For some unknown reason I seem to be eating a lot of sushi lately, lately being since the invasion of the corona virus. There’s been a lot of Sugita Sushi takeout, some local neighborhood sushi, the kind where a meal costs well under ¥10,000 per person, and several high end places I have been to for the first time. Included in the last type is Takagaki no Sushi (高柿の鮨) in Nihonbashi Kakigarachō (adjacent to Ningyōchō), a small shop that has been open only a year but already has a Michelin star; Sushi Kimura (鮨きむら) in Koamichō, again next door to Ningyōchō; Sushi Saitō for lunch; and a week ago Sushi Arai (鮨あらい) in Ginza. All of these meals were great. But the most memorable one was lunch at Sushi Arai, even though we were seated at the second counter. What made this meal so memorable was that our chef was a woman, the first time I have ever been served sushi by anyone but a male, save for one time at an airport in Okinawa. I know there are women working in the back kitchens of some sushi shops. But apparently there are only two women chefs serving customers in Tokyo, Mae san at Arai, and one other she did not name (Mae san also said there are around 1,400 sushi shops in Ginza, a number that seems high by a factor of two or three, but just might be true). Mae san did a fine job with her knives as well as forming nigiri. And she had a personality that I am pretty sure all six of us at the counter found pleasant, fun and relaxing. I hope she is working when I go back in September. If not, then I will definitely plan on going to the as yet un-named sushi shop of her own that is scheduled to open in the same building as Sushi Arai sometime in October or November, if all goes according to plan.