Hi friends,

Here are 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question from the life of Jiro Ono.

I.

Sukiyabashi Jiro is ten stools along a counter in the basement of a Tokyo office building, beside the Ginza metro station. The restroom is outside, in the subway corridor.

It held three Michelin stars for twelve consecutive years. Heads of state have descended those fluorescent-lit stairs. On October 27, 2025, Jiro Ono turned one hundred years old — and announced he planned to keep working for five more.

II.

The meal costs ¥60,000 — roughly $400 — and lasts fifteen minutes. Twenty pieces of nigiri, served one at a time, each meant to be eaten within ten seconds. No appetizers, no cocktails, no dessert, no menu, no décor.

Everything a restaurant normally competes on has been deleted. What remains is the only thing Jiro wanted to be judged on — and the deletion is the design. Every removed option is attention returned to the rice, the fish, the temperature, the timing.

Most businesses add features to please more people. Jiro subtracted until only the serious remained, on both sides of the counter.

This is Principle 8 of 12 in the full Jiro Ono playbook →

III.

His eldest son, Yoshikazu, once dreamed of being a race-car driver. As the eldest son of a Japanese artisan family, his path was prescribed before he could articulate an alternative.

He has made sushi at his father's side for over forty years. The documentary that made the restaurant world-famous contains a quiet revelation: it was Yoshikazu, not Jiro, who made the sushi for the Michelin inspectors during their early evaluations. Three stars — and they were eating the son's work, under the father's name.

Asked about his son's succession, Jiro said: "He just needs to keep it up for the rest of his life."

"I haven't reached perfection yet. I'll continue to climb, trying to reach the top, but nobody knows where the top is."

— Jiro Ono, from Jiro Dreams of Sushi

"Never in my life have I tasted rice like that — it's like a cloud."

— Eric Ripert, chef of Le Bernardin, after eating at Sukiyabashi Jiro

One question: What could you delete from your offering that would make the remainder undeniable?

Cheers,
Alex

P.S. Every issue distills one playbook from the Research Library — 810 of history's greatest people and companies, sourced.