All the excitement is believed to have started with two cookbooks that Kurihara had published in 1992 and 1994. According to an official at the Bunka Publishing Bureau, the books have sold more than 1.6 million copies. A cookbook is regarded as successful when it racks up sales of 20,000 to 30,000 copies. Images of Kurihara, clad in her trademark sleek apron dress, appear throughout her books. Her dishes are casually but thoughtfully served with her own tableware and kitchen as a backdrop.
Cookbooks usually have everything except the food arranged by a coordinator or designer.
She also says she likes to serve soba noodles on a white plate-cup set originally designed for a breakfast of croissant and coffee. Readers can also peep into her living room, garden and even her cupboards in the books. To sell cookbooks today, it is important to give the readers an 'environment' in which they can enjoy or learn something more than just cooking. Kurihara is stunned by her popularity. She admitted that it was not unusual to find admirers loitering outside her house.