{"id":335414,"date":"2025-10-27T05:35:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T05:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/335414\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T05:35:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T05:35:13","slug":"japans-sushi-legend-in-jiro-dreams-of-sushi-documentary-turns-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/335414\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s sushi legend in ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’ documentary turns 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Japanese sushi legend Jiro Ono won three Michelin stars<\/a> for more than a decade, the world\u2019s oldest head chef to do so. He has served the world\u2019s dignitaries and his art of sushi was featured in an award-winning film. <\/p>\n

After all these achievements and at the age of 100, he is not ready to fully retire. <\/p>\n

\u201cI plan to keep going for about five more years,\u201d Ono said last month as he marked Japan\u2019s \u201cRespect for the Aged Day\u201d with a gift and a certificate ahead of his birthday.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the secret of his health? \u201cTo work,\u201d Ono replied to the question by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike<\/a>, who congratulated him. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can no longer come to the restaurant every day … but even at 100, I try to work if possible. I believe the best medicine is to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ono, the founder of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a tiny, 10-seat sushi bar in the basement of a building in Tokyo\u2019s posh Ginza district, turned 100 Monday.<\/p>\n

Seeking perfection<\/p>\n

In one of the world\u2019s fastest-aging countries<\/a>, he is now among Japan\u2019s nearly 100,000 centenarians, according to government statistics.<\/p>\n

Born in the central Japanese city of Hamamatsu in 1925, Ono began his apprenticeship at age 7 at the Japanese restaurant of a local inn. He moved to Tokyo and became a sushi chef at 25 and opened his own restaurant \u2014 Sukiyabashi Jiro \u2014 15 years later in 1965.<\/p>\n

He has devoted his life seeking perfection in making sushi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t reached perfection yet,\u201d Ono, then 85, said in \u201cJiro Dreams of Sushi,\u201d a film released in 2012. \u201cI\u2019ll continue to climb trying to reach the top but nobody knows where the top is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Director David Gelb<\/a> said his impression of Ono was \u201cof a teacher and a fatherly figure to all who were in his restaurant.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the beginning, Gelb felt intimidated by the \u201cgravitas\u201d of the legend but was soon disarmed by Ono\u2019s sense of humor and kindness, he told the Associated Press in an interview from New Orleans. \u201cHe\u2019s very funny and very sweet.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI was filming an octopus being massaged for an hour, and he was worried about me,\u201d Gelb recalled. Ono told him he was afraid the director was making the most boring film ever and that he could leave if he wanted to. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so generous and kind of humble of him to do that,\u201d Gelb said. \u201cOf course I was determined, and I was like, no way … Massaging the octopus to me is fascinating.\u201d <\/p>\n

Regulars come first<\/p>\n

Ono is devoted to what he serves to his regular clients, even turning down the Japanese government when it called to make a reservation for then-U.S. President Barack Obama and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said no as the restaurant was fully booked, then they agreed to come later in the evening,\u201d Ono recalled. \u201cBut (Obama) was enjoying sushi and I was happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ono\u2019s son Yoshikazu, who has worked with his father and now serves as head chef at the Ginza restaurant, said Obama smiled and winked at them when he tried medium fatty tuna sushi.<\/p>\n

His restaurant earned three Michelin stars in 2007, as he became the first sushi chef to do so, and has kept the status until 2019, when he was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the oldest head chef of a three-Michelin-star restaurant, at age 93 years and 128 days.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Sukiyabashi Jiro was dropped from the guide because it started taking reservations only from regulars or through top hotels.<\/p>\n

In recent years Ono serves sushi only to his special guests, \u201cas my hands don\u2019t work so well.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he hasn\u2019t given up. His son says Ono, watching television news about the death of Japan\u2019s oldest male at 113, said 13 more years seems doable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will aim for 114,\u201d Ono said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cherish my life so I get to work for a long time,\u201d Ono says. He doesn\u2019t drink alcohol, takes a walk regularly and eats well.<\/p>\n

Asked about his favorite sushi, Ono instantly replied: \u201cMaguro, kohada and anago (tuna, gizzard shad and saltwater eel).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible thing that this tradition continues and that he\u2019s still going strong 100 years in … It\u2019s an inspiration to everyone,\u201d Gelb said, wishing Ono happy birthday in Japanese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Japanese sushi legend Jiro Ono won three Michelin stars for more than a decade, the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":335415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[13214,11744,166039,171,2105,145621,57,6604,170,17787,166038,1165,53,80,145195,10855,67,132,68,107,166037],"class_list":{"0":"post-335414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-asia-pacific","9":"tag-barack-obama","10":"tag-david-gelb","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-food-and-drink","13":"tag-food-recipes","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-international-news","16":"tag-japan","17":"tag-japan-government","18":"tag-jiro-ono","19":"tag-lifestyle","20":"tag-movies","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-shinzo-abe","23":"tag-tokyo","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-world-news","28":"tag-yuriko-koike"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115444510326200797","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}