I moved to Argentina, then back to Tokyo and then to Anchorage, in Alaska, where I ran a restaurant. After 50 days the restaurant burnt down – an electrical fire. I lost my dream. I lost my money. I lost my passion. I thought about suicide, but thinking of my family and my kids made me realise I had to wake up.
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Nobu Matsuhisa
Chef and restaurateur
Japan · b. 1949
Arts and letters
About
Japanese chef who trained as a sushi chef in Tokyo, then cooked in Lima, Argentina, Tokyo and Anchorage before settling in Los Angeles, where he opened Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills in 1987. The first Nobu opened in New York in 1994 in partnership with Robert De Niro; the group now runs restaurants and hotels internationally.
2 answers
My training took seven years. I didn’t learn how to make sushi for the first three years. I only got two days off a month, and slept on the restaurant floor. But I loved the job. I’d go to the fish market every morning. I got to open the restaurant and see the customers. I’d watch my mentor making sushi and would copy him under the table, practising with my fingers.
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