Legal

Terms of Service

Last updated: October 3, 2026

1. Who we are

SHOKU NOREN (the “Service”) is operated by JSTARs Inc. (“we”, “us”), a company registered in Tokyo, Japan. The Service arranges restaurant reservations in Japan on behalf of guests (“you”).

2. Nature of the service

  1. The Service is offered exclusively to consumers residing outside Japan. Residents of Japan may not use the Service. Travellers who live outside Japan may use it before and during their stay in Japan.（本サービスは日本国外に居住する旅行者専用であり、日本居住者は利用できません。訪日前だけでなく、日本滞在中もご利用いただけます。）
  2. You submit a reservation request. Submitting a request does not guarantee a reservation.
  3. We will notify you by email whether we can confirm your requested reservation, offer an alternative, or decline the request.
  4. Your request functions as a standing search mandate: it remains active until the end of your requested dates, or until you withdraw it — which you may do at any time before confirmation, free of charge, by email. If we secure your requested table within that period, we hold it and send you the details — the restaurant, the date and time, the course and its price, the restaurant’s own terms and anything it requires of you. The reservation is confirmed only when you approve it in writing (by email or from your request page); we then confirm with the restaurant and send you a written confirmation (“Confirmation”), which is binding. Until you approve, nothing is charged: you may decline the table or withdraw the request free of charge. You have 48 hours from our message to approve; if we do not hear from you by then, we release the hold and nothing is charged. If your requested dates pass without the table being secured, the request closes automatically and nothing is charged. While a request is active we may send you brief status notes; no reply is required.
  5. Our fees under these Terms — the booking fee and agreed concierge fees — are payable to us as consideration for our services, under our own name and on our own account. A restaurant cancellation fee we recover under Section 5, and third-party fees we pay on your behalf at cost (Section 3.2), are not fees for our service.

3. Fees

  1. Booking fee: reservation requests may be made for restaurants in our collection and for other restaurants in Japan. The booking fee is ¥6,000 per seat for a restaurant in our collection and ¥12,000 per seat for any other restaurant, determined by the restaurant at which the table is secured, and charged only when a table is secured — that is, when the reservation is confirmed under Section 2.4, after your written approval of the table we secured — to the card you registered at approval, as consideration for searching for and securing the reservation. If no table is secured, or you do not approve it, nothing is charged. The fee is non-refundable once charged, except where we or the restaurant cancel the reservation. For a restaurant our records show as taking guests only by introduction, not accepting new guests or fully booked, we tell you when you request it that the chance of a table is very low.
  2. Other arrangements beyond the booking itself — for example joining you at the table, an anniversary arranged with the restaurant, or a visit to a maker tied to a restaurant (the site’s own fees at cost, and no transport arranged) — are handled by email and quoted individually; they are charged to your registered card when their content is agreed in writing and arrangement begins, and refunds and cancellation charges follow Section 4 of the Cancellation Policy. Any third-party provider’s own fee follows that provider’s cancellation terms, which we state when we quote, and third-party fees we pay on your behalf are recovered at the same amount, with nothing added. The way to a restaurant — directions, a photo of the entrance, a taxi card in Japanese and when to leave — accompanies a confirmed booking free of charge, as an incidental courtesy; it is not sold separately, and we neither book transport nor buy tickets.
  3. The restaurant’s course price is paid to the restaurant directly, ordinarily at the restaurant. Where course prepayment is required (certain high-demand houses, allocation seats, or large parties), we check with you before securing the seat, and any refund follows that restaurant’s schedule.
  4. We do not arrange transport or accommodation. We do not plan, advise on, or provide information about transport, lodging or sightseeing, whether for a fee or free of charge; where your trip requires them, we introduce licensed travel partners who contract with you directly.
  5. All our fees include Japanese consumption tax unless stated otherwise. Amounts we recover at the same amount we paid on your behalf — a restaurant cancellation fee (Section 5) or a third-party fee (Section 3.2) — have nothing added to them and are shown on a separate line of your receipt.

4. Card registration and automatic charges

  1. No card is needed to submit a request. You register a valid payment card when you approve a table we are holding for you (Section 2.4). By registering, you authorize us to charge, without further action on your part (merchant-initiated transactions), the booking fee upon Confirmation and, where Section 5 applies, the same amount as a restaurant cancellation fee we have paid to the restaurant on your behalf.
  2. If a charge fails, you agree to pay the outstanding amount by an alternative method within 7 days of our notice.
  3. Your registered card stays on file for a confirmed booking until the day after your visit, or until any amount due under Section 5 has been paid, whichever is later. Closing your account does not cancel a confirmed booking or end this authorization.

5. Cancellation

Cancellations are governed by our Cancellation Policy, which forms part of these Terms. Our own fees are charged upon Confirmation, which follows your approval (Section 2.4), and are non-refundable as consideration for work delivered, except where we or the restaurant cancel the reservation.

  1. The restaurant’s policy applies. If you cancel late or do not attend, the restaurant’s own cancellation policy applies. We do not set cancellation fees. Where a restaurant has its own cancellation policy, we send it to you before you approve the table and state it in your Confirmation; where the house charges a non-refundable fee from the moment of booking, we check with you before securing the seat. Where a restaurant has no such policy, no cancellation fee applies.
  2. Paid on your behalf, recovered at the same amount. Where the restaurant charges a cancellation fee, SHOKU NOREN may pay that fee to the restaurant on your behalf and charge the same amount to your registered card to recover it. We add nothing to it, and it is not a fee for our service.
  3. Cancellations caused by us. If a cancellation is caused by us, we bear the fee.

6. Your responsibilities

  1. Arrive on time. Restaurants may treat arrival more than 15 minutes late as a no-show.
  2. Communicate dietary restrictions in advance. Same-day menu changes may not be possible.
  3. Follow the house rules of each restaurant (photography, fragrance, children, dress).

7. Our liability

  1. We are liable for arranging the reservation as confirmed. We are not the operator of the restaurant and are not liable for the content or quality of the meal.
  2. If we or the restaurant cancel a Confirmation, we will refund all amounts you paid for that reservation, including the booking fee. To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability is limited to the amounts you paid for the reservation concerned.
  3. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under Japanese law, including the Consumer Contract Act.

8. Personal data

We handle your personal data (name, email, country of residence, reservation details) to provide the Service, as set out in our Privacy Policy. We contact you about our own restaurants and services, and about partner restaurants and services we select — including in our monthly email of restaurant picks and news — only if you have opted in; we send those messages ourselves and never pass your details to advertisers, and you can opt out at any time. Card details are held by our payment processor (Stripe) and never touch our servers. We share only your name, party size, and dietary notes with the restaurant.

9. Free membership

  1. What it is. Membership is free. You join with your email address and your country of residence. It provides: reservation requests under these Terms; release alerts for the houses you save (for houses that open their books on a set date, an email the day before, on the morning of the release and, where the opening time is known, about 30 minutes before; for houses that open a little every day, a weekly summary); a Japanese dining card; and, if you agree, our monthly email of restaurant picks and news (Section 8). There is no limit on the number of houses you may save. If you send a reservation request with an email address that is not yet a member’s, you become a free member with that address.
  2. Information, not a guarantee. Release information and our restaurant picks reflect our most recent verification of each house’s own announcements and are provided for your personal use in making reservations. Houses change their rules without notice; we re-check regularly and show the date of the last verification on each page. Membership does not guarantee that a table will be available or that a reservation can be made, and we are not liable for a reservation you were unable to make.
  3. Emails. Release alerts are service emails of the membership; you can turn them off for any house, or entirely, from your account page. We send marketing emails only if you have opted in (Section 8).
  4. Personal use only. Membership content is licensed to you personally. You may not copy, publish, resell or share it, or share your account, with anyone else. We may suspend an account used in breach of this clause.
  5. Closing your account. You may close your account at any time from your account page or by email. We may change or discontinue free features at any time. Closing your account does not cancel a confirmed booking; Section 4.3 applies.
  6. Residence. Membership is offered to consumers residing outside Japan, before and during their stay in Japan. We record your country of residence at sign-up; residents of Japan are not eligible.

10. Requests and purchases before 22 September 2026

Requests we accepted and plans purchased before 22 September 2026 — including requests for restaurants outside our collection at the fee then in force, the former SHOKU NOREN Members plans and the former Trip Pass and dining schedule design — are completed on the terms in force at the time they were accepted or purchased.

11. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of Japan. Disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Tokyo District Court in the first instance.