At the Portland Japanese garden a few years back, there was an event where several prominent sushi chefs came to do a presentation. My wife asked "Why aren't there any women on the panel?" They responded that women's hands were hotter than men's and that affected the flesh of the fish, so women weren't great as sushi chefs. The entire audience laughed. A pall quickly settled over the faces of the men on the panel when they realized they had said something really stupid.

I've heard there are some really innovative women sushi chefs these days in Japan, which I'm excited to try to find in a week.