Episode Information

Chef Hidekazu Tojo is a legend. In Vancouver, where he has lived for over fifty years now, helming his iconic Tojo’s Restaurant. In his birthplace of Japan, where he is, curiously, known as “Our Canadian Chef”. And on a global scale, as one of a small handful of people who lay claim to having invented the California Roll. Anthony Bourdain’s book “World Travel: An Irreverent Guide” describes Tojo’s culinary creations as the “gateway drug” that made sushi hip, palatable, and massively popular in North America. No small feat, considering that when a 19-year old Tojo arrived in Canada in the early 1970’s, sushi (and by extension, those who make and eat it) was most often seen as unsanitary, bizarre, and downright disgusting. How much did Tojo change about himself and his food to fit in with his new community?

The film chronicles the hardships he has faced, how far he has come, and follows his still-ongoing journey in search of identity as he journeys from BC back to his origins in Japan.

In Tojo’s Restaurant sits a Daruma. A papier-mache, round, red doll modeled after a Buddhist monk of legend. These dolls serve as a reminder of your wishes and dreams. They come with no eyes: you fill in one eye whilst setting a goal for yourself, placing the doll somewhere for all to see. Once you have achieved your goal you fill in the second eye, burn the Daruma…and get a new doll, set a new goal. This repeated ritual gives our story its structure. A parallel to Tojo’s journey, his dreams and wishes and goals - both fulfilled, and unfulfilled. Our film tracks the fable as a colorful, eye-catching parallel to Tojo’s incredible voyage - and their shared theme of standing tall in the face of staggering adversity.