Bjørn E. Olsen

Bjørn Eirik Olsen (born 1955) is a Norwegian businessman and marketing strategist. He is also a kenjutsu practitioner and shihan of aikidō.^[3][4] He has been credited as "the inventor of salmon sushi" (サーモン寿司の発明者).^[5]

Bjørn Eirik Olsen
Born	1955 (age 69–70)[1] Hammerfest, Finnmark, Norway[2]
Nationality	Norwegian

Biography

Salmon aquaculture in Norway

In 1966, when Olsen was 10 years old, he attended a screening of Seven Samurai and developed a lifelong fascination with Japanese culture.^[2] Olsen studied at the University of Tromsø and the Norwegian School of Economics.

In 1986, the Norwegian government launched Project Japan — a campaign to establish Norwegian seafood in Japanese markets. In the late 1980s, Olsen traveled to Japan and undertook marketing research for the project.^[6]

Olsen tried to impress upon the Japanese the potential of salmon for sushi, but prospective buyers were reluctant because the Pacific salmon typical in Japan could not be eaten raw due to infestation by the Anisakis common in the Pacific Ocean.^[5] At the beginning of the 1990s, Olsen managed to convince Nichirei to buy 5000 tonnes of Norwegian Atlantic salmon on the condition that it only be sold for sushi. The conveyor belt sushi boom after the collapse of the bubble economy in 1991 resulted in good sales, and salmon sushi achieved popularity across Japan by 1995.^[5]

See also

• Hidekazu Tojo, who developed a type of salmon sushi in 1974

Further reading

"Big in Japan". Norway-Asia Business Summit. 9 November 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2025.