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.
27 articles
Lineage & History
Edo Food Culture: How a Samurai City Invented Japanese Fast Food
Edo — Tokyo before 1868 — was among the world's largest cities by the 1700s — by many estimates the largest — with over a million people, disproportionately single working men. Feeding them created the world's first great fast-food culture: sushi, soba, tempura and unagi kabayaki all crystallized as street-stall food in the same city in roughly the same century. The 'Edo big four' were cheap, fast and standing-room;…
Lineage & History
The History of Tempura: From Portuguese Missionaries to Edo Street Food
Tempura is Japan's most successful culinary import before ramen: a frying technique brought by Portuguese missionaries and traders in the mid-1500s, named — by most accounts — from Latin tempora, the ember-day fasts when Catholics ate battered fish. Edo turned it into street food, frying the bay's catch in sesame oil at riverside stalls; the modern counter form, fried piece by piece before the guest, emerged in the…
Lineage & History
Aoyagi Family Tree: The Tokushima Kitchen Behind RyuGin, Kojyu and Kanda (2026)
Aoyagi, Hirohisa Koyama's ryotei in Tokushima, is where the chefs of three well-known Tokyo kaiseki houses trained, Seiji Yamamoto of RyuGin, Toru Okuda of Ginza Kojyu and Hiroyuki Kanda of Kanda. Their own kitchens have since trained the chefs of Ensui, Hakuun, Tanryu, Waki Shun, Kutan, Sorahana and Towa. Tanryu in Himeji is in our collection and can be requested at ¥6,000 per seat; Ginza Kojyu, Toranomon Sorahana…
Lineage & History
Bird Land Family Tree: The Ginza Yakitori Counter and the Cooks It Trained (2026)
Toshihiro Wada opened Bird Land in Asagaya in 1987 and moved it to Ginza in 2001. His cooks opened Bird Court in Kita-Senju, Yakitori Imai in Gaienmae and Asagaya Bird Land, and a Bird Court cook opened Yakitori Kato in Mita. In Osaka, the owner's son at Ayamuya trained at Bird Land. Bird Land books online, which is the direct route; Bird Land, Yakitori Imai, Bird Court, Yakitori Kato, Asagaya Bird Land and Ayamuya…
Lineage & History
Kagurazaka Ishikawa Family Tree: Kohaku, Ren Mishina and the Group's Counters (2026)
Kagurazaka Ishikawa holds Three MICHELIN Stars (MICHELIN Guide Japan 2026) and its counter seats go on release day, three months ahead. Hideki Ishikawa is known for handing kitchens to the cooks he trained, and the result is a group of houses across Kagurazaka and beyond, from Kohaku to Ren Mishina, NK and Guchokuni, plus alumni who left to open their own rooms, such as Mushitsu and Arakicho Tatsuya. Of these,…
Lineage & History
Sukiyabashi Jiro Alternatives: The Jiro School Family Tree (2026)
Sukiyabashi Jiro in Ginza takes bookings by phone only, refuses proxies and accepts overseas visitors only through their hotel concierge. The chefs it trained are easier to reach. Apprentices who spent nine to seventeen years at the counter now run Sushi Harutaka (鮨 青空), Sushi Nakazawa in New York, Sushi Masuda, Sushi Mizukami, Sushi Ao and Nihonbashi Kawaguchi, and a second generation trained under them and under…
Lineage & History
Sushi Kanesaka Family Tree: The Chefs It Trained (2026)
Sushi Kanesaka in Ginza, opened in December 2000 by Shinji Kanesaka after about ten years at Ginza Kyubey, takes bookings by phone and online with no release day; guests must be 30 or older. Sushi Saito began as its Akasaka counter. Chefs who trained at Kanesaka also run Sushi Ishiyama, Kagurazaka Sushi Rin, Sushi Kojima, Ginza Iwa and Daikanyama Sushi Takeuchi, and a second generation has grown under Ginza Iwa,…
Lineage & History
Kikunoi Family Tree: Where Kikunoi-Trained Chefs Cook Now (2026)
Kikunoi, the Kyoto kaiseki house founded in 1912 and led by third-generation chef Yoshihiro Murata, has trained the chefs of Tenoshima, Yakumo Uezu, Towa, Nihonryori Kenya, Yo, Nihonryori Su and Omura. Akasaka Kikunoi, the house's own Tokyo restaurant, is in our collection and can be requested at ¥6,000 per seat. Tenoshima, Towa, Omura, Su, Yo, Yakumo Uezu and Kenya can be requested at ¥12,000. Kikunoi Honten in…
Lineage & History
Kyoto Kitcho Alternatives: The Kitcho Family Tree (2026)
Kitcho, founded by Teiichi Yuki in Osaka in 1930, is less a single restaurant than a school of kaiseki. Cooks who spent ten to thirty-one years in its kitchens now run Mizai, Tsukumo, Toraya Kochuan, Tomura, Zenji Suikoan, Zeniya and Ogawa, and two more came through Aji Kitcho. Three of them, Zeniya in Kanazawa, Toraya Kochuan in Tokushima and Tsukumo in Nara, are in our collection and can be requested at ¥6,000 per…
Lineage & History
Kyoaji Alternatives: The Kyoaji Family Tree (2026)
Kyoaji, Kenichiro Nishi's restaurant in Shinbashi, closed in 2019 and can no longer be booked. The cooks it trained, some of them for ten to sixteen years, now run Mitaka, Shinbashi Hoshino, Shinbashi Sasada, Iyuki, Ajihiro, Kurogi, Koguma and other restaurants, and a second generation has opened Isoda, Kawada, Ajiyuki and Moto-Azabu Kushima. Many of these houses are introduction-only or held by regulars. Shinbashi…
Lineage & History
Ginza Kyubey Family Tree: The Chefs It Trained (2026)
Ginza Kyubey, founded in 1935, takes bookings by phone, on Ikyu and through an official English partner, with no release day. The harder seats in its family are the counters its alumni opened, among them Sushi Kanesaka, Sushi Saito and Sushi Arai. Kyubey-trained chefs also run Sushi Mitsukawa in Kanazawa, Sushi Ryusuke and Sushidokoro Suzu in Tokyo, Naruki in Himi and Sushi Shota in Sapporo, and a second generation…
Lineage & History
Sushi Saito Alternatives: The Saito Family Tree (2026)
Sushi Saito in Roppongi is introduction only, so no booking desk can get you in. The wider Saito family is easier to reach. The house runs a branch at Azabudai Hills and is behind two counters in Nakameguro, Sushi Tsubomi and Sushi Saito Hanare NANZUKA, and chefs who trained under Takashi Saito now run Sushi Shunji, Sushi Takahashi, Sushi Kobayashi, Ryusei in Miyagi and Sushi Fujimoto in Hong Kong. Of these, Ryusei,…