Editorial Policy

Japan Fine Dining Index is editorially independent. This page sets out the rules we hold ourselves to and how to challenge them.

No paid placement

We do not accept payment from restaurants, agencies, or platforms in exchange for inclusion in our index, position in a ranking, or favorable editorial copy. A restaurant cannot improve its score by paying us. A restaurant cannot remove a low score by paying us. There is no commercial route to influence our scoring.

No sponsored editorial

We do not publish sponsored editorial copy, advertorial, or guest posts on behalf of restaurants or industry partners. Pages that look like editorial are editorial.

Affiliate links — disclosed

Some booking links may earn us a small commission when a reader completes a reservation. Where this is the case, the link is labeled "Affiliate" next to the call-to-action. Affiliate revenue does not influence which restaurants we list, the order in which they appear, or their scores. We do not artificially favor restaurants whose booking platform pays a higher commission.

How scores are produced

Every score is produced by an automated pipeline that ingests public data and applies the six-dimension methodology described on the methodology page. No human can override an individual score without leaving an audit trail in the source data. The pipeline is re-run each month and on every material data change.

Corrections

If you find a factual error — wrong address, closed restaurant, mis-spelled chef name, mis-categorized cuisine — write to [email protected] with the URL of the page and the correct information. We respond within five business days. Confirmed corrections are pushed to the live site at the next build (we build at least weekly).

Takedowns

Restaurants who wish to be removed from the index entirely should contact us with proof of ownership or representation. We will remove the page within five business days of confirmation. We will not, however, remove a restaurant in response to a request for a higher score, or in response to a complaint about an unflattering but factually correct score.