Original subtitles

Without a doubt, Tokyo is one of the most intriguing cities in the world.

It's attractive because it's so different.

A beautiful way of seeing the value of things.

The poetry.

The sensitivity.

My name comes from characters which represent "a Japanese feudal warlord."

They led the samurai using their minds rather than muscle.

My parents hoped I would become that kind of man.

Ginza Shinohara

Having a good time.

I want my guests to leave having experienced

a comfortable level of service.

It cools you in the heat of summer and warms you in the cold of winter.

Therein lies the magic of kaiseki cuisine.

It's not just about food or drink. It's about the feeling.

I feel different when I'm at a Japanese restaurant.

Traditional kaiseki cuisine

starts with a saki-zuke starter followed by a soup course.

Next is sashimi followed by a steamed dish, a seasonal platter Hassun,

followed by a grilled dish, a simmered dish, a rice dish,

a dessert and green tea.

It was originally created to accompany a tea ceremony

but the cuisine remains virtually unchanged to this day.

Saki-zuke is the dish served first.

It's a very traditional cuisine,

so the visual impact is important to elicit an emotional response.

The presentation of the pickles is a critical element in Japanese cuisine.

3 kinds are presented, taking into account color, form and plating.

If you can't do this beautifully, you can forget about the Hassun.

I can't hear you, Ren.

I'm sorry.

If you don't respond clearly, how will the customer hear you?

- Check this out. Kitagawa? - Yes.

Hear that?

Yes.

Very good. You're not chunky for nothing.

I'm not chunky.

Yes, you are.

I call him "oyassan" which means "dad."

I spend more time with him than my own family.

Could you taste this?

- It could be a touch sweeter. - Yes, sir.

I think of them as my "kids" too.

I want them to become independent.

He's like a father to me.

If you're not going to use it, put it away.

You couldn't use this space before. Now you can.

That's why you're slow. You know why it takes you so long?

If you don't clean up, there's no space to work.

Yes.

You can learn to cook at a cooking school.

But if you're going to serve customers, you need to cook in a real kitchen.

Never stop thinking.

How can I work quicker? How can I be more efficient?

How can I please my customer?

That's what training's for.

It all comes down to the dashi.

If you don't get that right, everything else will be off.

It's the basics. The foundation.

There's a concept called "the beauty of empty space."

Parts of Japanese paintings are left intentionally blank.

And you find beauty in those empty spaces.

Japanese cuisine and kaiseki cuisine

are also about the pursuit of beauty in those empty spaces.

This is so good.

Long time no see!

- How are you? - Good.

- Is this it? - Right here.

Our house was here.

It's a parking lot now.

I was born and raised in a town surrounded by mountains

where many spots were bursting with cherry blossoms.

A brook running nearby.

I remember little fish swimming there in the springtime.

And lots of fireflies.

It sure was pretty.

Big turtles, too.

Nature was our playground. It's all we had.

I envision those memories and scenic places in my mind

then reflect them in my dishes.

That's what I think about while I'm cooking.

We always competed against each other in the Kyoto finals.

We did.

Every time we met, you got stronger.

No, come on.

I received scholarship offers from many universities including

Kyoto Sangyo University, who had the strongest karate team at the time.

An offer from them is quite an honor.

No, no.

Only superstars went there.

I was like, "Who, me?"

One day, my karate teacher asked me what I wanted to do.

I said I wanted to become a chef and turned down every scholarship offer.

Cooking requires discipline and training, just like karate. Martial arts is all about

heart, technique, strength. As for heart...

You can't be too close or too far to be effective.

You want to give customers space but don't want them to feel detached either.

I think karate taught me how to manage that space.

Japanese Cuisine Sangencha

I met Nobuhiko Masuda and he hired me to work at Sangencha.

I worked for him for six years.

You scolded me every day, and when you didn't, I felt like you'd given up on me.

You were very aggressive and met me head-on.

So I had to be the same way.

And you had great potential.

Your cooking has a lot of fighting spirit.

You would never give up.

Wild soft-shelled turtle is very chewy.

So I took advantage of that.

At the time, charcoal grilled soft-shelled turtle was unheard of.

I thought of grilling it with a sweet soy sauce, like yakitori.

It's a very simple dish. No embellishment.

It's all about the flavor.

Japanese Cuisine Shinohara

Respect god, love people

No one serves kaiseki cuisine in the middle of a rice field.

For the first 7 months, I had no customers whatsoever.

I was running out of capital

and didn't even know if I could pay my part-time workers.

I thought, "Where's a good place to die?" That's how bad it was.

I still don't know exactly what sparked the turnaround.

Some local ladies started coming to the restaurant for lunch.

From there, it probably spread by word of mouth.

Then, their husbands started using the restaurant to entertain clients.

That's when we started to get busy.

We had customers not just from Shiga Prefecture, but from major cities too.

Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya. They came from all over.

I wanted to use novel ingredients like foie gras and caviar.

The local folks took one look at the foie gras and said, "No thanks."

But it's so delicious, I wanted them to try it.

A local sweet shop owner had a suggestion.

Sandwiching the foie gras in thin mochi wafers called "monaka."

I decided to give it a try. That's how the "foie gras monaka" was born.

Making little cuts in firm ingredients

to make it easier to eat.

"Cooking with heart" is the true spirit of kaiseki cuisine.

A customer from Tokyo told me about a new building coming up in Ginza.

I took one look and decided to give it a go.

My gut told me to do it.

Ginza is the #1 district in Japan. The ideal place to challenge myself.

My mindset changed in an instant. I had to do it.

I was determined.

When I was in 5th grade,

my father had a suit of armor custom-made for me.

By the time my restaurant got some traction, he'd already passed away.

I regret not being able to show him how well I did.

This restaurant in Shiga will be torn down.

Soon a new building will be coming up.

I'm at peace with it.

I know that I no longer belong here.

You don't feel the seasons as acutely in the city.

So I want to evoke images of the countryside in my dishes.

Like the mountains or certain flowers in bloom.

To make customers yearn to return someplace.

That's what I strive for in my presentation.

I don't know how I come up with my Hassun presentations.

You're recreating scenery from your childhood.

Exactly as I remember it. That's what it's about.

And that's how you create your Hassun, right?

If you want the world to see your dishes, your craft...

You have to compete on a bigger stage.

In the end, it's about achieving a self-concept.

It's not clear who I am or why I'm doing this.

But ultimately, I want a clear answer.

To know why I'm cooking. Why I'm here.

I have to continue on this path to achieve that clarity.

There are two women living inside me. Natsuko and Eteko.

Natsuko is an introvert. She hides in her shell.

Eteko is a workaholic

and a pioneer who opens new doors for women in Japan.

She's ambitious and brilliant.

I wanted to create a world in which my cakes were like jewelry,

instantly recognizable as my creations.

And I'd use these signature cakes to launch myself into this space.

This was my initial concept.

"You gave my cake to someone special. Why not bring them to my restaurant?"

- This is so good! - Thank you.

Restaurant été is packed with Natsuko's artistry.

A truly satisfying meal

is one that's shared with the people you love.

I want to create and serve a meal, and offer

a dining experience that people can enjoy with the ones they love.

I opted for a smaller restaurant

so customers could smell the aroma of food.

Bread is the best example.

When I was in middle school,

Takashi Murakami did a collaboration with Louis Vuitton.

I was so excited when I saw his creations in the window.

That was my first exposure to Takashi Murakami's art.

I wanted to collaborate with him

so I went to meet him.

100% is a given. I want to give 2,000%.

100% may impress the average person,

but I want to create something that "wows" them.

Something that awakens feelings that are in sleep mode.

Like the thrill I felt as a child going to my first festival.

That's the sensation I continue to strive for.

For the most part, chefs and artists

don't have much in common to talk about.

But not so with you. I feel like I know where you're coming from.

You're a visual person, right?

Yes, I'm very sensory.

My mother loves fashion. I think that's where I got it from.

I remember going with her to a Tokyo fashion show

to see a collection.

I think that's the inspiration for my cakes.

I call my dishes and cakes "collections" like in a fashion show.

I've tasted artistic cuisine that fell short on flavor.

But Natsuko creates visually exciting dishes

that are also truly delicious.

Without a doubt, cooking is art.

I'm creating something fleeting and ephemeral.

I want people to see value in my art, even if it's impermanent.

To be acknowledged for my creative process.

These collaborations help me to continue enhancing that value.

How adorable!

Her obsession with packaging was even greater than mine.

The choice of paper, the stamped foil, the explanation inside.

The proportions, the ribbon. It all demonstrated an insane worldview.

Natsuko isn't very effective when it comes to business.

She's not a good communicator.

She's introverted and hates attention.

She drags me down.

My sister has a mental disability, so she'd keep me up at night.

She tore up her textbooks so I would tape them back up.

My father couldn't take the stress and started drinking.

I didn't have the worries normal kids had,

like hating school and things like that.

I immersed myself in the world of cooking.

It was all I could think about.

I don't remember talking to Natsuko

very much during that time.

Before I knew it, my father was hospitalized and dying.

We lived together, but I hadn't even noticed he'd been hospitalized.

I didn't visit him much in the hospital.

I wasn't even at his deathbed.

I was busy making cakes at that time.

I felt like I did something immoral.

I was afraid of doing the same thing to my mother

so I quit cooking at one point.

But then I started to do some catering.

Slowly but surely, I felt the urge to return to that world.

Then I opened a restaurant all by myself.

As my work got busier,

I felt my personal life slipping away.

I have to be Eteko all the time now.

When she's snoring away at home, I can't believe it's the same person.

She belongs to a different world.

I heard later that she had a very difficult childhood.

As soon as I took my first bite

I knew she was a bit insane.

She's crazy.

It's not a calculated approach for recognition or anything.

If your own life isn't reflected in your artistic expression,

you'll never reach that level of creativity.

She pulled that off.

He told me that people who suffer hardships

often create art that's never been seen before.

But only a handful of people can do it. That was my saving grace.

You received an award a couple of days ago?

Yes. "Asia's Best Pastry Chef"!

Yay!

That's wonderful.

How many women have won it?

I'm the first Japanese woman!

Yay! Thunderous applause!

Amazing.

There are far too few female chefs in Japan.

I'm sure there are others,

but Natsuko is the only one that comes to mind straight away.

If you want to immerse yourself in work,

I think it's OK to put off marriage

or have your husband support you.

I want to encourage more women to become chefs.

I had similar aspirations until I turned 35 or so. Then I gave up.

Japan ain't gonna change.

But I hope you're the pioneer that changes the future.

I'll do my best. Even if it's lonely.

I think we exchanged about 150 texts today.

I could tell she was frustrated.

I told her, "It can't be helped. Very few people understand us."

I think she's always living with insanity.

I moved my restaurant so I could up my game for my customers.

If a little restaurant like mine could get a Michelin star,

it could serve as a role model, helping small businesses to flourish.

To été Natsuko

Eteko is very competitive. Her biggest rival is herself.

Joël Robuchon emceed himself to make sure

the housewives understood what he was doing.

If he was filleting a fish, we'd prep it. If it was taking too long,

we'd switch it out with the prepped fish.

I learned a lot from recipes left by many great chefs on the program.

If asked who will carry on his legacy,

I think Yosuke Suga's name would be right up there.

I studied French cuisine under Joël Robuchon.

Technically, it's the only cuisine I know how to do.

Whereas cooking in Japan with local ingredients is by definition

Japanese cuisine, if done right.

But what if you integrated an essence of French cuisine

somewhere in those dishes?

Maybe it would be an original.

That's SUGALABO cuisine.

What you serve has to taste good. That's a given.

But beyond that, when people come to eat at SUGALABO,

I want them to know why I used a certain ingredient.

I think they'd be interested in the story behind it.

Got it! I got it!

Here it comes!

This lotus root is stubborn!

Lotus root from Kaga is very glutinous.

When heated, it gets even stickier, creating a nice texture.

- OK. - Twist and pull.

Yum! I feel like a rabbit.

It's called "reddish brown soil" because there's a lot of iron in it.

- Lots of minerals. - Yes, minerals.

This is a "golden crab." A hybrid between a red snow crab and snow crab.

A hybrid crab, huh?

The bigger it gets, the firmer its meat becomes.

I love thick bigfin reef squid. Adding tiny cuts will do.

In the still of the night, I can hear it bubbling quietly.

I love that sound.

The lactic acid prevents bacterial growth

and tones down the acidity.

Grated lotus root from Kaga.

No fillers or flour. I just wring the water out of it.

Look how springy it is.

I want people to know about these amazing ingredients

grown by regional producers.

If I discover them on my travels and bring them to Tokyo,

and people realize how much Japan has to offer, it may inspire them to travel.

It would stimulate the economy too.

I want to continue traveling

and discovering great products. How else can I tell their stories?

My grandfather opened a western restaurant called Kobeya.

It was the start of our family business.

Then my father branched out and opened a French restaurant and patisserie.

Our family started the Chez KOBE brand.

My father is a very sociable man.

Quite unusual for a restaurant owner in Japan.

He is a "restaurateur."

So I think of myself not so much as "Chef Yosuke Suga"

but rather "restaurateur Yosuke Suga."

I suppose my father had a big influence on me.

The word "Labo" may evoke an image of molecular gastronomy,

but it's about the chemistry that results from people connecting through food.

I'm not just running a restaurant. I'm also a consultant.

It's a laboratory that explores the potential of that connection.

For the past five years

I've worked with Japan Airlines on their First Class meals.

I wouldn't pour the white asparagus cream sauce before serving.

I think the guest should decide how much sauce they want.

It's hard to capture a nice, juicy texture.

Salt will dry it out.

To maintain the best texture for in-flight dining, I'd cut the salt

and enhance the texture with this flavorful sauce.

I supervise a restaurant in Daikanyama called COTEAU.

This clam sauce is pretty salty, so be careful.

High tea is supposed to be feminine and sophisticated.

Demonstrate your potential. Like, "Look what I can do."

Talented people are creators. Not people who just follow directions.

You should challenge yourself.

I opened a restaurant called SUGALABO V in Osaka

in collaboration with Louis Vuitton.

30 minutes to serve one gratin dish?

Where's the teamwork here?

If tables haven't been served, then assume something is wrong.

A restaurant is like a sport. Speed is critical.

Everyone is working on their own. There's no coordination.

He treats staff like dirt and focuses solely on the customer.

Here it comes.

The madam over here.

But that's how it was when we worked for Joël Robuchon.

Chef Suga still works that way.

Robuchon decided to open new restaurants in Japan and France in 2003.

He told me to run the one in Japan.

He caught me off guard.

I returned to Japan at the age of 26

to open L'ATELIER de Joël Robuchon in Roppongi Hills.

The menu was only decided on the day before the opening.

No time to test operations or train the staff beforehand.

The food was taking forever, it was chaos.

People call him a "god" or a "king."

But to me, he's like a second father.

There was love there, but also strict discipline.

When problems arose, he had my back. In the culinary world, he was my father.

Cooking is an act of love.

Always think about the customer.

He has the ability to tap into customers' emotions.

That is, in fact, the secret to making delicious food.

So for instance,

most children love what their mothers cook.

He takes a similar approach with his customers.

He creates that type of relationship.

His customers always expect to be surprised.

I don't think chefs are meant to simply cook the food.

What can I communicate through food? Everything is an experiment.

I want to continue exploring exciting new frontiers to prove myself.

Personally, I don't know where my job ends and my life begins.

To live life as a sushi chef

is like being born a boy or a girl.

I believe I was born to be a creature called a "sushi chef."

And how I continue to live.

Toyosu Market

Yo, yo, yo.

Good morning.

Ishiji

- This piece is all for you. - Thank you.

Take whatever you want.

What if I only wanted this much?

That would be sad.

We have a very close relationship with the tuna brokers.

It's a 3-legged race.

This is just the right amount to serve by Sunday.

So you'll leave it for two days and serve it on the third day?

If I come across a really good fish...

I'll take it.

Is this from Kochi?

Off the Kochi coast.

His eye for picking fish is unparalleled.

Sometimes I have doubts about the fish he recommends.

But when I cut into it,

I'm shocked by my own lack of insight.

You should pick a little firmer gizzard shad at this time of year.

If the shad is soft already...

It's hard to cut.

It's past its prime already.

This one is good.

He gives you the best one, Mr. Yoshitake.

You both get the best, Mr. Sugita.

I choose the right fish for the right customer.

As an apprentice, I felt more like a guest.

Like I didn't really belong in the fish market.

But nowadays, it feels like I'm coming home.

The brokers send me off, saying "Have a good one."

Have a good one.

I feel like my day begins here.

- Good morning. - Morning.

I'm back.

Whatever enhancements a sushi chef tries to make,

a good piece of tuna will always steal the show.

It's a powerful ingredient.

As a sushi chef, I feel a bit defeated.

I feel so weak. Like a good-for-nothing.

My fingers are so clumsy.

I have no confidence in myself.

That's why when I meet someone truly talented, I feel humbled.

TEXAS is the first restaurant in Tokyo

that my master took me to.

I ate something called hamburger steak curry gratin.

It was so caloric, I didn't know if I should even eat it at 11:00 pm.

But it was so delicious.

My mom, dad and I ran the restaurant.

The customers thought we had a nice rhythm going.

Her mom was sharp. A real downtown lady.

She told a customer, "I sell steaks, not flattery."

I couldn't interact with customers like she did.

I'm the type to get down on my knees to be at eye-level with my customer.

The most important thing she taught me was never be a flatterer.

There was a local festival.

Ever since I was a kid, I loved festivals. I took part in many parades.

My mother-in-law saw me

and said, "Teach my daughter about festivals, will you?"

Festival guys look cool, so it was probably love at first sight.

Yes, it was love at first sight.

"Nihonbashi Tachibanacho Miyakozushi."

My first solo restaurant.

I started not from zero, but from a negative.

Two sushi restaurants named "Miyakozushi" tried to make it here

and had to close.

The locals said, "Renovate all you want, it'll still be mediocre."

That really got to me.

I knew I had to be memorable. To catch their attention.

So I tried to be unique

but I ended up being inconsistent.

That's the kind of restaurant it was.

- I'm here. - Good morning.

Good morning.

I assumed using expensive rice was better than using cheap rice.

That was about it.

And as I was trying to find ways to improve the rice,

I met Mr. Funakubo.

When asked why I was making rice this way, I couldn't answer him.

Rice brokers always have an answer, no matter what.

Because they understand.

It's 2.5.

Let's open it up 1 cm.

You mean now?

Can I open it?

- And now... - Can I leave this gap?

Let a little pressure escape. Then the foam will settle.

Don't let the rice flounder and rise to the top.

When the water level goes down, close the lid.

And then determine when to put out the fire?

Yes, the timing is critical.

To create a nice texture.

Eventually, customers started saying,

"Your rice tastes so much better."

The fish that we prepare, the topping for the sushi

isn't meant to be eaten alone. The rice definitely enhances it.

When someone asks, "Why are you doing this?"

you have to have an answer.

You chew on it, swallow it,

and do the job that you've fully digested.

Every action is filtered through you

to create your signature style.

I can be unique without doing something different.

That was where I ended up. Where I landed.

The perfection that happens when I mold the sushi in my hands

is Edo-style sushi.

I say, "It's nothing special"

but a ton of research and calculation has gone into it.

I think that's pretty cool.

That's "Edo-style."

I spent 11 and a half years

as "Nihonbashi Tachibanacho Miyakozushi."

Until then, I rarely had a chance to talk to my father-in-law.

For some reason, that New Year's Day we got to talk about his younger days.

About how hard it was when he first opened the restaurant.

He said he wanted to work for two more years before he retired.

Then he'd have some time for himself.

It was literally right after that.

He suddenly collapsed.

It was very sad to lose TEXAS.

It would've been a shame if someone else moved in here.

We felt like this place was a vital part of our lives.

So we decided to move in.

It was our fate.

I believed we could carry on

the spirit and soul of TEXAS.

Japanese chefs cook not only with their bodies and brains, but also their souls.

It sounds easy, but it's really complicated.

Restaurant TEXAS

We shokunins (artisans)

try day by day

to do things we couldn't do the day before.

To improve ourselves, little by little. There's no goal in sight.

I can't even imagine one.

Maybe the elusiveness is what keeps it fresh and worth pursuing.

I won't quit being a sushi chef, just as I won't quit being human.

I don't know how far it is to the summit.

When I've done all that I can do,

I hope that place will be

the summit that I once aspired to.