Welcome back. It’s that time of year again, and this year’s journey will take us to Japan, with a quick hop to South Korea.

My motivation for this trip is worth discussing. My original plan actually involved going to Africa for wildlife and safaris, but around Christmas time I watched a movie called “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” and immediately my plans changed. The movie documents the life of Jiro, a Japanese chef who’s considered to be the best sushi chef in Japan. He is an 80-something year man who has been working since he was 9, who only takes off work for national holidays (or when he had a heart attack), and who, despite already being known as the best, just wants to “make better sushi”. His commitment to constantly improving himself, despite already being the world’s best, was truly inspiring.

And there began my interest in Japan. What better way to combine traveling and food than to visit Tokyo to taste the world’s greatest sushi? Time was of the essence, though, since Jiro is in his mid 80s after all, and the poor man might not be around much longer to make this legendary sushi.

Easier said than done. Reservations are required months in advance, only via phones from local Japanese numbers. No long distance phone calls allowed here, especially since no one speaks English there. I had my friend Hiro ask his sister living in Tokyo to try to get me a seat at this tiny 10-seat restaurant, and after several days of calling she finally succeeded: lunch, on a random Monday. April Fools’s Day, no less.

Preparations 1
It’s hard to travel when you don’t know the local time. I’ve long wanted a Casio G-Shock and so I finally bought this fancy one from their Aviation series.

Two things: 1) my arm may provide clues as to the missing link between apes and humans, and 2) I have no clue how to set the time on this thing. It was noon when I took that photo.

Preparations 2
In anticipation of dining at Sushi Jiro, which will likely require being comfortable with a pair of chopsticks, I bought some and have been practicing with them for the last month. The last thing I need is to drop pieces of sushi in front of the legendary Jiro. So I started by practicing with the foods I’d most likely encounter frequently in Japan:

But to improve my skills, I also tried eating trickier foods:

Finally, to get to the advanced level, I incorporated chopsticks into my daily life:

Will all this training be worth it? Will Jiro’s sushi live up to its hype? Who knows…but as always, dear readers, I will keep you updated in real-time. Stay tuned.