Toshi’s Sushi

"At Sushi-ya, Toshi’s Sushi, and Katsurei, we’ve welcomed many executives besides Steve, but Steve left a strong impression among them. Thinking about why that was, one thing that comes to mind is that Steve always called personally to order takeout sushi and came to pick it up himself in torn jeans. Even when visiting the store, he made his own reservations, and at some point, emails became more frequent, but he still sent those himself. Executives, who are naturally busy, typically have secretaries at their companies and often hire individuals personally for various tasks in their daily lives. However, Steve was an unusual executive who did everything himself. CEOs like that were hard to find."

"By the way, we secretly think that Steve, a beginner at Japanese cuisine, might have a “teacher.” That would be Larry Ellison, co-founder of the globally known software company Oracle, and still its CEO. Larry is also known as a great Japan enthusiast, maintaining a home in Kyoto and regularly visiting Toshi’s Sushi. Observing the orders, it seemed Larry was more familiar with Japanese cuisine than Steve. Larry’s favorites were tuna, yellowtail, and tekka maki, and he also enjoyed roll sushi made with deep-fried softshell crab. For a period in the late 1990s, there were frequent opportunities to gather around the table with the Jobs couple, Larry, and his partner. During this time, Steve seemed to pick up the taste of the sushi Larry ordered."

"Meanwhile, Toshi’s Sushi remained busy as usual. By 2001, there were faint murmurings that “the internet boom was starting to show signs of decline,” which in hindsight would be recognized as the dot-com bubble burst. However, the scenery from behind the sushi counter did not seem to change much at that time."

"The startup capital for Katsugatsu utilized proceeds from the sale of Toshi’s Sushi, savings, and a home equity loan. Unlike with Sushi, there was collateral, so dealing with the bank wasn’t too difficult. However, aiming for a “luxury store” with Katsugatsu required far more money, and the fear of “what if it didn’t work out” loomed."