Outside 1 - Stephen Mason

         Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a documentary that I recently saw on Netflix that follows Jiro Ono, a 85 year old sushi master and owner of the Sukiyabashi restaurant in Tokyo. The documentary provides an in-depth look into the way that they prepare the sushi in his restaurant, which has earned them a perfect Michelin score in the food industry. With plates of sushi costing upwards of $100 a plate, the sushi that they make is considered to be one, if not the best sushi in Japan. One thing that is emphasized in the movie is the importance that they give to the product that they buy, as well as the way that they prepare the sushi ingredients. While many restaurants when preparing sushi may try and create differing flavors using sauces in order to appeal to the customer, Jiro’s restaurant doesn’t do anything special to the fish that they use or the rice that they buy. Instead of trying to re-invent sushi, they try and make the sushi that they create as perfect as they can make it, while at the same time upholding almost ridiculously strict quality standards for the product that they present to the customer.

          Everything that is done in the movie that involves the opening of the shop to the preparation of the sushi can be considered a very important ritual that needs to be followed in order to ensure success. When Jiro goes to work in the morning he sits waiting for the train in the exact same spot every day and sits on the same seat on his ride over. Opening of the restaurant involves a precise method of cleaning and preparing for the customers before they arrive. While they likened his sushi making to art in the documentary, there are specifically proscribed methods to everything that he does, which his apprentices find it difficult to emulate. Having performed the same thing every day, having not taken a day off from his routine but three times in his life, he has perfected his ritual which can ensure his patrons will receive the same quality every time.