From sushi topped with foie gras in France or wrapped around cream cheese in the United States, Japanese food is growing fast and going global. But not everyone in Japan is pleased.

The Japanese government, joined by some leading local chefs, has launched a campaign to preserve "real" Japanese cuisine from a bastardized version that has spread so wildly overseas.

"Our goal is to offer real Japanese cuisine," Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka told a recent conference of food experts in the western culinary capital of Kyoto.

"We don¡¯t want restaurants that look Japanese but whose content is nothing but. We would like to differentiate them from those where we can say, ¡®Now this is real Japanese cuisine¡¯," he said.

The number of Japanese restaurants abroad will top 50,000 in three years -- twice the current number, according to government forecasts.

The biggest number of fans live in the United States where Japanese cuisine -- which includes sushi, tempura, miso-soup and ramen and udon noodles -- is prized among health-conscious eaters for its low-fat, high-protein ingredients.

It has also enjoyed an explosive welcome in Europe, Russia and Southeast Asian countries where Japanese restaurants have mushroomed in the past decade.

But some Japanese who are travelling overseas are not feeling at home.

Japanese officials and tourists have grown alarmed by dishes overseas that would hardly be seen in Japan, such as long rice instead of the sticky Japonica rice for the sushi.

While Japanese food is often seen in the West as vegetarian-friendly, Japanese tourists overseas have been alarmed by the absence of bonito fish-stock in miso soup.

And not only is the food under fire, but also the service.

"When I went to Paris and entered a restaurant with a sign in Japanese and called to the waitress ¡®excuse me, excuse me¡¯in Japanese, she didn¡¯t turn around even once," bemoaned Yukiko Omori, a French-style dessert chef.

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