luc Naret, director of Michelin guides.

Bernard Delmas, director of Michelin Japan, said inspectors based in the country had visited the three cities since mid-2009.

Michelin last year anointed Tokyo as the world capital of three-star restaurants, scoring 11 such prizes in the 2010 edition, against 10 in Paris.

The Japanese metropolis also won a world-beating total of 261 stars for 197 restaurants, up 34 from the previous year.

But France remained home to the largest number of top tier restaurants in the world, with 26 three-star eateries against 18 in all of Japan, Michelin found.

Under Michelin’s rules, one star signifies “very good” cooking quality, two stars mean “excellent” and three stars rate a restaurant as “exceptional”.

Source: AFPrelaxnews, 2010 – Photo: Yoshikazu Tsuno