Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a 2011 documentary by David Gelb focusing on Jiro Ono, the 85-year-old owner and head chef of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a three-Michelin-starred ten-seat sushi restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo.The film outlines Jiro's incredible dedication to his pursuit of the perfect sushi, the career paths of his sons Yoshikazu and Takashi and various apprentices, the fine details of sushi-making, of selecting the right fish, and so on, interspersed with shots of delicious sushi and set to a Philip Glass soundtrack. This film contains examples of: Always Someone Better: Yoshikazu knows that when he eventually inherits the restaurant, he will always be seen as inferior to his father unless his sushi is twice as good as what Jiro made. Jiro himself mentions how he wishes he had Joel Robuchon's sense of smell and taste, imagining how good his sushi would be if he was as sensitive as Robuchon. Takashi mentions that although he serves the same food as his father, he has to lower his prices to keep customers coming in (of course, reducing it from 30,000 yen—that's $300—isn't that much of a hit), and has two Michelin stars.

(Most chefs would kill for just one.) He's 85 at the time of filming. The only thing he's changed in his rigorous schedule is that after he was hospitalized at 70, he quit smoking and stopped going to the fish market himself, leaving that (the fish market, that is) to Yoshikazu. Food Porn: One common reaction to the movie is that it's 82 minutes of just pure food porn. The ingredients and sushi are all lovingly and artfully presented; many who see the movie say that if you haven't eaten immediately before watching, you'd better have reservations right afterward, because you will be hungry. Heir to the Dojo: Jiro pushed his sons into sushi-making, when they had dreams of going to college and doing other things (Yoshikazu mentions wishing he had had the chance to be a racing driver). Yoshikazu will inherit Jiro's restaurant, while Takashi runs a literal mirror-image (because Takashi is right-handed where Jiro is left-handed) branch restaurant in Roppongi Hills. Because of their training from a young age, they were top-notch sushi chefs far younger than average.

Minimalism: An ongoing theme. The cinematography is very simple. Jiro's sushi preparations are noted to be absolutely minimalistic and pure—no fancy multi-layered rolls for him. And the soundtrack is dominated by Philip Glass, the canonical Minimalist composer. Tokyo Subways: Sukiyabashi Jiro is located just outside the ticket gates at Ginza Station on the Tokyo Metro. Supreme Chef: Jiro and his sons are all legendary sushi chefs. Training from Hell: Jiro's apprentices start by squeezing the hot towels presented to the guests. The water is scalding and burns their hands—but if the apprentice can't hand-squeeze the towels, he won't be able to hack the next ten years of training. Workaholic: Jiro works from 5AM to 10 PM. he'd always rather be working.Over the holiday period I decided to do what everyone aims to do over holidays: eat lots of food/get some exercise, connect with family and friends, read some books and watch a movie or two. The documentary I watched was Jiro Dreams of Sushi and the book was Infinite Jest (long!).

Suffice to say I haven't finished the thousand-page novel but I got so much from Jiro that I had to share some lessons I learned. Six in particular that, as I type this, I will have to refer to as I live my life and build my business.hacer sushi online 1. Become an expert at one thing and make sure you love it: Jiro Ono of the documentary is a sushi master and Michelin three-star recipient. yo sushi restaurants in londonHe's dedicated his life to the perfection of sushi. sushi online spielenHe's spent more than 10,000 hours developing his sushi expertise (you can read more on this concept of gaining expertise after 10,000 hours of practice in Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers) and it pays off in the form of guests that wait months to have a seat at his 10-stool/outside-toilet restaurant. sushi making kit cape town

In the context of living your life in pursuit of what matters to you, 10,000 hours of learning does not feel so long. Some of those hours will come because of your personal interests (baseball, woodworking, origami etc.); yo sushi menu dcI've been in the energy industry for over 10,000 active learning hours. jiro dreams of sushi blogIt doesn't feel that long because I love it. jiro dreams of sushi aboutFind something you love and becoming an expert is not so much work. 2. Surround your self with other experts: While you are working towards your 10,000 hours there is nothing wrong with being an apprentice and finding experts that teach you along the way. Jiro, and afterwards his son, would go to the fish market every morning for the raw materials.

Jiro was the sushi expert but there was the octopus expert, the tuna expert, the squid expert etc. Jiro knew he was an 'apprentice' in the octopus/tuna/squid world but trusted that these other experts would help him improve his own trade. The squid expert shared that "when I see good squid I think this is good for Jiro." When you respect other people's expertise, truly respect their expertise, they will help you along your own way to becoming an expert. 3. Never stop learning: And keep practicing. With every thing in the world there will always be new things to learn. As the world changes long-held beliefs fall and so you must continue to nurture your expertise or you will stagnate and fall by the wayside. The tuna expert said "I am always learning." What changes about tuna you ask? I suggest that if he needs to keep learning about tuna then you need to keep learning about whatever it is you are looking to gain expertise in. 4. Keep innovating in your life: Jiro came back from war and his sushi master told him "there is no new way to make sushi."

That could have been it but Jiro chose to keep learning and improving. His desire to make new things or make things in new ways got him a Michelin 3 star rating (the highest restaurant rating) in 2008. What makes this amazing is the fact that this 'restaurant' has only 10 seats and an outdoor toilet! That would be ignored if you did not know about the innovative methods and commitment to expertise that brings people to those 10 seats. Innovate and you never know where it might take you in life and in your business. 5. Stand for something: Your stand, or value system, provides a contract with which people will engage with you. If your contract says 'wishy washy' then you should expect that is how you will be perceived and treated. If your contract says 'I will create the best product and respect my customers' then you should expect that will come round. Paraphrasing the tuna expert "I either buy my first choice or nothing, if there are ten tuna only one can be the best." 6. Never forget that it's about people: apprenticeship, expertise, knowledge acquisition and innovation all have one thing in common.