I was working for the restaurant Blue Light Yokohama in Stockholm to practice my Japanese with the staff. One day, three sushi chefs suddenly quit, all at the same time! So they asked me and a colleague if we wanted to give it a go. I liked it, since I always enjoyed working with my hands. I have always built, drawn and crafted a lot. And that’s the way it goes.

I travelled to Japan almost every year and stayed for three or four weeks. I toured around and ate a lot of sushi. But during those years living in Sweden I felt that I wanted to learn how to make real sushi. So I took the great leap and moved here. I tend to joke around with my customers and tell them about my background. I used to work with shisu! It’s flipped – it’s sushi in Japan and shisu in Sweden.

In Japan, people hold food traditions close to their hearts. That is not the case in Sweden. I know one restaurant in Stockholm that serves traditional food. Swedish food is influenced by other cultures like Italy and France – it’s very diverse, very reworked. All while Japan has its Kaiseki, which consist of traditional Japanese food. But they don’t pick up as many notions from other cultures. I mean, they still encourage people abroad to make sushi and Japanese food in general, but frown slightly upon the excessive use of mayonnaise and fried rolls. They feel that we have morphed what sushi really into something different. That’s why I call it shisu, and not sushi!

I think that the workplace culture in Japan and Sweden are a bit different. Japanese people work very well in a group setting, but not as well as individuals. In Sweden it is the other way around. And in Japan you are not really supposed to enjoy working, although you are expected to work hard. I can see that in my job here. My boss expressed it as pushing the “on” button when you start your shift; you start filleting fish in dead silence. While in Sweden, there are a lot of coffee breaks. I think that you become much more productive if you have fun while working, so it’s all about finding a balance between the two.

Since I have worked in the restaurant business for many years, I obviously want to make a smörgåsbord with a lot of classic Swedish food, not only meatballs. Maybe some surströmming!