How to make/cancel a reservation at Butler Cafe Swallowtail
I'm sure there are a couple of tutorials on how to make a reservation at the Butler Cafe Swallowtail in Ikebukuro, but I'll make an attempt at making an up-to-date one for now.
To MAKE a reservation:
STEP 1: Go to the Swallowtail Cafe website.
Click on "ご来館予約" (Goraikan yoyaku).
STEP 2: This will take you to the page with the times table.
These are all the times they take reservations for. The times are in military time, meaning that it runs on a 24-hour clock cycle, instead of the 12-hour clock cycle.
Note that in the second column to the right of the times is _#_名様 x _#_席. The first number is the max number of guests are possible for the reservation, and the second number is how many reservations they have of that type for that time. (EX. 1名様 x 2席 = two reservations for 1 person)
Be sure to note which time(s) you would like to try to reserve. Be flexible, because the spots really go FAST. The best thing to do is decide which date and time you want to go for.
They used to do reservations 2 MONTHS in advance, but now, it's only 15 DAYS in advance. If you do not live in Japan, keep in mind the time difference. Something like the Time Zone Converter is a good thing to use to figure out what time it will be where you are when it turns midnight in Japan.
Reservations go up at midnight Japan time for the day 15 days from now. (EX. Reservations go up for August 25th when it turns midnight from August 9th → August 10th.)
STEP 3: Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
The text here tells you that if you are more then 50 minutes late to your reservation, you cannot enter as they will be preparing for the next guests. You cannot extend your time inside past your reservation time. They do not take reservations for 5 people.
Click on the button with the words "ご来館予約受付" (Goraikan yoyaku uketsuke).
STEP 4: This page will list the available reservations, if any.
At any other time besides midnight Japan time, you might see a page with a couple available reservations (or maybe none at all)
I was unable to get a shot of the full list they might have available during midnight as they get taken very quickly. Mere minutes! So you have act fast.
Here's a shot of something about a minute in.. the list is already 3/4 taken.
The top 3 links explain various things:
1) About making a cancellation or changing details in your reservation
2) About if you want a 6-8 person reservation
→ you would have to grab two separate reservations in the same time frame
→ Note: you can only have 1 reservation for a particular email at a time; it will let you make a second reservation with the same email until you have finished the reservation process COMPLETELY.
3) About days they are not open or days with different hours
STEP 5: Select your time.
I would recommend typing your email address out and having it copied already to your computer's clipboard, so that when you get to this page, you can just do CTRL+V to enter it in the text field for "メールアドレス" (Meeru adoresu) instead of typing it out. This can either be your web email, or if you have a Japanese cell phone, your cell phone email.
STEP 6: Next, select the number of people.
This will be based on how many seats are available as indicated in that particular reservation at the top of the page.
The click the button "確認" (Kakunin) to confirm.
STEP 7: If your reservation goes through successfully, you should get a page like this.
If you input your email address correctly, you should receive an email from them to complete the next step of the reservation process. You must complete it within 24 hours (before the next midnight Japan time, they ask for 11pm) or your reservation will be invalid, and it will go back up on the available list.
STEP 8: Check your email.
For the most part, it should only be a few minutes before you receive an automatically generated email from them. In the worst case, it'll be about 20 minutes wait before receiving an email.
You will received an email that says "予約確認" (Yoyaku kakunin), which is the reservation confirmation, which also indicates what time and how many guests. It will specify the deadline for when you have to complete the rest of the reservation procedure (11pm of the same day, Japan time)
There are two sets of links. The top two are for completing the reservations, while the bottom two are for canceling the reservation (I will talk about cancellations at the end).
I recommend clicking the second link (under SSL) to keep your information safe/secure.
STEP 9: Enter your email.
This should be the same email you entered in the first part of the reservation. This page is specific to the particular reservation you made.
Click the button that says "確認" (Kakunin).
STEP 10: You will arrive at a form page.
The first text field asks for "お名前（本名）" Onamae (Honna). This is where you put in your real name (or the real name of the group representative for the reservation).
If your name is not Japanese, I would put it in Roman characters like so: "First LAST"
The second text field asks for "フリガナ". This is where you put your name in Japanese katakana, so that they can read your name.
Following the example a few sentences ago ("First LAST"), I would put in: "ファースト・ラスト" with the dot separating the first and last name.
STEP 11: Next you will have some selections to make.
Field three is where they ask you what you (or the group rep) would like to be greeted as "お出迎えの呼び方" (Odemukae no yobikata):
"お嬢様" (Ojou-sama = for single women)
"奥様" (Oku-sama = for married women)
"旦那様" (Danna-sama = for married men)
"お坊っちゃま" (Obocchama = for single men)
Field four is where you choose the phrase they will say to you when your time is up "お見送り台詞" (Omiokuri daishi):
"おまかせ" (Omakase = you will be leaving it to their choice what they will say)
"お出掛けのお時間でございます" (Odekake no ojikan de gozaimasu = time to head out)
"ご出発のお時間でございます" (Goshuppatsu no ojikan de gozaimasu = time for your departure)
"乗馬のお時間でございます" (Jouba no ojikan de gozaimasu = time for your coach/carriage)
It will also ask for your お電話番号 (Odenwa bango), or phone number (Japan phone numbers only), and ご住所 (Gojusho), or address (Japan addresses only, include postal code). The Japanese address should be entered in Japanese characters and in the Japanese format: postal code, prefecture, city/province, building, room.
The part under that is for メンバーカード (Menbaa kaado), or Member Card, number. If you have one, then you would enter it in the field. There are up to 4 spaces (enough for a max of four people in the reservation). You would also specify if you have (あり)/don't have (なし) "誕生月特典" (Tanjougetsu tokuten), or the members birthday month privilege(?).
The last part is if you want to make an order to reserve an anniversary cake in advance. (It cannot be ordered at the time of your reservation time, it must be before.) It is an additional 1,500 yen, and must be paid via "銀行振込" (Ginkou furikomi), or bank money transfer, by the latest 3 days before your reservation time. They will tell you where to send the bank money transfer to in the "予約完了メール" (Yoyaku kanryou meeru"), or reservation completion email.
In this case, the options they have are:
なし (Nashi = N/A)
フルーツタルト (Furuutsu taruto = Fruits tart)
チョコレートショートケーキ (Chokoreeto shooto keeki = Chocolate shortcake)
チーズケーキ (Cheezu keeki = Cheesecake)
苺のショートケーキ (Ichigo no shooto keeki = Strawberry shortcake)
Then click on the 確認 (Kakunin) button to confirm.
STEP 12: Up to this point, your reservation has been called 仮予約 (Kari yoyaku), or temporary reservation. Once you have completed the form, it becomes a 本予約 (Hon yoyaku), or real reservation.
They will send you a reservation completion email, confirming the details you put in the form. At this point, you cannot change the amount of people you reserved for nor any of the selections you made.
If the amount of people who show up for the reservation is less than the amount you specified, you will have to pay a cancellation fee of 1,000 yen per missing person.
STEP 13: Check your email for the 予約完了 (Yoyaku kanryou), or reservation completion, email.
According to the email, they will send another reservation confirmation email 2 days prior to your reservation time. If you want to change your email address, etc. (except for your selections), you should email them to let them know.
If you've made it to this point, and everything is good, sit back and wait until you get their second confirmation email prior to your reservation, and enjoy your time there! =)
To CANCEL your reservation:
There will also be links (regular and secure SSL) to cancel your reservation, if necessary, in the reservation completion email. (see previous image)
If you do not cancel and do not show up, you will be charged cancellation fees.
STEP 1: Click on one of the cancellation links in the reservation completion email.
STEP 2: Type in the email address used to make the reservation.
This page is specific to your reservation.
Caution!: Once you it the キャンセル (Kyanseru) button, there's no going back. Be sure this is what you want.
STEP 3: After hitting the Cancel button, you will see this page.
With this, you have canceled your reservation.
STEP 4: They will also send you an email to confirm your cancellation.
Planning to crosspost this to expatsjapan.
To MAKE a reservation:
STEP 1: Go to the Swallowtail Cafe website.
Click on "ご来館予約" (Goraikan yoyaku).
STEP 2: This will take you to the page with the times table.
These are all the times they take reservations for. The times are in military time, meaning that it runs on a 24-hour clock cycle, instead of the 12-hour clock cycle.
Note that in the second column to the right of the times is _#_名様 x _#_席. The first number is the max number of guests are possible for the reservation, and the second number is how many reservations they have of that type for that time. (EX. 1名様 x 2席 = two reservations for 1 person)
Be sure to note which time(s) you would like to try to reserve. Be flexible, because the spots really go FAST. The best thing to do is decide which date and time you want to go for.
They used to do reservations 2 MONTHS in advance, but now, it's only 15 DAYS in advance. If you do not live in Japan, keep in mind the time difference. Something like the Time Zone Converter is a good thing to use to figure out what time it will be where you are when it turns midnight in Japan.
Reservations go up at midnight Japan time for the day 15 days from now. (EX. Reservations go up for August 25th when it turns midnight from August 9th → August 10th.)
STEP 3: Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
The text here tells you that if you are more then 50 minutes late to your reservation, you cannot enter as they will be preparing for the next guests. You cannot extend your time inside past your reservation time. They do not take reservations for 5 people.
Click on the button with the words "ご来館予約受付" (Goraikan yoyaku uketsuke).
STEP 4: This page will list the available reservations, if any.
At any other time besides midnight Japan time, you might see a page with a couple available reservations (or maybe none at all)
I was unable to get a shot of the full list they might have available during midnight as they get taken very quickly. Mere minutes! So you have act fast.
Here's a shot of something about a minute in.. the list is already 3/4 taken.
The top 3 links explain various things:
1) About making a cancellation or changing details in your reservation
2) About if you want a 6-8 person reservation
→ you would have to grab two separate reservations in the same time frame
→ Note: you can only have 1 reservation for a particular email at a time; it will let you make a second reservation with the same email until you have finished the reservation process COMPLETELY.
3) About days they are not open or days with different hours
STEP 5: Select your time.
I would recommend typing your email address out and having it copied already to your computer's clipboard, so that when you get to this page, you can just do CTRL+V to enter it in the text field for "メールアドレス" (Meeru adoresu) instead of typing it out. This can either be your web email, or if you have a Japanese cell phone, your cell phone email.
STEP 6: Next, select the number of people.
This will be based on how many seats are available as indicated in that particular reservation at the top of the page.
The click the button "確認" (Kakunin) to confirm.
STEP 7: If your reservation goes through successfully, you should get a page like this.
If you input your email address correctly, you should receive an email from them to complete the next step of the reservation process. You must complete it within 24 hours (before the next midnight Japan time, they ask for 11pm) or your reservation will be invalid, and it will go back up on the available list.
STEP 8: Check your email.
For the most part, it should only be a few minutes before you receive an automatically generated email from them. In the worst case, it'll be about 20 minutes wait before receiving an email.
You will received an email that says "予約確認" (Yoyaku kakunin), which is the reservation confirmation, which also indicates what time and how many guests. It will specify the deadline for when you have to complete the rest of the reservation procedure (11pm of the same day, Japan time)
There are two sets of links. The top two are for completing the reservations, while the bottom two are for canceling the reservation (I will talk about cancellations at the end).
I recommend clicking the second link (under SSL) to keep your information safe/secure.
STEP 9: Enter your email.
This should be the same email you entered in the first part of the reservation. This page is specific to the particular reservation you made.
Click the button that says "確認" (Kakunin).
STEP 10: You will arrive at a form page.
The first text field asks for "お名前（本名）" Onamae (Honna). This is where you put in your real name (or the real name of the group representative for the reservation).
If your name is not Japanese, I would put it in Roman characters like so: "First LAST"
The second text field asks for "フリガナ". This is where you put your name in Japanese katakana, so that they can read your name.
Following the example a few sentences ago ("First LAST"), I would put in: "ファースト・ラスト" with the dot separating the first and last name.
STEP 11: Next you will have some selections to make.
Field three is where they ask you what you (or the group rep) would like to be greeted as "お出迎えの呼び方" (Odemukae no yobikata):
"お嬢様" (Ojou-sama = for single women)
"奥様" (Oku-sama = for married women)
"旦那様" (Danna-sama = for married men)
"お坊っちゃま" (Obocchama = for single men)
Field four is where you choose the phrase they will say to you when your time is up "お見送り台詞" (Omiokuri daishi):
"おまかせ" (Omakase = you will be leaving it to their choice what they will say)
"お出掛けのお時間でございます" (Odekake no ojikan de gozaimasu = time to head out)
"ご出発のお時間でございます" (Goshuppatsu no ojikan de gozaimasu = time for your departure)
"乗馬のお時間でございます" (Jouba no ojikan de gozaimasu = time for your coach/carriage)
It will also ask for your お電話番号 (Odenwa bango), or phone number (Japan phone numbers only), and ご住所 (Gojusho), or address (Japan addresses only, include postal code). The Japanese address should be entered in Japanese characters and in the Japanese format: postal code, prefecture, city/province, building, room.
The part under that is for メンバーカード (Menbaa kaado), or Member Card, number. If you have one, then you would enter it in the field. There are up to 4 spaces (enough for a max of four people in the reservation). You would also specify if you have (あり)/don't have (なし) "誕生月特典" (Tanjougetsu tokuten), or the members birthday month privilege(?).
The last part is if you want to make an order to reserve an anniversary cake in advance. (It cannot be ordered at the time of your reservation time, it must be before.) It is an additional 1,500 yen, and must be paid via "銀行振込" (Ginkou furikomi), or bank money transfer, by the latest 3 days before your reservation time. They will tell you where to send the bank money transfer to in the "予約完了メール" (Yoyaku kanryou meeru"), or reservation completion email.
In this case, the options they have are:
なし (Nashi = N/A)
フルーツタルト (Furuutsu taruto = Fruits tart)
チョコレートショートケーキ (Chokoreeto shooto keeki = Chocolate shortcake)
チーズケーキ (Cheezu keeki = Cheesecake)
苺のショートケーキ (Ichigo no shooto keeki = Strawberry shortcake)
Then click on the 確認 (Kakunin) button to confirm.
STEP 12: Up to this point, your reservation has been called 仮予約 (Kari yoyaku), or temporary reservation. Once you have completed the form, it becomes a 本予約 (Hon yoyaku), or real reservation.
They will send you a reservation completion email, confirming the details you put in the form. At this point, you cannot change the amount of people you reserved for nor any of the selections you made.
If the amount of people who show up for the reservation is less than the amount you specified, you will have to pay a cancellation fee of 1,000 yen per missing person.
STEP 13: Check your email for the 予約完了 (Yoyaku kanryou), or reservation completion, email.
According to the email, they will send another reservation confirmation email 2 days prior to your reservation time. If you want to change your email address, etc. (except for your selections), you should email them to let them know.
If you've made it to this point, and everything is good, sit back and wait until you get their second confirmation email prior to your reservation, and enjoy your time there! =)
To CANCEL your reservation:
There will also be links (regular and secure SSL) to cancel your reservation, if necessary, in the reservation completion email. (see previous image)
If you do not cancel and do not show up, you will be charged cancellation fees.
STEP 1: Click on one of the cancellation links in the reservation completion email.
STEP 2: Type in the email address used to make the reservation.
This page is specific to your reservation.
Caution!: Once you it the キャンセル (Kyanseru) button, there's no going back. Be sure this is what you want.
STEP 3: After hitting the Cancel button, you will see this page.
With this, you have canceled your reservation.
STEP 4: They will also send you an email to confirm your cancellation.
Planning to crosspost this to expatsjapan.