Just One Cookbook 10th Year Anniversary

Celebrating Just One Cookbook’s 10th Anniversary. Get to know the team and some exciting plans for JOC in 2021! 

This January 1st marks Just One Cookbook’s 10 year anniversary (yay!). This 10th-year milestone means so much to all of us from the team, and perhaps also the readers who have been with us for a very long time. So on this day, I’d like to share our visions of JOC for this and next year or two.

First, Much Gratitude

I want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to you on behalf of the JOC team. Thank you for choosing our site when you are cooking Japanese food, when you are researching your upcoming travel destinations in Japan, or when you miss Japan and read everything about its cuisine and culture.

Every day we receive messages from all over the world with your heartwarming stories about what dishes meant to you and your family, how JOC helped reconnect to your roots or bring back fond memories, and how much you learned about Japanese cuisine, especially in 2020. These stories are what fuels us to keep cooking, creating, and sharing delicious adventures with you.

To many of you who connect with us on social media — whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest — Thank YOU. Because of you, we have an engaging and supportive community. Your participation also helps others who are new to Japanese cooking feel welcomed and inspired.

Mr. JOC and I started off this food blog 10 years ago as a hobby to help our friends cook, and we never ever imagined this website would be visited by 75 million readers over this span of time! Your support means the world to us.

What to Expect in 2021

With a new year and a new beginning for another decade milestone to achieve on my mind, I’ve listed some of the big plans and smaller plans for this coming year.

Big and exciting plans!

• Update our site with unit conversion (easy toggle), nutrition information, and more.
• Offer ad-free subscription membership. We’re currently working hard to launch this service.
• Publish JOC ebook volume 2.

Smaller yet important plans!

• Focus on easy, home-cooked dishes that are not too well-known outside of Japan.
• Add more reader-requested recipes.
• Continue with more vegan and vegetarian recipes.
• Adding more videos to our YouTube channel (maybe achieving 1 million subs this year? Am I too ambitious?).

While I work on developing solid recipes and writing the instructions on the blog, Mr. JOC is constantly working to improve the website. This brings me to the next topic.

Re-Introducing Who’s Behind Just One Cookbook

Just like all other blogs, Just One Cookbook started as a passion project of mine to translate all my recipes (written in Japanese) to English and store them all in digital format (sounds so old 👵🏻). I did get occasional help from Mr. JOC late at night or on weekends for technical issues, but it was pretty much a one-woman show.

Our first team member Kayoko joined us in the summer of 2016, and then Reese a few months later. As the workloads increased, we gradually expanded the team. Fast forward today, we have a team of 7 awesome members that I’d like to introduce today. Some of them are on part-time or project-basis, but each of them plays important roles. Now you know I’m not a superwoman doing everything by myself.

• Reese – She is our marketing manager and contributing writer. Reese also wears many hats behind the scene, and sometimes she makes sure I get up and stretch. She helps me responding to piles of emails, too!
• Kayoko – Based in Tokyo, Kayoko shares her deep knowledge about Japanese cuisine by contributing food-related articles to JOC.
• Morgan – She manages JOC’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, making sure our community a fun and safe place for delicious exchanges.
• Naomi – She’s our readers’ support. When you leave a comment on the blog, she will answer your questions. Naomi is also an amazing cook and we love trading food with each other.
• Seimi – She’s our copy editor. When she’s not busy with her master’s degree in creative writing, she helps to update our older posts.
• Richard – He makes short videos for our social media.
• Kylie – She’s our very first intern while attending college. She’s been working closely with Mr. JOC to learn various aspects of blogging.

I hope you get to know them! You can read more about our team on this page.

Just in case you’re wondering what Mr. JOC and I do all day besides walking Miso…

• Nami – I am responsible for all things recipe-related; I develop recipes, take pictures/videos of them, and write blog posts about them. Recipes on JOC is one thing that I do not delegate to anyone.
• Mr. JOC – He’s the tech, finance, and operations person behind JOC. He is also in charge of video filming and travel content, and my well-being.

Answering FAQs

Since we receive some of the same questions regularly, I want to address them here.

Q: Do you have a hardcover cookbook?

A: We appreciate your strong interest in our hardcover cookbook and I hope we can do it someday. We currently don’t have a plan as we dedicate our time to the blog and many other projects.

The good news is we’ve made our e-book printable on-demand, and you can order the print copy of our ebook here (or ebook version). We’re also releasing volume 2 of our ebook (also printable) very soon!

Q: Do you have this Japanese recipe?

A: Interestingly, many of the recipes requested are on the blog already. We have a SEARCH box on the top right corner of the website. To look for a specific recipe, just type in the name, an ingredient, or any keyword of the food you’re looking for. Chances are we may already have the recipe for it.

You can also use a Recipe Filter to narrow down your recipe search. If it still doesn’t work, use Google to find “just one cookbook (recipe/ingredients name).”

If I haven’t shared a particular recipe, we will file your request and review it.

Q: Which ingredient brands do you recommend?

A: We have a resourceful Pantry Page on Just One Cookbook where you can learn about the ingredient, the product recommendation (with picture), and usage (how we use it in the recipes).

Q: Where do you buy this kitchen tool/tableware etc from?

A:  You can find many of my recommendations on favorite items such as kitchen tools, essential Japanese pantry, household items, and more on our Amazon Shop. Whenever I have a new discovery, I will update the list so you may enjoy browsing from time to time. You can find this shop link on the menu bar of our website.

Most tableware (plates, bowls, chopsticks, etc) is from Japan. Recently a big Japanese furniture/home accessory store Nitori opened a new online store called Aki Home in the U.S. where you can purchase some Japanese-style cookware/tableware.

Q: Why are most of your giveaways open for the US only?

A: I wish we could offer more international giveaways too! But since we’re based in the US, naturally we get most of the sponsorships from US-based companies. Having said that, we do occasionally run giveaways for our global readers. When I host a giveaway myself, it’s always for everyone worldwide. You just need to keep an eye out or subscribe to our newsletter so you won’t miss it!

Q: Can you remove the advertisements?

A: The advertisements are the primary source of our income in order to provide free content and support to you. However, we do make sure that the ads are not excessive and bothersome.

Your readership means everything, and it’s our goal to make sure you have the best experience while browsing our site. This year alone we’ve removed three ad units after accessing feedback from readers. It means a big cut but we want you to know that we care.

The majority of food blogs and websites have advertisements. Some may have less because they have another stream of income. But please know that we work with a reputable publishing company. If you encounter any unpleasant ad, please take a screenshot and send it to us. We always reach out to the publisher so they could have it resolved.

Say Hi or Share Your Feedback Below

Again, thank you so much for being here, whether you’re a long-term reader or are just stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment below to say hi.

Sending you lots of love and I hope 2021 brings you everything you wish for!

Warmly,

Nami & JOC Team