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.
32 articles
Regions & Itineraries
Roppongi & Azabu Food Guide: Tokyo's International Fine-Dining Belt
Roppongi and the Azabus are Tokyo's international fine-dining belt: the highest concentration of English-fluent starred rooms, most on TableCheck, Ikyu or OMAKASE rather than a Japanese phone line. The hard ones drop on a clock — Sazenka on the 1st, Florilège at midnight, Amamoto once a quarter. Use the towers as the safety net, the backstreets as the destination.
Regions & Itineraries
Nihonbashi & Kanda Food Guide: Tokyo's Oldest Tables
Nihonbashi and Kanda hold Tokyo's densest cluster of century-old restaurants — Muromachi Sunaba, Isegen, Botan, Toriyasu, Kanda Yabusoba — and none of them has a release day: Isegen and Toriyasu now book online through Tabelog, Botan through its own web form and Imahan through TableCheck, while the rest still book by telephone in Japanese. Sugita in Kakigaracho is the one door that stays shut to newcomers. Fix…
Regions & Itineraries
Kyoto in Autumn-Leaf Season: When to Book Kaiseki for November 2026
November is the tightest month in Kyoto's dining year. For November 2026, Ogata, Gion Owatari, Gion Sasaki, Chihana and Muromachi Wakuden have already opened their books; Soujiki Nakahigashi opens by phone at 08:00 on 1 October. Hyotei, Kikunoi and Kitcho publish no release day, so request them now and build meals around temple mornings.
Regions & Itineraries
Chiba Food Guide: The Serious Dinner Near Narita
Chiba is where most international visitors arrive and depart, and it has tables worth planning a first or last night around. In Chiba City, Sushiei is the prefecture's most decorated sushi counter, while Takaoka serves an all-Chiba omakase you can book online. Near Narita, Ushimaru is a farmhouse Italian in the rice fields of Sammu, about 40 minutes from the airport by car. Takeyabu in Kashiwa and Sushi Sasamoto in…
Regions & Itineraries
Kamakura, Yokohama & Odawara: Food Day Trips from Tokyo
Kanagawa is Tokyo's easiest food day trip, and the best way to plan it is by route rather than by restaurant. In Kita-Kamakura, Gentoan serves kaiseki on antique tableware a few minutes' walk from the Zen temples, with a single 12:00 lunch seating. Yokohama is an evening city — yakitori at Ribatei, tempura at Tempura Uemura, gyunabe at Ohta Nawanoren or a ryotei dinner at Tanakaya. And on the road to Hakone,…
Regions & Itineraries
Hyogo Beyond the Beef: Where to Eat in Kobe, Akashi, Ashiya and Himeji
Hyogo is known abroad for Kobe beef, but its best eating runs along the coast west of Osaka — sea bream and octopus from the Akashi Strait, sushi built on Hyogo's own ports, yakitori in a quiet suburb and kaiseki under Himeji Castle. Sushi Ueda in Kobe, Kikusui-zushi Nishi-ten in Akashi, Eragon in Ashiya and Tanryu in Himeji all take bookings without a release day, most of them online; Misono, the teppanyaki house…
Regions & Itineraries
Kumamoto and Oita Food Guide: Horse, Fugu and Soft-Shell Turtle
Kumamoto and Oita share a volcano, Aso, and a table that runs on horse, fugu and soft-shell turtle. In Kumamoto, eat basashi at the izakaya Iroha and Amakusa fish at Sushi Nakamura and Sushi Taito, both starred in 2018, and at Murakami; in Oita, fugu at Ryotei Yamadaya in Usuki, suppon at Ryotei Yamasa Ryokan in Ajimu and hamo at Chikushitei in Nakatsu, with Hirokado in Beppu and Yakiniku Ito in Saiki. Most houses…
Regions & Itineraries
Where to Eat in Nara: Kaiseki, Soba and a Reason to Stay the Night
Most visitors eat Nara as a lunch between temples, but the old capital's serious tables are at their fullest at dinner. Four of the five houses here sit in or beside Naramachi — Tsukumo, with Two MICHELIN Stars (MICHELIN Guide Japan 2026); Hoshino, with One MICHELIN Star (MICHELIN Guide Japan 2026); Tsuruyoshi (Tabelog Award 2026 Bronze); and Gen, a hand-milled soba house — with Wa Yamamura one stop away at…
Regions & Itineraries
Shinjuku Food Guide: Yokocho Alleys, Yakiton and the Neon Table
Shinjuku is Tokyo's density made edible — the world's busiest station ringed by yokocho alleys, izakaya towers, ramen counters and food halls. The icons are Omoide Yokocho, the lantern-lit alley of smoking grills, and Golden Gai's tiny bars; the connoisseur's address is Torishige, the charcoal yakiton counter that elevated pork skewers to haute cuisine. Eat skewers and smoke in the alleys early, keep one serious…
Regions & Itineraries
Shizuoka and Izu Food Guide: Tea, Tuna and Eel on the Tokaido
Shizuoka is the long stretch of the Tokaido between Tokyo and Nagoya that most travelers see only from a Nozomi window — tea hills, Suruga Bay and the Izu coast. Fugetsuro serves ryotei kaiseki in the last shogun's garden three minutes from Shizuoka Station; Suehirozushi in Shimizu serves southern bluefin at the port that lands Japan's tuna; Ichiunagi in Ito and LAT.34°N by Ao above Ajiro make the Izu side worth a…
Regions & Itineraries
Takayama and Gifu: Beyond Hida Beef
Most visitors come to Takayama for Hida beef, and Kitchen Hida, the old-town steakhouse that started the genre in 1964, is still the place to eat it. The deeper table is mountain food — Ryotei Susaki's tea-ceremony banquet cuisine served since 1794, and Hida Kisetsu Ryori Sakana, where the chef forages the menu himself. Down in the Gifu lowlands, Takada Hassho serves Gujo river ayu in private rooms and Katatsumuri…
Regions & Itineraries
Yatsugatake to Matsumoto: Japan's Highland Table
The Chuo Line from Shinjuku climbs through the Kofu wine basin to the Yatsugatake foothills and on to Matsumoto, and the small kitchens along it cook buckwheat, river eel, wild mushrooms and game. Sadoya Restaurant Real d'Or in Kofu and Izutsuya Kobuchizawa are easy online books; Pause, Soba Hajime and Restaurant Ashihana are Japanese phone calls to rooms of six to thirteen seats; Caenne above Chino is a wood-fired…