Jirō Ono

Jiro Ono (小野 二郎, Ono Jirō, born 27 October 1925) is a Japanese chef and owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a Japanese sushi restaurant in Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo, Japan. Ono is regarded by his contemporaries as the greatest living sushi craftsman and is credited with innovating methods used in modern sushi preparation.

Ono was born in the city of Tenryū (present-day Hamamatsu) in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. He started working at a local restaurant from the age of seven, before moving to Tokyo to study as an apprentice. He became a qualified sushi chef in 1951, and in 1965 opened his own restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro (すきやばし次郎), in Ginza, Tokyo.

Ono has two sons, Yoshikazu Ono and Takashi Ono, both of whom are also sushi chefs. His younger son Takashi manages his own Michelin-starred restaurant. Jiro Ono was the subject of David Gelb's 2011 documentary film Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Ono fears that overfishing will cause key ingredients used in traditional sushi to disappear.

Ono has served Shinzo Abe and Barack Obama at Sukiyabashi Jiro. Obama stated, "I was born in Hawaii and ate a lot of sushi, but this was the best sushi I've ever had in my life."