Jiro Dreams of Sushi Page #2

when he was in a good or bad mood.

And when it's best not to bother him.

Once your boss, always your boss.

Let's just say I don't sleep

with my feet in his direction.

Remove the part with tough meat.

We'll age a small tuna

for about three days.

We'll age a larger tuna

for up to ten days.

When you compare

fatty tuna and lean tuna...

these days, most people

prefer the taste of fat.

O-TORO

Before World War ll,

they used to cook o-toro.

The taste of the fatty tuna

is simple and predictable.

But the flavors of leaner cuts

are subtle and sophisticated.

CHU-TORO

MEDIUM TUNA:

Each tuna has its own unique taste.

But it is the leaner meat

that carries the essence of the flavor.

LEAN TUNA:

We can't just buy any tuna.

TSUKIJI FISH MARKE

The tuna vendor works

exclusively with tuna.

Our shrimp vendor only sells shrimp.

Each of the vendors are specialists

in their fields.

We are experts in sushi but...

in each of their specialties

the vendors are more knowledgeable.

We've built up a relationship

of trust with them.

Sushi originally was sold

from street stands.

In New York there are food

vendors on the street.

Sushi was once served the same way.

It is said

that the California roll

was invented between 1983 and 1985.

Sushi's popularity spread quickly

to New York...

and then spread to Europe.

In France, the first Michelin guide

was published in 1900.

Michelin inspectors

look first for quality.

Next, they look for originality...

and finally,

they look for consistency.

Jiro's restaurant easily

meets these standards.

A perfect three star

Michelin rating means...

it is worth making a trip to that

country just to eat at that restaurant.

When Jiro got three stars

everyone was astonished.

There's only ten seats there!

There restroom is outside the premises.

There's not one three star restaurant

in the world like that.

But the Michelin investigators say...

No matter how many times you eat

at Jiro's, the sushi there is incredible."

They said that three stars is the only

rating adequate for the restaurant.

I've never had a disappointing

experience there.

That's nothing short of a miracle.

ROPPONGI HILLS, TOKYO

TAKASHI:

JIRO'S YOUNGER SON

The layout of this second

restaurant is different

because I'm right handed

and he is left handed.

The interiors are reversed.

The photo on the right is Jiro's Sukiyabashi.

This is my Roppongi

Together, they are symmetrical.

My father's skill is incomparable.

He's been making sushi

since before I was born.

So there's nothing

I can do to top him.

I have to lower my prices

to satisfy my customers.

Some of his customers say...

they get nervous eating in front

of my father at his place.

They say we serve the same sushi

in a more relaxed atmosphere.

That's why they like coming here.

When I opened this restaurant,

my father said,

Now you have no home

to come back to."

He said that I would

be buried in Roppongi.

Failure was not an option.

When you open your own restaurant

you need to be tough.

I told him to leave

and open this restaurant

because I knew he could do it.

If he weren't ready,

I wouldn't have made him go.

But, I felt he was ready...

so I gave him a gentle

push out the door.

But I told him,

there is no turning back..."

you must make your own way."

When I say things like this...

people often disagree.

But when I left home at the age

of nine that's what I was told.

When I was in the first grade

I was told...

You have no home to come back to."

That's why you have to work hard."

I knew that I was on my own.

And I didn't want to have to sleep

at the temple or under a bridge...

so I had to work just to survive.

That has never left me.

I worked even if the boss kicked

or slapped me.

Nowadays, parents tell their children,

You can return if it doesn't work out."

When parents say stupid things like that,

the kids turn out to be failures.

I don't know much about my parents.

I don't know much about my father.

This is me.

It's 1927 or 1928.

They had a professional photographer

come just to take this picture.

So, back then,

my father was making money.

He made good money taking people

on boat rides.

But his business failed,

and his life fell apart.

All he did was drink.

Later, he went to work

at a military factory in Yokohama.

I heard that he died.

But I didn't go to the funeral...

I lived with him until I was seven.

I never heard from him again.

I was on my own after that.

Our father started as an apprentice

and was paid almost nothing.

According to our mother,

when they got married...

they only had ten yen

in their bank account.

That's how poor we were.

I remember when Coca Cola

in cans first came out.

All the other kids were drinking Coke

but we were so poor

we didn't get to drink it.

Back then, in most canned drinks

the flavors were on the bottom.

I thought you had to shake the can.

I shook it, and when I opened it

the liquid burst out.

We had saved up for months!

My brother was furious.

Less than half the liquid remained

in the can.

I felt so sorry.

Even now he probably thinks about it.

I still feel guilty.

When the kids were small...

Takashi would say...

on the rare occasion that

I was at home sleeping in on a Sunday...

Mom, there's a strange man

sleeping in our house!"

It's a true story.

I would get up at five

in the morning and go to work.

I would get home after ten at night

when he'd be asleep.

When they were young,

I didn't get to see them often.

I wasn't much of a father.

I was probably more like a stranger.

Our father was always strict

with himself.

We hold ourselves to the same standard.

I let them graduate from high school.

Then, they wanted to go to college

but I convinced them to help out

at my restaurant.

They didn't go to college.

It's difficult

to maintain a restaurant...

and it's difficult to leave

and start your own.

It's normal to be competitive

when you're younger.

You need competition

in order to improve.

But if we both were to continue working

at our father's restaurant,

when he retires...only one of us

could be the head chef.

And I don't think I'm inferior to

my brothe rjust because I'm born later.

Were you jealous when Takashi

started his own restaurant?

In Japan, the eldest son succeeds

his father's position.

That's what is expected of me.

We came back to work after World War ll.

The masters said that the history

of sushi is so long...

that nothing new could be invented.

They may have mastered their craft...

but there's always room for improvement.

I created sushi dishes

that never existed back then.

I would make sushi in my dreams.

I would jump out of bed at night

with ideas.

How did you serve shrimp before'?

Like everyone else we boiled it

in the morning...

and put it in the refrigerator.

And then we took it out

when it was time to serve.

It was a lot easier back then.

Now, we wait to boil the shrimp

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