Jiro Dreams of Sushi – A Sushi Bar Owner’s Manual to Life

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Image source: http://mykitchencapers.com/jiro-dreams-of-sushi/

Was lucky to come across the whole movie for watching. The way it engages the open mind (and engages food, particularly sushi lovers) is a refreshing perspective on how we look at things.

It is very rare that a movie is talked about here in En Route. But given how this particular movie seems to speak volumes about good food, and the travel through life on how to achieve it, and how such passion welds together the very fabric of a chef reaching for the top, this motion picture is definitely worth sharing.

It wasn’t shown here in the Philippines, but if there ever will be a Japanese culture awareness week that is similar to the occasional European Cultural Month, or for the music goers, the Fete de la Musique, I bet this one will be one of the most popular.

Oh, and for those that use RottenTomatoes.com to gauge the quality of a movie, this was rated rated at 99%. Yes. Even the notorious Rotten Tomatoes think this movie is a masterpiece. Here’s a link to the Jiro Dreams of Sushi rating.

Check out the trailer. This is coming straight from the Youtube channel of Magnolia Pictures, the producer of Jiro Dreams of Sushi:

This is a portion of the description in the trailer:


JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI is the story of 85 year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station.

Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a prestigious 3 star Michelin review, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro’s sushi bar.


Anthony Bourdain has shown this in one of the episodes of his hit TV series No Reservations, and the level of nervousness and respect in eating at the restaurant. Eating here costs about PHP 15,000.00 per head, and you will have to eat everything in about 20 minutes. Quite arguably, it makes it one of the most expensive restaurants to eat in.

 

The description continues:


For most of his life, Jiro has been mastering the art of making sushi, but even at his age he sees himself still striving for perfection, working from sunrise to well beyond sunset to taste every piece of fish; meticulously train his employees; and carefully mold and finesse the impeccable presentation of each sushi creation. At the heart of this story is Jiro’s relationship with his eldest son Yoshikazu, the worthy heir to Jiro’s legacy, who is unable to live up to his full potential in his father’s shadow.

The feature film debut of director David Gelb, JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI is a thoughtful and elegant meditation on work, family, and the art of perfection, chronicling Jiro’s life as both an unparalleled success in the culinary world, and a loving yet complicated father.


In the clip, the word shokunin is used. It roughly translates to “craftsman”, “artisan”, but with a deeper meaning where the person has a material, social, and spiritual obligation to continue the practice that he has chosen for his life.

The film tackles so much. Some of the things you will see are:

  • The  self confidence of one’s love for work and its ironic contrast of self criticism for the end product
  • No regrets from running away from his parents and not even going to their funeral
  • How to discipline your sons
  • Sibling rivalry
  • Succession and how the world around us is actually making it harder to keep the art of sushi making the way it used to be.

See what he means by checking this last clip:

Jiro mentions somewhere in the movie that if you allow your children to go back home after they have left to make something out of themselves on their own, you are just setting them up for failure.

Some may call his style eccentric, but this is probably just a means for people to compartmentalize their misunderstanding of how an artist works in perfecting his craft.

Unbelievable how the passion to make great things actually revolves around the very web of one’s life, and the other way around. It makes us have a greater respect for restaurant owners who strive to give us the best, and demand from us that if ever we open a restaurant, we should not do it for money’s sake alone.

So much about life can be talked about in sushi 🙂

Check out on how you can get a copy of this. Check out the Facebook page here.

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6 comments

  1. I think this is the resto my friend was referring to last night while were eating sushi and discussing about sushi places. 🙂 Must grab a copy. This is very interesting.

    • rftreyes says:

      This seriously is one of the movies I don’t mind watching all the time 🙂 . And I have actually been peddling it to my family. They are probably thinking I’m going nuts over some guy cutting fish and rice 😛

  2. totomai says:

    one of the best documentaries i have seen. i also like Jiro’s words of wisdom.

    as much as i want to visit his sushi place, i don’t think i can afford it.

    everyone should watch this film

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