Booking a top Japanese counter increasingly comes with a request that surprises first‑time visitors: money up front. It is not a sign of distrust so much as a structural response to how these tiny restaurants work — and it is becoming the norm at the fine‑dining level.
The short answer: increasingly, yes
A growing share of Japan’s sought‑after counters now require a deposit when you book. It takes one of two forms:
- A credit‑card guarantee: your card details are held at booking and charged only if you cancel late or fail to appear.
- Full prepayment: you pay for the set course in advance, effectively buying a ticket for the seat.
Casual restaurants rarely ask for either. But at a small, celebrated counter with only eight or ten seats, some form of guarantee is increasingly standard.
The numbers, concretely
What “money up front” actually means varies by route:
- English‑language booking platforms often work on full prepayment: the course price is charged to your card the moment the booking confirms, sometimes with a platform fee on top. For a top Tokyo counter that means ¥30,000–60,000 per head leaving your card weeks before you eat — see what omakase actually costs for the current bands (as of August 2026). Not every platform booking is prepaid, though — some restaurants on them only hold a card guarantee.
- Direct and hotel‑concierge bookings more often take a card guarantee: nothing is charged unless you cancel late or no‑show, at which point the restaurant’s published schedule applies — commonly around half the course a few days out and the full price on the day. Sukiyabashi Jiro is the famous benchmark: an ¥88,000 course carrying a ¥44,000 charge for cancellation from seven days before the booking.
- Fixed deposits — a flat ¥10,000–20,000 per head, credited against the bill — appear at some kaiseki houses and ryotei in place of full prepayment.
Everything is charged in yen; the card statement conversion is your bank’s business, and it is one more reason to read cash or card in Japan before assuming plastic works at the table itself.
Why deposits exist
The economics are unforgiving. A counter buys and preps ingredients for an exact number of guests, and an empty seat cannot be resold at the last minute — the fish is already bought and aged. No‑shows are financially devastating at that scale, and a deposit fairly shifts that risk onto the guest who reserved the seat. It is the same logic that drives Japan’s broader restaurant cancellation policy.
What forfeiture looks like
The deposit is the enforcement mechanism for the cancellation window. If you cancel inside the stated window, or no‑show, expect to lose it, often in full. Cancel earlier — outside the deadline — and most restaurants release it without charge. The single most useful thing you can do at booking is confirm the exact cancellation deadline, so you know precisely how much notice protects your money.
How deposits are handled for hard bookings
For phone‑only rooms and language‑barrier situations, the deposit is often arranged on your behalf. A restaurant concierge typically manages the card guarantee or prepayment, confirms the terms in Japanese, and makes sure you understand the cancellation window before anything is locked in. Our own desk works this way for restaurants in our collection: the fee is ¥6,000 per seat, charged only when a seat is actually secured, and any deposit or cancellation term the restaurant sets is passed through to you exactly as written — no markup, no softening. The houses that demand guarantees most strictly are precisely the hardest bookings in the country, because an empty seat there is the most expensive kind.
Seen clearly, a deposit is not a red flag but a handshake: proof that the seat is genuinely yours, and a quiet promise that you will honor it.