Namiko Chen

I’m Namiko Chen, the creator behind the Japanese recipe blog—Just One Cookbook. I started the blog in 2011 for friends who were eager to learn Japanese home cooking and to preserve our family recipes for my children. I never imagined that my blog would grow to become the internet’s largest English-language website for Japanese recipes.

Fast-forward 13 years, and today, Just One Cookbook is not only a one-stop shop for every home cook who wants to create inspiring Japanese meals, but we also offer our readers a closer look into Japan through our culture and travel guides.

I’ve stayed up late many nights—with just 5 hours of sleep—to work endlessly on fine-tuning the instructions with step-by-step images for all my recipes and to answer every question that comes our way.

Many of our readers have been part of this 13-year journey with me. They are an extension of my family, sharing their joy and love when they make Japanese meals with my recipes.

We’ve received countless emails from readers all over the world, telling us how their health has improved due to my recipes or how a picky family member was finally willing to eat something they made from my site. Most importantly, Japanese Americans from different generations have written to me, sharing that they can now replicate the flavors from their childhood once again.

Here’s an excerpt from one such email:

“My Japanese mother is now nearly 91—and she has forgotten how to cook. With the help of your website, I visit and cook for her every weekend now. When she sees what is on the table for lunch, her eyes brighten, she smiles, and she appreciates the meal with ‘nommin’.”

Messages like this keep me going and inspire me to give my best. Through it all, I’ve learned that my role goes beyond being an educator; I’m also playing a significant part in bringing people together.

With recent changes in Google’s algorithm, we’ve noticed that search results prioritize generic recipe websites with higher domain authority rather than showcasing sites that offer authentic content in niche areas. This saddens me, as these results sometimes provide overly simplified recipes with background stories that deviate from the essence of Japanese cooking. I hope Google will give fair consideration to creators who uphold the integrity of their content.

AI can be both a powerful collaborator and a threat to creators like myself. I hope all parties involved will practice ethical and societal responsibility as we enter this age of technological advances. I hope that when people discover us through a simple Google search, they find not just a quick answer but something much more meaningful.

Let’s keep it real,

Namiko Chen (Just One Cookbook)