is a Japanese retired sushi chef and owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a

sushi is a traditional Japanese dish made with , typically seasoned with sugar and salt, and combined with a variety of , such as seafood, vegetables, or meat: raw seafood is the most common, although some may be cooked. While sushi comes in n ...

restaurant in

Ginza Ginza ( ; ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, Tokyo, Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo ...

, Chūō,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan. Ono is regarded by his contemporaries as one of the greatest living sushi craftsmen and is credited with innovating methods used in modern sushi preparation.

Early years

Ono was born in the city of Tenryū (present-day

Hamamatsu is a Cities of Japan, city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. In September 2023, the city had an estimated population of 780,128 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, with a population density of over the t ...

) in

Shizuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,555,818 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Pref ...

, Japan. He started working at a local restaurant from the age of seven, before moving to Tokyo to study as an apprentice. He became a qualified sushi chef in 1951, and in 1965 opened his own restaurant, , in

, Tokyo.

Restaurant

Ono has served former Japanese Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

and United States President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

at Sukiyabashi Jiro. Obama stated, "I was born in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and ate a lot of sushi, but this was the best sushi I've ever had in my life." Barack Obama and Shinzo Abe at Sukyabashi Jiro April 2014

Personal life

Ono has two sons, Yoshikazu and Takashi Ono, both of whom are also sushi chefs. Takashi, the younger son, manages his own Michelin-starred restaurant. Jiro Ono was the subject of

David Gelb David Gelb (born October 16, 1983) is an American director of film and television. He is most known for his documentary work on the subject of food and cuisine, including the 2011 film '' Jiro Dreams of Sushi'', the Netflix series '' Chef's T ...

's 2011 documentary film '' Jiro Dreams of Sushi''. The Onos fear that

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing Fish stocks, fish stock), resu ...

will cause key ingredients used in traditional sushi to disappear. As of 2023, Ono has stepped away from day-to-day management of Sukiyabashi Jiro due to ill health and Yoshikazu now primarily runs the restaurant.

Explanatory notes

References

1925 births Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants Japanese chefs Living people People from Shizuoka Prefecture Sushi {{chef-stub