A Movie About the Secrets of Attaining Mastery

Imagine this: You wake up at 4 a.m., travel by subway to work at a restaurant, spend all day meticulously preparing the same dish, and serve dinner to a handful of customers. You clean up, sleep, and repeat these steps each day from age 8 to age 80, with hardly a break in between. Welcome to the life of Jiro Ono, the title character of the documentary film, Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

Jiro’s life begins in hardship—his parents abandoning him before the age of 10—and via casual observation we might describe the rest of his years this way. Yet documentary filmmaker David Gelb has produced a moving testimonial to the intense discipline of the sushi maker’s routine.

His precise movements, his impeccable cleanliness, his startling consistency are all clear indications that Jiro has attained a unique expertise, the type that inspired Malcolm Gladwell to profile some of the remarkable people of our day in his bestselling book Outliers. Gladwell concluded that this rare excellence can only be achieved through tedious practice – 10,000 hours minimum to achieve mastery. In his underground kitchen, Jiro put in his hours.

The reputation of Jiro’s work has reached heights unrivaled among his peers. The elite restaurant critic group Michelin gave Jiro’s restaurant 3 stars, by which they say it is worth a trip to Japan just to eat at his table. His skill has brought financial windfalls and local fame.

But neither reward motivates Jiro. This documentary captures what drives him to be so masterful: He has a passion for sushi, an unquenchable desire to get better at his trade. Even when he is regarded as the best in the world, he is constantly searching for ways to get better, adjusting and improving his techniques. Jiro tells us that he will never be satisfied; he loves making sushi so much that he will never settle for where he is.

We also come to see that the excellence of Jiro’s sushi isn’t just about his own skills. His tuna supplier is an expert on tuna, his shrimp supplier an expert on shrimp, and his rice seller an expert on rice. Jiro works in an ecosystem where each person has achieved mastery of their craft through their own passion for their work. It is through this environment, as well as Jiro’s own skill, that his sushi achieves such legendary quality.

We can all learn something from Jiro’s spirit; perhaps we can also relearn something about ourselves. To me, the notion of job satisfaction is best understood through Jiro. When we love our work, when we believe in what we do, we should never be satisfied. There is always so far to go, and only by losing ourselves in the passion for our work, and the discipline that it demands, do we have the chance of approaching mastery.

(Photo: Magnolia Pictures)

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