Questions & answers
Everything travelers ask usHow Moshi Moshi works
You tell us the reservation. We call the restaurant in polite Japanese. You get an English confirmation — ¥980 if we book it, nothing if we don’t.
Tell us the reservation you want
Fill in the request form with the restaurant or ryokan, your preferred date and time, party size, and any dietary restrictions or requests. Leave your email. No payment details are taken at this point.
We call the venue in polite Japanese
We phone the establishment directly, in keigo — the formal Japanese a hotel concierge would use — and handle the back-and-forth: availability, seating, dietary notes, and any house rules the venue wants you to know.
You get an English confirmation by email
Within 24 hours you receive the outcome. If the reservation is confirmed, the email includes the date, time, party size, and venue details, plus a secure payment link for the ¥980 service fee. If we couldn't book it, you pay nothing.
Common questions
- How do I book a restaurant in Japan that doesn't speak English?
- Most of Japan's best small restaurants take reservations only by phone, in Japanese. Your realistic options are: an English booking platform if the restaurant releases seats to one (Pocket Concierge, TABLEALL, OMAKASE), your hotel concierge, a Japanese-speaking friend, or a booking service like Moshi Moshi that places the call for you and emails you an English confirmation.
- What is Moshi Moshi and how does it work?
- Moshi Moshi is a reservation service for travelers visiting Japan. You describe the restaurant or ryokan reservation you want; we call the venue in polite Japanese on your behalf, handle the conversation, and email you a confirmation in English. It exists for the large set of Japanese restaurants that have no online booking and answer only their phone, in Japanese.
- How much does Moshi Moshi cost?
- ¥980 per successful booking — roughly $6–7 USD. If we can't get you the reservation, you pay nothing. There is no subscription, no deposit, and no card on file when you make a request: payment happens through a secure Stripe link sent with your confirmation email, only after the reservation is actually made.
- How long does it take to get a confirmation?
- Within 24 hours of your request. Japanese restaurants answer their phones between services, so most calls are placed the same day Japan-time and you receive the outcome — confirmed, waitlisted, or unavailable — by email.
- What do I receive when the reservation is confirmed?
- An email in English with the confirmed date, time, and party size, the venue's name and details, any notes the restaurant passed along (dress code, cancellation terms, payment preferences), and the ¥980 payment link.
- What happens if the restaurant is full or declines?
- You get an email saying exactly that, and you pay nothing. If you gave us backup dates or a second-choice venue in your request, we try those on the same call run before reporting back.
- Can you book Sushi Saito, Sugita, or other members-only restaurants?
- No — and you should be skeptical of anyone who says they reliably can. A small set of famous places (Sushi Saito, Sushi Sugita, Sukiyabashi Jiro Honten, Sugalabo) don't accept bookings from the public at all; access is through regulars or a few luxury-hotel concierges. We cover this honestly in our guides. What we do book is the much larger tier of phone-only restaurants — places that do take reservations, just only in Japanese.
- Do you book ryokan as well as restaurants?
- Yes. Many of Japan's best traditional inns — especially the small, old, family-run ones — still prefer phone reservations in Japanese. The request works the same way: tell us the property, dates, number of guests, and any preferences (dinner included, private bath), and we make the call.
- Can you pass along dietary restrictions or special requests?
- Yes, and this is one of the strongest reasons to book by phone rather than a web form. Allergies, vegetarian or pescatarian preferences, celebrations, seat preferences — we relay them in Japanese during the call and include the restaurant's answer in your confirmation, so there are no surprises at the counter.
- Do I need to give a credit card before you make the call?
- No. You pay only after a reservation is confirmed, via a Stripe payment link in the confirmation email. Note that some restaurants have their own cancellation fees for confirmed bookings — if a venue states one, we include it in your confirmation so you know the terms.
- Can I cancel or change a reservation made through Moshi Moshi?
- Yes — reply to your confirmation email as soon as you know, and we call the restaurant to cancel or rebook. Please treat cancellations seriously: a no-show at a small Japanese restaurant does real damage, and same-day cancellations often carry a fee set by the venue.
- Is Moshi Moshi affiliated with the restaurants it books?
- No. We're an independent service acting on the traveler's side, the way a hotel concierge would. Restaurants pay us nothing and our recommendations in the guides aren't sponsored.
Early access
Ready when you are.
Leave your email and the reservation you want. We call in polite Japanese, handle the back-and-forth, and email you the confirmation in English. No charge unless the reservation is made.