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.
189 articles
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…
Ingredients & Seasons
Umami and Dashi: The Science of Japan's Fifth Taste
Umami — the savory fifth taste — was identified in 1908 by Tokyo chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who isolated glutamate from kombu dashi and coined the word. Dashi, Japanese cuisine's base stock, is a precision umami extraction: kombu kelp contributes glutamate, katsuobushi (smoked, mold-ripened bonito flakes) contributes inosinate, and the two compounds multiply each other's perceived intensity several times over — the…
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.
Etiquette & Culture
Vegetarian and Vegan in Japan: The Honest Survival Guide
Japan looks vegetable-friendly and is quietly difficult, because fish-based dashi seasons most dishes that appear meatless. The honest strategy has three layers: eat shojin ryori, the Zen temple cuisine perfected over centuries; use the reliably safe formats; and state exclusions rather than labels, with dashi mo dame desu as the sentence that matters. Planned, a plant-based trip is exceptional.
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…
Booking & Access
How to Book Sushi Hanakuruma — Nagoya's Ginza-Pedigree Counter
Sushi Hanakuruma is the rare top-tier Nagoya counter you can book without a phone call. OMAKASE opens the following month on the 1st at 15:00 JST, Ikyu and English-language Pocket Concierge show live seats, and the phone (Japanese) still works. Three simultaneous seatings — 12:00, 18:00, 20:30 — closed Wednesdays. Lunch ¥22,000, dinner ¥34,100, tax included, no service charge; platform cancellation 50% from 7 days,…
Booking & Access
October 2026: 244 of Japan's Hardest Restaurants Open Their Books — 206 of Them on 1 October
The busiest single day is Thursday 1 October 2026, and most books open at 12:00 or 10:00 JST.