New Japan

A chef at New Japan restaurant talks about what it takes to master a job.

00:00Copy video clip URL March 15, 1976. Videographer Cindy Neal is at a restaurant called New Japan. She is in the kitchen with the chef, a forty-year-old man who is finely chopping cabbage.

01:06Copy video clip URL The chef says to be happy in a job, a person needs to approach doing the job to the best of their ability. Too many people, he says, complain about their work. When you master a job you can find happiness. If you don’t have knowledge you won’t be happy. He thinks people have the ability to master whatever they do. He continues washing, preparing, chopping vegetables.

04:20Copy video clip URL A woman in the kitchen with him works alongside. The chef says when you master something the job always looks easy to people on the outside. When asked about people without much education, the chef says they can still get jobs and master them. To be a good cook, he says, takes 10 years working as apprentice. Nothing is quick. You have to work hard for little pay before you can master something. If you don’t have a job or money, the best thing you can do, he says matter-of-factly, is not to spend money.

09:31Copy video clip URL As the chef continues chopping cabbage he says the government could make more training schools to help people master certain jobs. You don’t need a school for dishwashing, but for other things. He says when he has his own restaurant he’ll design a bigger kitchen. This kitchen isn’t big enough. There’s only one sink. If someone has to wash dishes then someone preparing food must stop. It’s wastes time.

14:08Copy video clip URL Footage of egg rolls frying in oil. The chef continues chopping vegetables.

15:25Copy video clip URL END.