Sushi Chef, Model, Mother of Two: Her Current Hustle and Next Dream

Yes, my current occupations are modeling, companion work, and also being a sushi chef. At home, I am a mother of two. My children are 11 and 9 years old.

At work, I do everything from the dining area, kitchen, to the sushi preparation area. The dining area job is to support customers to have a comfortable meal and leave satisfied. In the kitchen, I mainly prepare ingredients, like making chawanmushi (savory egg custard), washing rice, preparing lunch, making arare soup, steaming chawanmushi, and cooking fried or deep-fried dishes. In the sushi preparation area, of course, I also fillet fish and make nigiri and maki rolls.

I have several side jobs, so even though I've been told from the beginning that they want me to become a full-time employee, because I'm doing other jobs, I work as a part-time employee. My work is about half modeling and half sushi chef, and if you include events and companion work, the sushi chef part becomes a bit less. So, being freelance, I hardly have any days off.

After having children, I found that just being a stay-at-home mom didn't suit my personality, and I wanted to work. There was a sushi restaurant that allowed me to work from once a week. When I went there, the manager was a very nice person, and I thought I might try working there a bit more, so I had an interview and started working. I even brought my children to the interview, with my little one in a stroller. After that, I put them in daycare and started working 2-3 times a week. That's how it started.

I got my license two years ago, but if you're working, you can meet the work experience requirement. So, all I needed was to pass the practical exam. I studied hard for the practical exam, and since it's a national exam, I went to the University of Tokyo to take the written test. After passing that, if you meet the requirements for two years, the practical exam is waived. I studied for the written exam on my own, buying books and studying independently, solving many past exam questions. The test is only once a year, so I studied specifically for that day. Luckily, I passed on the first try.

When the children were little and had just started going to daycare, they would often get sick. I received a lot of calls asking me to pick them up. It wasn't just the manager and me but also the other employees who were all very nice people. But it was tough. 'Your child has a fever, please come back,' I got that call about every two weeks for half a year, it was really tough.

Probably the human relationships. It's not that I struggle with them, but many of the craftsmen are taciturn, so I was always thinking about how to get along with them.

I'm also directly employed by the government now as an event companion in New South Wales, Australia. I introduce the local specialties of New South Wales here and help find importers. So, it's all about customer service. Also, I was approached by someone from the Indian Embassy and once made sushi inside the Indian Embassy.

When I fillet the fish myself and then make sushi with it to serve to customers. It makes it easier to recommend too. If I say, 'I filleted this sea bream today, so I recommend it,' they'll try it. That's fun. There's nothing happier than recommending something I filleted myself and having someone say, 'I'll take that.'

The most nerve-wracking time is when I'm filleting fish. If, for example, I'm supposed to have 12 grams with a tolerance of 2 grams, but it ends up being 9 grams, that's a problem because I promised the customer 12 grams. But if I discard it, it becomes a loss and doesn't translate to money. And yet, when customers come in, I want to greet them with an energetic 'Welcome!' So, while being mindful of when customers arrive, filleting the fish is still something I'm not used to.

As you gain experience, it becomes your confidence, which further becomes your motivation to work, which in turn becomes more confidence. That's how it accumulates. When you first start, you don't know anything, so you have to ask, and you have no confidence in yourself. But now that I've built that up, the overwhelming difference is my confidence in my work. Now, I confidently serve customers.

When customers say, 'It was delicious,' or 'I came because you were here,' those are treasures. Hearing from customers that 'I'm glad I came here' is the happiest thing. That's my greatest treasure.

Everyone is very kind. Everyone around me is so kind and considerate, so I also want to give back and help. The employees are very close, so it's fun to work together. As they say everywhere, that definitely shows to the customers. It definitely does.

What always leaves an impression is the customers' smiles. They keep getting updated. When they say things like 'Thank you' or 'The sushi your daughter made was delicious,' I remember that forever. Also, it's nice when they remember my face. When they say things like 'I came because you were here,' that's really nice.

There's a dish called kuruma ebi, which involves eating kuruma shrimp and abalone while they're still alive. You tear off the head and fry the face. You peel the body while it's still alive. I couldn't do it at first. It was scary to have it moving in my hand. I couldn't even touch earthworms, I thought. But you get used to it. It started with 'Is it okay to tear off a face like this?' Yes, we use live abalone and shrimp, which was surprising.

When I was working as a companion, at the same Australian booth, they asked me to 'cut some meat.' 'You're a sushi chef, right? We need you to cut some meat.' They asked me to cut harami (a cut of beef). They said, 'Cut it however you like,' so I ended up cutting it like sashimi. Then I grilled it and served it to customers as a taste test, but cutting meat into sashimi was probably a first and last. It was very memorable. My sushi chef skills ended up being useful here. It was interesting.

Since I have multiple jobs, schedule management is crucial, and you can't afford to make mistakes, so that has to be clear. Also, since my children have activities, I make sure to set aside time for them too. For example, I decide, 'This day is definitely for the kids,' and I don't schedule anything on that day. If I don't, work just keeps piling up. If I don't make time, I end up not having any time for my kids, so I make sure to manage my schedule properly.

I really love my work, so I often lose track of taking time for myself. I often work until I get sick, so I might not be very good at balancing that. I just keep working and working too much. I started getting into massages last year and try to go regularly. I also play tennis, so I try to play once a week. I also like looking at clothes, but my desire to work always wins out, so I end up prioritizing that.

To gain confidence in myself, not by comparing myself to others or worrying about others' opinions, but to build confidence in myself. I think about 'It would be nice to be able to do this' or 'It would be wonderful to be able to do that,' and I improve my skills within myself. I constantly think about 'What would make customers happier?'

To increase satisfaction, I always think about 'What would be best for this restaurant?' or 'What would make these customers happy?' Also, I change the orientation of the sushi depending on whether the customer is left-handed or right-handed. For right-handed customers, I arrange the sushi so it's easier to pick up from the right, with the right side lower. For left-handed customers, it's the opposite. I always observe and aim to create a better environment for them to enjoy.

I don't handle pufferfish in my current job, but I'd like to get a pufferfish license. However, to get experience with pufferfish, I'd have to work at a pufferfish restaurant, so I'm not considering that right now. Right now, I'd like to open a sushi restaurant overseas. I have a connection with Australia, so I'd be happy to open a shop there. But with my children, I can't just go by myself, so that's a bit of a hurdle. If it were just me, I'd go right away. I'm looking at milestones like when my older child starts middle school or when my younger child starts middle school, thinking I might be able to go then.

I think if you love people and love food, you'll want to satisfy your customers. If you love food and love people. I think customer service is difficult if you don't love people. If you have that mindset, I think you can do it. And if you never forget to be grateful, you definitely can.