Posts Tagged ‘Jiro dreams Of Sushi’

February 25, 2013

“I fell in love with my work and gave my life to it.”

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[NOT EXACTLY the Jiro ethos etc.]

[Watch the film clip here.]

Every­body knows I’m a HUGE fan of the docu­men­tary, Jiro Deams Of Sushi, and why: Because I never saw anyone before this do a bet­ter job of comm­mu­ni­ca­ting the impor­tance and value of “Mas­tery”, both mate­rial and spi­ri­tual. At least, not with film.

Jiro beau­ti­fully and suc­cinctly explai­ned his phi­liosphy in this film clip on You Tube, about 29 minu­tes into the actual movie. Even if you never intend on ren­ting this superb docu­men­tary, this little nug­gest I’m sha­ring I think is insa­nely valua­ble in its own right, for anyone who has the smarts to take it fully on board. I hope it helps.

TRANSCRIPT:

Sho­ku­nin try to get the highest qua­lity fish and apply their tech­ni­ques to it.

We don’t care about money.

All I want to do is make bet­ter sushi.

I do the same thing over and over, bit by bit.

There is always a year­ning to achieve more.

I’ll con­ti­nue to climb, trying to reach the top, but no one knows where the top is.

Even at my age, after deca­des of work, I don’t think I’ve achie­ved perfection.

But I feel ecs­ta­tic all day… I love making sushi.

That’s the spi­rit of the sho­ku­nin.

When to quit? The job you’ve wor­ked so hard for?

I’ve never once hated this job.

I fell in love with my work and gave my life to it.

Even though I’m 85 years old, I don’t feel like retiring.

That’s how I feel.

You can see my orig­nial riff on Jiro and Mas­tery here (one of my most impor­tant blog posts of the last year, incidentally); I’ve also now inc­lu­ded it in Chap­ter 9 of  “The Art Of Not Suc­king” e-book. Hope it helps.

Also, for anyone who cares, the music in the clip is Max Ricter’s ‘infra 5″. Rock on.

April 5, 2012

“Jiro Dreams of Sushi”, a movie about an increasingly taboo subject: Mastery.

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A movie about an inc­rea­singly taboo sub­ject in this vapidity-worshipping society of ours: Mastery.

“Jiro Dreams Of Sushi” is a docu­men­tary about the world’s grea­test sushi chef, 85-year-old Jiro Ono. What’s stri­king about Jiro is not that he has reached such great­ness, but how he reached it.

Ins­tead of the usual cele­brity chef sch­tick– TV shows, cook­books, fancy res­tau­rants franchi­ses in all the world capi­tals (inc­lu­ding the man­da­tory Las Vegas casino loca­tion), he kept it REALLY sim­ple: a sin­gle, TINY, 10-seater res­tau­rant in a sub­way sta­tion in Tokyo.

Why did he do it that way? Because he wasn’t inte­res­ted in money, he was inte­res­ted in the MASTERY of his cho­sen craft. The big­ger he made his res­tau­rant busi­ness, the less time he would have to spend on his TRUE calling, making sushi.

Which is why the res­tau­rant only ser­ves sushi. That’s it. No appe­ti­zers. No side dishes. No tem­pura or yaki soba. No non-sushi entrees. A tiny little under­ground hole in the wall with only a few stools and even fewer tables. That’s it. And yet peo­ple have been known to make reser­va­tions a year in advance.

He wasn’t in it for the money, he was in it because it allo­wed him to strive for perfection.

In a world that often rewards money and office poli­tics over mas­tery, maybe more mediocre peo­ple get to drive fancy cars, live in big hou­ses and wear a lot of bling, but something is lost in the pro­cess. And we are the poo­rer for it.

Jiro reminds us that it doesn’t have to be that way. You can achieve mas­tery, or at least aim for it, if you decide to.

But only you can decide that, of course. Only you can decide what kind of exam­ple you want to be for your children.

A beau­ti­ful media­tion on “Mas­tery”. A beau­ti­ful medi­ta­tion on “Small is beau­ti­ful”. A beau­ti­ful medi­ta­tion on “Mea­ning Sca­les”. I loved every last minute of it. I would urge anyone who actually cares about what they do– the pro­cess, not just the result– to go see this movie: It’ll change your life. Rock on.