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Namiko (Nami) Hirasawa Chen and Shen Chen are better known to their online fans as the brains behind the popular website, Just One Cookbook. But the Midpeninsula couple say their plan was more of a personal hobby than a blueprint for global success.
The website was created purely as a place to house Nami Chen’s many recipes she learned as a middle schooler in Yokohama, Japan. She hoped the site would become a resource for her friends and a keepsake for her children as they got older so she could pass the recipes down to them.
Fifteen years later, the website now houses 1,300 recipes and reaches 3 million visitors a month, making it the largest English language Japanese recipe site in the world. They also have their own YouTube channel with more than 500 recipe video tutorials and more than 1 million subscribers.
“I think Nami’s recipes are so popular because they’re authentic,” Shen Chen said. “They come from someone who grew up in Japan and learned them from her Japanese family. She gives a lot of background, details and step-by-step advice and visuals. The recipes work.”
Her organized, visually oriented style of recipe sharing combined with traditional Japanese sensibilities have made complicated dishes seem approachable to so many of her fans. But she now realizes it was also a necessity due to her dyslexia, which was diagnosed only last year. As a visual learner, it was what always worked for her.
“In Japanese cooking, we believe a meal should delight us before the very first bite,” Nami Chen explained. “We call this ‘me de taberu,’ or ‘eating with your eyes.’ I like to arrange ingredients in odd numbers, like groups of three or five to make the completed dish seem more balanced. I also leave a little empty space on the plate and finish with something natural like fresh herbs, grated daikon or a slice of citrus.”
With all their beautifully photographed recipes on the site (many of them taken by Shen Chen himself), the couple noticed more and more people started asking where they could find the tableware and kitchen tools used in the photos.
“When I’d make something for the website, people would ask where I got the dishes, bowls and plates we were using, and I would tell them it was all from Japan,” Nami Chen said.
So in late 2024, inspired by Nami Chen’s personal passion for traditional Asian dishware and her audience’s increasing interest, they launched the website JOC Goods. The website brings to their American readers artisan, small-batch tableware, kitchen utensils and home decor made and designed in regions all over Japan.
They now sell almost 1,500 different items ranging from meticulously detailed and handcrafted bowls, dishes, ceramics, cute kitchen accessories and practical Japanese tools.
Many of these artisan makers tend to be older, holding on to traditions the younger generation may see as too time-consuming or old-fashioned. Most also lack the marketing or social media presence needed to sustain longer-term relevance in a rapidly changing world.
“I care about the traditions we’re losing in Japan and the skilled craftspeople that are disappearing,” Nami Chen said. “Even in Japan they use so much disposable plasticware. And it can be expensive to buy something handmade that’s more traditional. So I want to help preserve those skills and that artistry.”
Nami Chen personally visits kilns and the makers’ workshops whenever she can to get their personal stories and fully appreciate their work firsthand.
“Part of Japanese cuisine is in the presentation. How it looks is so important,” Nami Chen said. “That’s why I curate so carefully all the tableware that we sell. I pick unique, specific pieces that are hard to get outside of Japan.”
Recently, the couple traveled to Japan’s bamboo craft capital, Beppu, to source new baskets that will be coming soon to the JOC Goods site. They even met two 90-year-old craftsmen who have been creating bamboo crafts for generations.
It’s important for Nami Chen and Shen Chen to see firsthand the skill and pride of these artisans using centuries-old techniques and appreciate their stories. Each and every bamboo basket is hand-shaped and handwoven strand by strand from start to finish. The Japanese use them for their versatility in the kitchen as well as their natural beauty, much like many of the items they source for the website.
“These traditional artisans and makers aren’t focused on marketing,” she said. “They make small batches of their wares and then go somewhere to sell them. So we have to work really hard to find them at trade shows or events.”
This has meant traveling to Japan up to eight times a year for Nami Chen. It’s exhausting work, but she has become dedicated to educating her readers of the meaning behind everything they use and make in the kitchen. She wants her audience to trust the items they order, knowing each one has been personally vetted by her.
Their audience’s appreciation for the couple’s meticulous attention to detail shows in their continued loyalty and support, and it has inspired Nami Chen and Shen Chen to keep sharing their passion for Japanese culture.
“I understand how important it is to preserve and save our Japanese traditions,” Nami Chen said. “I’ve developed trust with my readers, and that’s why they come back.”
JOC Goods, Instagram: @jocgoods.
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