Awesome to hear.
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Didnât see this article until now!
âWas this planned? No, reports Mori, who hired qualified candidates, regardless of gender.â
This quote bothers me solely because I know she specifically sought out female sushi chefs prior to opening and continues to do so (heard she is looking for more staff recently). Itâs her restaurant so happy to see her execute her vision but I wonder how long she can keep up with hiring an all female staff.
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She sounds savvy. In this climate, admitting you purposefully favored one gender race etc in hiring could very easily lead to a lawsuit.
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Happy for the success!
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Both can be true given the stigma against women sushi chefs in Japanese society, as evidenced by Jiroâs comments.
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i want to say that, female staff or not, i thought the service level at mori nozomi was excellent â a cut above its peers. and the service level among that group (kaneyoshi, morihiro, shunji, inaba) is already very very high
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We will continue to see more and more female sushi chefs come to prominence over time. There seems to be more open-mindedness in recent years and giving women opportunity and experience working at the counter in sushi restaurants.
There is of course Kougo-san (Mei) from Sushi Meino, who has quickly found success in her own counter, as you posted above. Btw, âSushi Takumiâ in the translation above is Sushi Sho, hence the Nishiazabu Taku and Sushi Arai connects. This is encouraging to see, because this positive trend comes is a result of both the skill of female chefs and from established luminaries providing chances. So, her career seemed to really start to take form at Sushi Sho from Nakazawa-san, which is excellent training.
At my last two visits to Sushi Arai, there was a female chef from the back kitchen who came out to observe and be taught pointers on making nigiri.
There is also Takeuchi-san who runs Sushi Take, who gained experience at Shimbashi Shimizu, another legendary shop.
Iida-san ran the private room for a while at Nihonbashi Kakigaracho Sugita, though sheâs since moved on. Iâve had her nigiri and Sugita-sanâs, and it was encouraging to see.
Even at Sushi Kimura in Futako-Tamagawa, Kimura-sanâs wife subbed in to make a few servings of nigiri, as Kimura-san watched proudly from the side. His wife was also the okami-san and after making several nigiri - which included an interesting minced akami mixed with umeboshi - she went right back to taking care of the guests.
One of the sushi chefs at the highly rated Hijiri in Osaka is female.
So while female sushi chefs are rare in Japan, we are seeing a positive trend of women gaining experience aided or made possible by opportunities at top shops - Sushi Sho / Arai, Shimizu, Sugita, Kimura, Hijiri, etc. Also Iâve seen female chefs working at a couple of the new shops around Azabu-juban / Nishiazabu; I forget which ones. EDIT: There is a female sushi chef at Sushi Murayama Hanare (but thatâs not the one I was thinking of originally).
FWIW I went to an all female shokudo/izakaya in Osaka, because it was referred by Ishibuchi-san of Sushi Sanshin. The food and experience were excellent - Iâd go weekly if it were in Los Angeles. And the chef herself trained at a female-run kappo place that has done quite well. While the menu was a broad mix of homestyle classics in nice preparations, there was also an excellent torotaku maki, but done a very different way. It wasnât nakaochi tuna but rather thick slices rolled with thin, long takuan sort of like the iwashimaki that youâd find elsewhere. Really smart and Iâm surprised I havenât seen that preparation at other shops; maybe we will soon!
I havenât been to Mori Nozomi yet, but perhaps if she worked at SGO, I had her sushi there once?
Wishing the best for Mori Nozomi.
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Loved Sushi Take on our Tokyo visit. Nozomi is tied for my favorite in LA (with Sonagi)
Love Kaneyoshi and such too, but thereâs some magic in those other two for me
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she has male staff. @NYCtoLA to confirm, we saw male staff in the kitchen.
Whatever they are doing - their service is excellent. Morihiro and Nozomi to me have the best service in sushi spots in LA. The coordinated elegance of Nozomiâs service and the upscale western style service of Morihiro are really a cut above the rest.
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Thatâs good to know!
Gender/race really shouldnât matter especially when it comes to service and quality of food. Happy that they are doing well and canât wait to visit!
It can, though? Chef fostering an environment of women employees (even if there are men in the kitchen/floor) for a space/cuisine thatâs traditionally male dominated brings a certain character to the restaurant that is tied directly to the kind of service and hospitality youâre getting.
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THINK OF MEN. THINK OF THE MEN!!! 
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Yeah. I like diversity for diversityâs sake. I like to eat sushi made by women, drink wine made by women, see artworks painted by women, hear music written by women, etc., because I like a diversity of perspectives. Whether gender is a social construct or rooted in biology or some combination doesnât matter for this purpose.
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