Harumi Kurihara, Japan's answer to Martha Stewart and Delia Smith, is expanding her personal empire to Britain.

Conran brought Harumi Kurihara to London the other day. I suspect language will stop her being a TV star here but she went down well with the press.

'I'm sure there is a fear,' she said via an interpreter on a visit to London last week. 'Japanese cuisine has the impression of being difficult, and that is what I want to remove. My basic philosophy for the recipes is to have meals that are easy to achieve. Use microwaves, use tinned foods, use leftovers. While running your life you can quickly rustle up a meal that's tasty, healthy and delicious.

'For example, you can't get shiso leaves over here very easily, so use a mixture of fresh mint and basil instead and you get something similar with a Japanese flavour. Instead of it becoming a tense moment, enjoy it and get over it. Don't feel like you're going out for a meal but that you're enjoying it at home.'

I'm always amazed how big and global this kind of industry has become over the last fifteen or twenty years. Iron Chef still runs on cable channels worldwide even though it stopped a while back in Japan. With Martha Stewart otherwise engaged, it looks there is room for some new names to fill the vacuum. In Britain, Jane Packer has carved out a big reputation in flower arranging. She has a shop in Ginza and a a stack of Japanese students at her schools in Europe. In fact, her UK TV programme is called "Big in Japan" with, for the first time that I can recall, no ironic undercurrent intended. Japan site Here. She just opened in NY a few months ago and, guess what, Mr Terence Conran has his fingers in that pie too.

Kyodo via Yahoo: Kurihara wins grand prize in world cookbook awards
A book written by a Japanese woman won the grand prize of the 2004 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards on Friday, its organizers said. "Harumi's Japanese Cooking" by popular cooking researcher Harumi Kurihara, 57, features a simple and candid dietary life, they said. It is the first time for a Japanese writer to win the grand prize. Kurihara's book was selected from among more than 5,000 nominees from 67 countries. Kurihara is known as a prolific cooking writer as well as a frequent guest on cooking shows on television.

Asahi: Lifestyle guru ready to take on the world
Harumi Kurihara has been called Japan's most famous housewife, often compared to America's Martha Stewart and Britain's ``Naked Chef'' Jamie Oliver for her prowess in the kitchen...But even she is surprised at the reception her new book ``Harumi's Japanese Cooking'' has received. More than 13,000 copies have been printed since it was published by Conran Octopus Cookery in London last September. The Gourmand Awards declared it the best cookbook in Asia in 2004...Her cookbooks have sold more than 10 million copies in Japan. Her company, Kurihara Harumi Shop, boasts annual sales exceeding 1 billion yen, marketing her Kurihara brand tableware and unique aprons...more...

Mulboyne wrote:Conran brought Harumi Kurihara to London the other day. I suspect language will stop her being a TV star here but she went down well with the press..

CSLI Welcomes Harumi Kurihara!!
The Martha Stewart of Japan came to study at Canadian as a Second Language Institute this month taking a break from her TV show, Magazine and 20 shops to brush up on her English... Thanks to all her staff for entertaining all of us also.

Harumi Kurihara is the 2nd lady on the left holding the happy teacher's head.

A lengthy interview with Harumi Kurihara:

Japan Times: CLOSE-UP - HARUMI KURIHARA Homing in on success
...One time, six or seven years ago, we visited a farm in Scotland to do a story about local home cooking. While we were there, they had some leftover beef, so I prepared steak with butter, soy sauce, wasabi (Japanese horseradish) and wine. They loved it, because I guess if you go as far as Scotland, the fact that soy sauce and butter taste great together is still not widely known. Some people eat sushi, but they don't really use soy sauce in their cooking. At least back then they didn't. Sue saw their reaction and said my cooking would appeal to foreigners, especially because it's so simple and easy to cook...

...I might not have won the award a year before, or a year later, because it wasn't just me going overseas and getting accepted, but because foreigners already thought that Japanese food was healthy, simple . . . and surprisingly nice. I also find that foreigners find the ability to use chopsticks very fashionable...

...I make it a rule to offer recipes that foreigners can really follow. For example, my avocado and tofu sauce recipe is very popular because it looks healthy and is filling. I prepare sweet yakitori (grilled chicken) and put my sauce over it, whereas they might only have sprinkled salt and pepper on the chicken and put an avocado sauce on top. But when they learn they can mix in tofu, they love it, because it is healthier. Gomadare (sesame sauce) is another one. Japanese people use sesame paste a lot, but if you can't find it over there, they can use peanut butter instead...

...One time I showed them how to make roll sushi, and I also made kakitama (stirred egg soup). They were amazed at the way the soup got so thick when I blended potato starch into water and put it into the soup, and then poured eggs in. They were like, "How did that happen?" I said, in my poor English, "Magic" (laughs)...

...I stay away from the kind of recipes that would require just a little bit of shredded aka-piiman (red paprika), for example, and would leave you wondering, "What am I going to do with the rest of it?" (laughs) . . . Carrots, onions and potatoes are often left over, so I'm always racking my brain how to use them up. What I always say is, don't try to follow my recipes perfectly. If I say in my recipe, "Use 200 grams of edamame," when you actually have 250 grams, you can improvise. But people follow the guidelines so rigidly. If they have only three eggplants when my recipe says four, they rush out to get another one (laughs). They don't have to do that. Many women are psychologically bound by rules, and I try to free them up. Improvising is the fun part of cooking...

...I'm not ruling out eating out and take-out food. But when you have time, it is nice for the well-being of you and your family to take time to make tomato sauce, pickles or miso, for example. Food tastes good, after all, if you spend the time to prepare it. I try to give readers two ways of cooking: the do-it-quick microwave recipes and the more time-consuming alternatives. If you resort to microwaves all the time, you start to lose important human qualities like being gentle and kind to others...

...What is great about Japanese housewives is that they can cook various dishes from all around the world. Housewives in China, for example, would probably not cook Italian food at home. Housewives in Britain probably wouldn't cook Japanese or Chinese food at home. Yet even just making boxed lunches, I think Japanese housewives really make a great effort...

Harumi Kurihara wrote:
Japan Times: CLOSE-UP - HARUMI KURIHARA
...<1>they were amazed at the way the soup got so thick when I blended potato starch into water and put it into the soup, and then poured eggs in. They were like, "How did that happen?" I said, in my poor English, "Magic" (laughs)......
.....<2>If you resort to microwaves all the time, you start to lose important human qualities like being gentle and kind to others...
...<3>Housewives in China, for example, would probably not cook Italian food at home. Housewives in Britain probably wouldn't cook Japanese or Chinese food ...

Is she <1> IGNORANT? <2>TINFOIL HAT? <3>RACIST?

<1> Potato starch is the standard thicker in western cooking. Period.
<2> Microwave reheating of leftovers is "gentle and kind" prudence.
<3> Chinese housewives cook spaghetti frequently. "Stry-fry" is a standard home and school menu item in most Anglo countries.