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.
