Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a documentary in Japanese about an 85-year-old sushi chef who runs a ten-seat restaurant in the sub-basement of the Ginza subway station, where dinner starts at 30,000 yen.  [That would be about $300 to us gaijin.] Oh, and as a by-the-way, the place has three Michelin stars. Very simply, Jiro does nothing but spend his waking hours worrying about perfecting the craft of serving simple fish. He wants to continue to learn and get better at this. His only concession to age is that his son now goes to the fish market every morning. Jiro continues to be hard on his son, on his apprentices, expecting exacting work from them. He continues to use the suppliers he has known for years because they are the ones who understand his standards. And he, to all reports, turns out excellent food, and trains young men who go off and start their own excellent restaurants. I don't think that in thirty or forty years I will be as passionate about my craft as he is about his. But then, he has structured his life on his own terms, and only does what he cares about, without compromise.