From 2 November 2026 until mid‑March 2027, a midnight release in Tokyo lands at 10:00 the previous day in New York, 07:00 in Los Angeles, 15:00 in London, 23:00 in Singapore and Hong Kong, and 02:00 the same day in Sydney. A 05:00 release is five hours later in every city. The one exception sits right at the start: the 1 November release still meets American summer time, so it falls at 11:00 in New York and 08:00 in Los Angeles on Saturday 31 October.
The houses that do this are fewer than the folklore suggests. On 31 October 2026, of the 1,546 houses in our booking calendar, 27 have a release hour between 00:00 and 06:00 JST: 25 at midnight and 2 at 05:00. One of the 05:00 pair, Sushi Dai in Toyosu Market, is not a booking at all but a sign‑up at the shop from 05:00 on the day, so 26 are online releases a traveller can watch from abroad, each on its own house terms. We counted these from our own calendar records on that date.
The conversion table
Japan keeps one clock all year. Every change below comes from the reader’s side, and autumn 2026 stacks them close together: Sydney moved to daylight time on 4 October, Europe left summer time on 25 October, and the United States leaves on 1 November. We checked each date against the time‑zone database before writing.
| Release (JST) | New York | Los Angeles | London | Sydney | Singapore / Hong Kong |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 on 1 Nov 2026 | 11:00 Sat 31 Oct | 08:00 Sat 31 Oct | 15:00 Sat 31 Oct | 02:00 Sun 1 Nov | 23:00 Sat 31 Oct |
| 00:00, 2 Nov 2026 to 14 Mar 2027 | 10:00 previous day | 07:00 previous day | 15:00 previous day | 02:00 same day | 23:00 previous day |
| 05:00 on 1 Nov 2026 | 16:00 Sat 31 Oct | 13:00 Sat 31 Oct | 20:00 Sat 31 Oct | 07:00 Sun 1 Nov | 04:00 Sun 1 Nov |
| 05:00, 2 Nov 2026 to 14 Mar 2027 | 15:00 previous day | 12:00 previous day | 20:00 previous day | 07:00 same day | 04:00 same day |
Two consequences matter more than the hours. First, for New York, Los Angeles, London, Singapore and Hong Kong, a release on the 1st in Tokyo happens on the last day of the previous month at home: the 1 December midnight drop is Monday 30 November, the 1 January drop is Thursday 31 December. Second, the spring changes do not line up. The US returns to summer time on 14 March 2027, London on 28 March and Sydney leaves daylight time on 4 April, so for those few weeks add an hour in New York and Los Angeles but not yet in London.
Midnight is a gift to the Americas and Europe: a late‑morning or mid‑afternoon task. It is Sydney, at 02:00, that loses sleep, and Singapore and Hong Kong that must stay up to 23:00 for midnight and wake at 04:00 for Sazenka.
Who opens at midnight, and how
All 25 midnight releases in our calendar are online: through TableCheck, OMAKASE or a house’s own booking page, and in one Sendai case a Google or Instagram booking button. Thirteen of the 25 are in Tokyo. They split into two quite different habits.
A fixed night each month (13 houses). Ten open on the 1st. In Tokyo that includes Azabu kumasan, the Azabu‑Juban wagyu counter, whose OMAKASE book opens the month two months ahead at 00:00 on the 1st (our record, verified September 2026); Sushi Saito Azabudai, which does the same on OMAKASE (our record, updated October 2026); YORONIKU TOKYO Azabudai Hills, which opens the following month on TableCheck; and TACUBO in Daikanyama, whose OMAKASE page directs guests living abroad to the house’s official route for overseas guests. Three others use a different date: Muromachi Wakuden in Kyoto on the 5th, Kamakura Kitajima on the 15th and Ginza Shinohara on the 25th, the last releasing the month three months ahead with one booking per quarter per OMAKASE account.
Every night (12 houses). These books roll: at 00:00 JST each day, one more date opens, most often the same date one, two or three months out. Azabu Kadowaki releases each date exactly three months ahead on OMAKASE, two bookings a month per account. L’Effervescence and Crony open two months ahead, and Florilège one month ahead. Outside Tokyo, Mumyo in Nagano runs three months ahead. For these houses the alarm is set by the date you want to eat, not by the calendar month: a Kadowaki dinner on 15 February 2027 opens at 00:00 JST on Sunday 15 November 2026, which is 10:00 on Saturday 14 November in New York and 15:00 in London.
One caution on Kadowaki. Its house policy, recorded in our calendar in October 2026, accepts overseas residents only through a hotel concierge or Pocket Concierge, and the named guest must attend. We do not request it; the routes are the house’s own.
The one 05:00 release
Sazenka in Minami‑Azabu is the only house in our calendar that opens a booking book at 05:00 JST. Its official reservation page, which we read on 4 October 2026, opens the book on the 1st of each month through the end of the month two months ahead; its TableCheck page, read on 7 September 2026, gives the 05:00 hour, one booking per month and even‑numbered parties only, and its OMAKASE page, read the same day, opens at the same moment with one booking per quarter. The 1 December 2026 release therefore falls at 15:00 on Monday 30 November in New York, 20:00 the same evening in London and 07:00 on Tuesday 1 December in Sydney. The house also moved hairy‑crab‑season bookings to its phone line from 16 October 2026, so confirm which dates the web release covers before you plan around it. Sazenka accepts requests only in the name of the guest who attends, and we place them that way.
The afternoon trap in the same neighbourhood
The midnight houses are easy for Western time zones. The hard hours come from afternoon releases. Torioka, the yakitori counter that shares Azabudai Hills with Sushi Saito Azabudai, opens the whole following month on OMAKASE at 16:00 JST on the 1st, and the booker must attend with ID. On 1 December 2026 that is 02:00 in New York and 23:00 the night before in Los Angeles. Not every Azabu counter keeps an alarm at all: Sushiya Shota in Azabu‑Juban takes ordinary TableCheck bookings with no release day.
What to do before the next release
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Find the house’s rule in our calendar and note the JST hour and whether it is a fixed day or a rolling date. |
| 2 | For a rolling house, count back one, two or three months from the date you want to dine; that is the release date. |
| 3 | Convert with the table above, then check the calendar date at home: in the Americas, Europe and Southeast and East Asia it is usually the day before. |
| 4 | If the release falls between 14 March and 4 April 2027, recheck the hour; the clock changes do not coincide. |
| 5 | Make or update your TableCheck or OMAKASE account a day ahead, with card and party size saved. Several houses cap bookings per account. |
| 6 | Log in ten minutes early and refresh on the minute. |
For the full month of release dates, see our November 2026 release‑day guide; for the general logic of release days, how Japan’s restaurant booking calendar works; and for account limits and lotteries, how the OMAKASE platform works. If the hour does not suit you, our reservation desk can take the release for the houses that allow it.
