That the Japanese are sticklers for time, precision and are immensely proud of their wealth natural or man made is a well-reported fact. This journalist has never visited the Land of the Rising Sun but had a brush with these virtues, courtesy a story that we had worked on, recently. A prestigious and well-respected international culinary publication had released their list of the world’s top 50 restaurants for 2013.

No surprises that a Japanese restaurant in uptown Tokyo was the highest ranked Asian entry - at No. 20 - on a list that was dominated by European names, with a few American fine-dine addresses for company. The restaurant in question - Narisawa, had jumped seven spaces since last year’s list. Their founder chef, as one was to learn, was an environmentalist, who, inspired by nature and the land’s fresh produce had created a stunning poetry of food, style and art laced with a celebration of the country’s finest, most breathtaking ingredients for display on its menu.