masa: cleaning bathroom, making sake for customers. anthony: right. masa: dishwasher. everything. anthony: for how long? masa: first two years. anthony: only in the third year, the rice. masa: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: and if you get that right, eventually, maybe, just maybe, the master will begin to teach you the next phase, how to stand next to him as a wakita, slicing the fish, eventually, eventually, creating pieces of nigiri for guests at the bar. of the dozen young men who work here, not all will make it to become a sushi shokunin. masa: oh, it s been a long time. anthony: to achieve that status of truly becoming a master chef. how many years? seven years to learn, right? masa: yeah. anthony: that s a lot of time. masa: a lot of time. anthony: a lot of work. a lot of pain. what was it like apprenticing here? hard? masa: his father was very tough. anthony: yeah?+kdm
not just for masa takayama, but generations of young, predominantly male, sushi apprentices, or deshis, who went on to open their own places all over the world. this is ginza sushi ko in tokyo. the original. 130 years old, and for all that time, this, in one form or the other, is how the day started. scaling and gutting the fish. prepping the kitchen. masa: cleaning bathroom, making sake for customers. anthony: right. masa: dishwasher. everything. anthony: for how long? masa: first two years. anthony: only in the third year, the rice. masa: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: and if you get that right, eventually, maybe, just maybe, the master will begin to teach you the next phase, how to stand next to him as a wakita, slicing the fish, eventually, eventually, creating pieces of nigiri for guests at the bar. of the dozen young men who work here, not all will make it to become a sushi shokunin. masa: oh, it s been a long time. anthony: to achieve that status of truly bec
anthony: only in the third year, the rice. masa: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: and if you get that right, eventually, maybe, just maybe, the master will begin to teach you the next phase, how to stand next to him as a wakita, slicing the fish, eventually, eventually, creating pieces of nigiri for guests at the bar. of the dozen young men who work here, not all will make it to become a sushi shokunin. masa: oh, it s been a long time. anthony: to achieve that status of truly becoming a master chef. how many years? seven years to learn, right? masa: yeah. anthony: that s a lot of time. masa: a lot of time. anthony: a lot of work. a lot of pain. what was it like apprenticing here? hard? masa: his father was very tough. anthony: yeah? masa: very tough. at that time, his grandfather was here too. very tou. anthony: young masa was first hired here as an apprentice by shokunin toshiaku sugiyama. this is his son,
anthony: right. masa: dishwasher. everything. anthony: for how long? masa: first two years. anthony: only in the third year, the rice. masa: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: and if you get that right, eventually, maybe, just maybe, the master will begin to teach you the next phase, how to stand next to him as a wakita, slicing the fish, eventually, eventually, creating pieces of nigiri for guests at the bar. of the dozen young men who work here, not all will make it to become a sushi shokunin. masa: oh, it s been a long time. anthony: to achieve that status of truly becoming a master chef. how many years? seven years to learn, right? masa: yeah. anthony: that s a lot of time. masa: a lot of time. anthony: a lot of work. a lot of pain. what was it like apprenticing here? hard? masa: his father was very tough. anthony: yeah?
masa: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: and if you get that right, eventually, maybe, just maybe, the master will begin to teach you the next phase, how to stand next to him as a wakita, slicing the fish, eventually, eventually, creating pieces of nigiri for guests at the bar. of the dozen young men who work here, not all will make it to become a sushi shokunin. masa: oh, it s been a long time. anthony: to achieve that status of truly becoming a master chef. how many years? seven years to learn, right? masa: yeah. anthony: that s a lot of time. masa: a lot of time. anthony: a lot of work. a lot of pain. what was it like apprenticing here? hard? masa: his father was very tough. anthony: yeah? masa: very tough. at that time, his grandfather was here too. very tough. anthony: young masa was first hired here as an apprentice by shokunin toshiaku sugiyama. this is his son, mamoru sugyiyama, who runs sushiko today.