Wrong.

Oh, California?

Nope, it was invented in Canada.

Oh.

This is Chef Tojo.

Hi, I'm sushi chef Tojo.

He helped make sushi one of the most popular foods in the U.S. and Canada.

But to understand this, we have to take a look back.

It was 1971, and sushi wasn't popular.

When it came to Japanese food, people only liked a couple things.

Just people eating tempura... and also teriyaki.

Turns out, North Americans, they did not like seaweed.

No, no, no way.

"Look terrible," they said. Some people, "Yuck!" you know.

So Tojo did something crazy.

He wrapped the rice on the outside of the seaweed.

To hide it.

In Japan, people they...bashing me.

"Oh, this is a wrong idea, wrong idea."

But...people like it.

And Chef Tojo, he did not stop there.

Okay, everybody eats cucumber, avocado and cooked crab.

Just I changed its preparation. Just roll.

So he rolled these preferred ingredients into one.

Beautiful.

Amazing.

Cuisine-changing roll.

I didn't call it a California roll. We called it an inside-out roll.

Word is, it got the name California Roll because it was so popular with people who came to his restaurant from L.A.

And the roll made people think differently about sushi.

It was some sort of gateway roll.

People starting with California roll, "Oh, this is very good!" Then, smoked salmon and tuna. Step by step, they love it.

Chef Tojo's beginner roll was such a success.

Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries appointed him as the nation's Goodwill Ambassador for Japanese cuisine.

And now, sushi is everywhere.

Stickers on your notebook.

USB drives.

Play-Doh molds.

Wooden toy sets everywhere.

Maybe not all thanks to Chef Tojo.

But definitely partly.