Welcome to Cooking in Japan.
I started this blog to make cooking healthy and simple recipes more accessible in Japan. I found that when I first moved to Japan I didn’t cook much because there was so much to explore. One day I realized that I didn’t feel well and that all the restaurant/convenience store/take out food was the culprit. I started cooking again and started feeling better. I love vegetables and tend to use a lot of them in my cooking (never a bad thing, right?). I also don’t like having to go out of my way to get ingredients so most of the recipes you will see here are pretty easy to make here in Japan. You’ll find a mixture of Japanese food and non and almost everything will be healthy.
To get you started, here are a few of my favorite recipes
Hokuhoku kabocha no nimono (simmered kabocha) – a classic Japanese dish and a cold weather favorite of mine
Easy pie crust and pumpkin pie (using kabocha) – I make this exact pie every Thanksgiving and Christmas
Spinach humus – it’s hard to find (read nearly impossible) in stores here but humus is really easy to make yourself
Thymely rice cooker lentils – one of my most popular posts. I make this at least every other week
How to make Yuzu tea II – Yuzu is my favorite citrus and there is nothing better than a hot cup of yuzu tea on a cold night.
I’d love to hear from you. If you have any questions, recipe requests or anything else email me at cookinginjapanblog (at) gmail (dot) com.
Kirsten
Cooking In Japan 
Thank you!!! We moved here 2 1/2 years ago and I’m having a hard time trying to figure out how to use what I find in the stores! I’m cooking the same thing over and over! I really need help and I’m hoping that through your blog help our meals will become healthier and tastier! I have a slow cooker that I’d like to use… Any recipes for it would be appreciated. We live in rural Japan so finding ” fancy” ingredients is difficult.
Thank you for saying hello. I think I may have to do a slow cooker post soon. I love making guiness stew in mine. You can use one of the local “black” beers. I also made oden with mine. If you have any questions about ingredients, let me know and I will try to find you an answer.
Thanks so much ! I appreciate your response! Happy New Year!