Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid

I have stopped using booking.com and a few other sites like this because of similar issues. The last time I went thru them they have used an incorrect name on the reservation and it took weeks of phone calls to get the hotel to refund the reservation. I was in a position where I either got a refund and rebooked or showed up and was turned away. It sucked. Never again.