The Journal
Michelin, lineage, and how Japan's restaurants take bookings
Field notes from our Tokyo desk — who is actually reachable and how, the histories behind the counters, and the realistic way in. Written by the people who make these calls every day.
59 articles
Booking & Access
How to Book Sushi Sanshin in Osaka (2026)
Book Sushi Sanshin on OMAKASE at 08:00 JST on the 1st of each month, when the whole following month opens; one booking per quarter, card required. Japanese-language phone seats open exactly one week ahead at 17:00, and the house points overseas guests to TableAll. Whoever books must sit at the counter.
Booking & Access
Japan Restaurant Booking Sites Compared (2026): TableCheck vs OMAKASE vs Ikyu vs Tableall vs Pocket Concierge
The site you use is decided by the restaurant, not by you: each house takes bookings on one or two systems, and many of the hardest take none. TableCheck is the restaurant's own booking page and costs nothing to use (some houses add a fee from ¥390, as of September 2026). OMAKASE runs timed releases for top counters and charges ¥390 a seat (September 2026). Ikyu sells set plans in Japanese only. Tableall charges…
Booking & Access
How to Use Tabelog in English (2026): Booking and Fees
Tabelog works in English on the web and in a multilingual app (iOS and Android). Online booking needs an email-verified account and a registered payment method, and Tabelog charges a ¥440-per-person system fee when the booking is confirmed, refunded only if the restaurant cancels (as of October 2026). Only restaurants marked "Online reservation" can be booked this way. In our release calendar of 1,241 hard-to-book…
Booking & Access
New Year in Japan 2026–27: Which Counters Close, When to Book
Many small Japanese counters close for several days between about 29 December and 4 January, and often announce the exact days only in November or December. Tokyo's Toyosu fish market is closed from 31 December to 4 January 2027 and reopens on Tuesday 5 January. Book the nights you care about before 28 December or after 5 January, and treat any date in between as provisional until the house confirms it.
Booking & Access
How to Book Restaurants in Nagoya: OMAKASE Drops, Redial Mornings and the Hitsumabushi Line (2026)
Nagoya's hard tables are mostly platform tables. Sushi Shunbi Nishikawa and Sushimichi Sakurada release on OMAKASE on the 1st; Shinzenbi on Ikyu three months out; Shumokucho Shimizu online only. Amaki is the one true redial counter, at noon on the first business day. Reminiscence, Sushisho and Shiratama book with ordinary notice, and Horaiken and Unafuji run on a queue. Of the newer houses, Sekine opens by phone on…
Booking & Access
How to Book Restaurants in Kanazawa: Sushi Phone Lines, Crab Season and the Platform Door (2026)
Kanazawa runs on two calendars. The phone counters — Komatsu Yasuke, Otomezushi, Kifune — release a month at a stated hour on the 1st and fill that morning. The rest either take normal lead time, online or by phone (Zeniya, Tsubajin, Setsuri), or sell mainly online (Sushi Issei, Kibatani, Mekumi, Kisanuki). From November, crab compresses every book; Kataori and Kisanuki belong to regulars.
Booking & Access
How to Book Ginza Hachigou (2026)
Ginza Hachigou (銀座 八五) serves one noodle dish — chuka soba made with no kaeshi, the soy tare that defines almost every other bowl in Japan — from six counter seats in Ginza. Chef Matsumura's French training shows in a clear, layered broth. It runs on two tracks: from 11:00 walk-ins are seated in arrival order until the day's soup runs out, and from 12:00 the seats belong to reservation holders. Reservations open…
Booking & Access
How to Book Ginza Shinohara (2026)
Ginza Shinohara (銀座 しのはら) is Takemasa Shinohara's thirteen-seat counter in a Ginza basement, opened October 2016 after he closed his celebrated house in rural Shiga and started again in Tokyo. It holds Tabelog Gold and serves one omakase course at ¥35,000 before service. Booking is by telephone only, to 03-6263-0345, and the line is open just three hours a day — 12:00 to 15:00 — for dates up to roughly three months…
Booking & Access
How to Book goffo — Yokohama's Hardest Italian Table
goffo books through TableCheck, where the following month opens at 12:00 JST on the 25th and the good slots go within minutes. Parties of one to four online, five or more by phone; a same-day counter is released by phone or Instagram DM from 13:00. Dinner runs Monday and Thursday to Sunday from 17:00, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Cashless only, ¥600 table charge, ¥5,000 a head if you cancel after 17:00 the day…
Booking & Access
How to Book Maguro Mart — Nakano's Tuna House, 30 Days at Noon
Maguro Mart is a rolling book, not a monthly one — each date opens at 12:00 JST exactly 30 days ahead on TableCheck, so 15 November opens on 16 October at noon. Bookings for one to fourteen, two-hour tables, fifteen minutes' grace. Two set courses at ¥3,780 and ¥4,480 before tax or à la carte, ¥440 cover, cash only. Weekdays 17:00–22:00, weekends and holidays from 16:00; six to eight minutes from Nakano Station's…
Booking & Access
How to Book Restaurant Moliere in Sapporo (2026)
Restaurant Moliere (レストラン・モリエール), Hiroshi Nakamichi's house near Maruyama-koen in Sapporo, was awarded three stars in both of the Michelin Guide's Hokkaido special editions (2012 and 2017). Forty years after opening in 1984 it still takes reservations by telephone only, in Japanese — there is no online channel at all. The book opens a month at a time, three months ahead: January opens in October. Lunch is the gentle…
Booking & Access
How to Book Shoraian in Arashiyama, Kyoto (2026)
Shoraian (松籟庵) in Arashiyama occupies the former villa of prime minister Fumimaro Konoe, inside Kameyama park above the Hozu river. It serves tofu kaiseki built on Morika's Saga tofu, with fully vegetarian courses as a native option rather than an accommodation. Unusually for a house of this quality, it is genuinely bookable — online through RES, which has an English version linked from the official site, or by…