David Gelb’s documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” (2011) portrays Jiro Ono, who serves only sushi in a restaurant with 10 seats. For him, limiting himself to a few things is not poverty but the precondition for mastery.
On the left, a dense web of fine teal lines and frames; on the right, three bold golden arrows. Mist-blue grains trickle down on both; in the web they get caught and lines snap until nothing moves anymore, while they bounce off the arrows. Finally, a long chain of small dots travels from frame to frame and falls apart, while a short stroke of three golden dots arrives unchanged at the last frame.
Principle #24
Simplicity: What everyone involved understands and remembers without explanation survives friction, time pressure and change better than any elaborate plan.
3 min read5 sectionsSituationLink to the principle
Contents
Many restaurants try to offer as many guests as much as possible. Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo does the opposite: 10 seats, no appetizers, no à la carte choice, only sushi. The American director David Gelb originally wanted to make a film about several sushi chefs. After meeting Jiro Ono, an encounter arranged by the food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto, he made a film about a single man. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in 2011 and was released in U.S. theaters in 2012. It is a film about Simplicity.
On a long counter in front of 10 seats lies a single golden piece on a plain plate – as in “Jiro Dreams of Sushi.”
01
A restaurant in a subway station
Situation
Sukiyabashi Jiro is located in a Tokyo subway station. It has 10 seats at a counter and serves nothing but sushi. At the time of filming, it holds three Michelin stars. Jiro Ono is 85 years old then. Guests receive a fixed sequence of about 20 pieces, determined by the master himself.
Link to the principle
The first decision is a limitation. What isn’t offered doesn’t have to be bought, stored, prepared or learned. All attention flows into one single thing. Here, simplicity is not renunciation but concentration.
02
The same movements, every day
Situation
The film shows an everyday life of repetition. Jiro and his team work with the same procedures, day after day. Improvements come in small steps. One example told in the film: the octopus is massaged not for 30 but for 45 minutes so that it becomes more tender.
Link to the principle
Simplicity doesn’t mean thinking little. It creates the frame in which improvement becomes visible in the first place. If you try 20 new dishes every day, you won’t notice whether 15 more minutes of massage make a difference. If you always do the same thing, you notice it immediately.
03
Learning in clear stages
Situation
The film shows how apprentices practice simple tasks for a long time before they are allowed to prepare fish. The former apprentice Daisuke Nakazawa recounts that he had to make the egg omelet for the sushi about 200 times before Jiro accepted it for the first time.
Link to the principle
A clear assignment has a clear standard. The apprentices know what is expected of them, and they know when they have achieved it. Here, complex mastery grows out of many simple stages, mastered one after another.
04
A system that can be passed on
Situation
Jiro’s older son, Yoshikazu, 50 years old at the time of filming, still works with his father and is to take over the original restaurant one day. The younger son, Takashi, has opened his own restaurant in Roppongi Hills, laid out as a mirror image of his father’s.
Link to the principle
Because the system is so clear, it can be reproduced and handed over. A convoluted concept depends on the person who invented it. A simple concept holds in other hands, too. At the same time, the film shows how hard it is to step out of the shadow of such a master.
05
The price of limitation
Situation
The film critic Roger Ebert described the film as a portrait of tunnel vision. Jiro lives almost entirely for his work. The film leaves open what this has meant for his family.
Link to the principle
Simplicity in a plan is a strength. Simplicity as an entire way of life can become narrow. The principle tells you how to shape an assignment, not that you have to reduce your life to a single thing.
Key takeaways
Key lessons
01
First decide what you won’t offer.
02
Repeat in order to make improvements visible.
03
Give learners simple stages with a clear standard.
04
Design procedures so that others can take them over.
05
Distinguish between a simple plan and a narrow life.
Summary
In Jiro Ono, David Gelb’s documentary shows a master who limits his restaurant to the essentials: 10 seats, only sushi, a fixed sequence. Out of this limitation come precision, clear stages of learning and a system that can be passed on. But the film also shows that concentrating on one thing can come at a price. Simplicity is a tool for good work, not a substitute for a whole life.
