在東京銀座有一家壽司店，店內小到只有10個座位，但就是這么個略顯寒磣的小店居然連續八年被評為米其林三星餐廳，它的主人小野二郎先生更被稱為日本的“壽司之神”。然而他從凡人修煉成神并非一蹴而就。

By Silvia Killingsworth

暢捷 選 祝平 注

One of the hardest reservations to get in the world is a seat at Jiro Ono’s sushi counter, a three-Michelin-star restaurant adjoining the entrance to the Ginza metro station, in the basement of a business building in Tokyo. A meal there, which consists of 20 pieces of sushi served one at a time, costs 30,000 Japanese yen (about 370 dollars), and lasts about 15 or 20 minutes. There are only 10 seats, there is a set menu (no appetizers or modifications), and there are definitely no California rolls.

The question of what makes this hole in the wall so worthy is the subject of a gorgeously shot documentary opening recently called Jiro Dreams of Sushi, directed by David Gelb. Jiro Ono was born in 1925, left home at the age of nine, and has been making sushi ever since. Though Japan has declared him a national treasure, he still says, at the age of 85, “All I want to do is make better sushi.” He goes to work every day by getting on the train from the same position, he always tastes his food as he makes it, and he dislikes holidays. Jiro is described as a shokunin—a person who embodies the artisan spirit of the relentless pursuit of perfection through his craft.

Another Japanese term that came to my mind while I watched the film was kaizen, meaning “improvement” or “change for the better.” The concept is one of process, and it is often applied in business settings, like manufacturing and logistics, to ensure constant and never-ending improvement. Before cooking his octopus , Jiro used to massage it for up to 30 minutes. Now he will massage it for 40 minutes, to give it an even softer texture and a better taste. Before a meal at Sukiyabashi Jiro, guests are handed a hot towel, hand-squeezed by an apprentice. The apprentices, who train for at least 10 years under Jiro, are not allowed to cut the fish until they practice just handling it. One of the older apprentices says Jiro taught him to “press the sushi as if it were a baby chick.”

Jiro’s near-impossible standards extend to the Tsukiji fish market, where his older son, Yoshikazu, bicycles every day to check out the day’s catch. He meets with trusted specialists, each of whom has his own focus: shrimp, eel, octopus. Jiro’s tuna dealer is an anti-establishment character who tolerates only products of the highest quality. At one point, he surveys a warehouse floor covered by giant, gaping tunas, whose gunmetal coloring makes them look like warheads or shrunken submarines. “People say there is good quality here today,” he says directly to the camera. Then he adds with a smirk , “There is nothing good here today.”

By this point in the movie, it comes as no surprise that Jiro has his own rice dealer, or that his rice alone is revered by foodies for being expertly cooked, vinegared, and maintained at the perfect temperature. After a screening of the movie at the Japan Society this week, Eric Ripert said, “Never in my life have I tasted rice like that—it’s like a cloud.” (Ripert, an exacting French chef who travels with his own fish knives in a custom Louis Vuitton case, is a great admirer of Jiro, who reminds him of his own obsessive mentor, Jo?l Robuchon.) The rice is served at body temperature, because, according to Jiro, each ingredient has an ideal moment of deliciousness—as Ripert put it, “The rice is perfection now.” When the sushi is placed in front of a customer, it must be consumed right away; hence, the fleeting nature of the meal.

It wasn’t until after the movie was over, when an audience member asked about female sushi chefs, that I realized practically everyone in the film—from the apprentices to the chefs to the fishmongers —is male. During his visits to Japan, Gelb had heard a range of explanations for this, from the claim that women’s hands are too warm (they would cook the sushi just by handling it) to the idea that the hours were too long and it wouldn’t be safe for them to ride the train alone late at night. “It’s sexism , frankly,” Gelb said. When asked if he had anything to add on the topic, Ripert wisely answered, “No.” The audience seemed only mildly relieved to learn that there is gimmicky sushi bar in another neighborhood of Tokyo with all female chefs.

Jiro has two sons, both sushi chefs—Yoshikazu, the older one, works under his father at Ginza station, and his younger brother, Takashi, runs his own branch of the restaurant, in Roppongi Hills. The layout of the second location is an exact mirror image of the original, since Jiro is left-handed and Takashi is right-handed. As the elder son, Yoshikazu is expected to succeed his father when he dies or loses the physical ability to work.

At the end of the film, when asked about Yoshikazu’s ability to succeed him, Jiro delivers an answer that is equal parts dad and shokunin: “He just needs to keep it up for the rest of his life.”

Vocabulary

1. reservation: 預定；three-Michelin-star: 米其林三星，是《米其林紅色指南》（由米其林公司出版，每年為全球餐廳評級）對餐廳評級的最高等級；adjoin: 鄰接；Ginza: 東京銀座；metro station: 地鐵站；basement: 地下室。

2. yen: 日元。

3. set menu: 套餐；appetizer: 開胃菜；modification: 更改，改變，這里指換其他的菜品；California roll: 加州壽司卷。

4. hole in the wall: 狹小簡陋的餐館，這里指這間簡樸的小壽司店；gorgeously: 極好地，精彩地；documentary: 紀錄片；Jiro Dreams of Sushi: 《壽司之神》，是由大衛?賈柏（David Gelb）拍攝的三星大廚小野二郎（Jiro Ono）的紀錄片。

5. 小野二郎被稱為是一位“職人”，即一位通過自己的手藝體現專業精神、不斷地追求完美的人。embody: 體現，包含；artisan: 工匠，手藝人；relentless: 不間斷的；craft: 工藝，手藝。

6. business setting: 商業場景；manufacturing and logistics: 制造業與物流。

7. octopus: 章魚肉。

8. massage: 按摩。

9. texture: 質地。

10. Sukiyabashi Jiro: 數寄屋橋次郎壽司店，即小野二郎的壽司店名；apprentice: 學徒。

11. Tsukiji fish market: 筑地魚市場，位于日本東京；bicycle: v. 騎自行車（去某處）；check out: 檢驗；catch: 這里指每天捕獲的水產品。

12. 他和自己信賴的專門供貨商們碰面，他們每人都專門為他提供一樣特定食材：蝦、鰻魚和章魚。

13. tuna: 金槍魚；anti-establishment: 反傳統的。

14. 他曾一度去檢查一個地上擺滿了體形龐大、張著嘴的金槍魚的倉庫，這些金槍魚青銅色的外觀使它們看上去就像彈頭或是縮小的潛艇。at one point: 一度；warehouse: 倉庫；gaping: 張口的；gunmetal: 暗灰色的；warhead: 彈頭；shrunken: 縮小的；submarine: 潛艇。

15. smirk: 得意的笑。

16. 在影片中，人們毫無意外會看到小野先生擁有專門的大米供應商，米飯本身也經過了專業的蒸煮、醋腌，并在最適宜的溫度下保存，因此倍受美食家們推崇。revere: 崇敬，尊敬；foodie: 美食家；vinegar: 醋腌。

17. screening: （電影）放映。

18. exacting: 嚴格的，苛求的；custom: 定制的；obsessive: （在興趣等方面超出正常程度）過度的，這里指追求極致完美的；mentor: 導師。

19. ingredient: 原料。

20. fleeting: 轉瞬即逝的。

21. fishmonger: 魚販。

22. sexism: （針對女性的）性別歧視。

23. mildly: 輕微地；relieved: 放心的，釋然的；gimmicky: 手法巧妙的。

24. branch: 分店。

25. layout: 布局，設計。

26. succeed: 繼承。

27. deliver: 發表。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：丹妮）