Call a Japanese restaurant
Book a Japanese restaurant in English. Even the ones with no online booking.
The best restaurants in Japan only take reservations by phone — and the phone is in Japanese. Native Call translates your call live, both sides, in under a second. Talk like you'd talk to any host in your hometown.
iPhone · iOS 16+ · International dialing included
Live demo · listen to a real reservation call
Hear the call you'll make.
Pick the language you speak. Press play. The other side always hears Japanese.
Tap "Play with sound" to start
Counter sushi & omakase
12-seat counters in Ginza, Yotsuya, Aoyama. Phone-only bookings, often released a month ahead at 9 AM Tokyo time.
Izakayas & yakitori
Neighborhood spots with no English menu, no English website, and no email. Just a phone number on Tabelog.
Kaiseki & ryokan dining
Multi-course meals at ryokans where the okami answers the phone personally. Polite, slow, and entirely in Japanese.
A typical call, translated
Here's the kind of conversation Native Call handles end-to-end. You see what each side hears in real time inside the app's transcript.
Hi, I'd like to make a reservation for two on Friday the 14th at 7 PM, please.
もしもし、14日金曜日の19時に2名で予約をお願いしたいのですが。
かしこまりました。お席はカウンター席でよろしいでしょうか？
Understood. Would counter seats be alright for you?
Counter is perfect. One of us has a shellfish allergy — is that workable?
カウンターでお願いします。一人が甲殻類アレルギーなのですが、対応可能でしょうか？
How it works
- 1
Open the app and dial the number
Type or paste any Japanese phone number — restaurants, hotels, hospitals, government lines. International calling is built in; you don't need a SIM that supports Japan.
- 2
Speak your language, the other side hears Japanese
Native Call sits between the two phones. Your English (or Mandarin or Cantonese) is converted to natural-sounding Japanese in under a second, and their Japanese comes back to you in your own language the same way.
- 3
Hang up with what you needed
Reservation booked. Room request confirmed. Question answered. The full bilingual transcript stays in the app so you can re-read what was agreed.
Common questions
Why can't I just book online? +
Most of the restaurants worth flying to Japan for don't accept online reservations. Counter sushi, intimate kaiseki rooms, and neighborhood izakayas take bookings only by phone — usually a phone that nobody answers in English. TableCheck and OMAKASE cover a slice of higher-end places, but the rest of the list is phone-only.
What can I actually say on the call? +
Anything you'd say in a normal restaurant call. "I'd like a reservation for two on Friday at 7." "Do you have counter seats available?" "One of us has a shellfish allergy — is that workable?" "We'll be 15 minutes late, please hold the table." The other side hears it in fluent, polite Japanese; their reply comes back to you in plain English.
Will the restaurant know I'm using a translator? +
Native Call uses high-quality Japanese voices — not a robotic readback — and the restaurant hears your message naturally. We do recommend leading with a short "sorry, I'm calling through a translator app" so they know to speak in clear sentences and wait between turns. Most restaurants in tourist-heavy areas are used to this.
How fast is the translation during the call? +
About one second from when you stop talking to when they start hearing you. Same in the reverse direction. The pace feels like a normal phone call with a slightly thoughtful pause.
Do I need a Japanese SIM or a calling plan? +
No. Native Call places the outbound call from our infrastructure. You just need an internet connection — Wi-Fi or your normal data plan, anywhere in the world.
What if the restaurant is closed or doesn't pick up? +
The call ends like any normal call. Most Japanese restaurants take reservation calls in a tight window — usually 11 AM to 2 PM and then 5 PM onward, Tokyo time. We surface a small note in the app when you're calling outside likely opening hours.
Book the table you've been putting off.
Free minutes on signup. iPhone, iOS 16+.