If you have never heard of Earthlings.land before, this might be the perfect moment to discover it.
The team has announced that New Paris, one of the most important locations in the Earthlings.land universe, is preparing to open for public stress testing.
That means players will soon get a chance to enter the city, explore what has been built, test the world firsthand, and even search for valuable HBAR rewards hidden throughout the environment.
And perhaps the most exciting part?
You could be among the first players to truly explore New Paris.
What Is Earthlings.land?
Earthlings.land is an ambitious open-world multiplayer role-playing game built around exploration, adventure, interaction, and a large world filled with different gameplay possibilities.
According to the official project website, the game is being designed to combine several styles of gameplay, including exploration, quests, challenges, combat, puzzles, competitive activities, and other RPG-inspired systems.
Rather than building everything around a single activity, Earthlings.land is aiming for something much broader: a world that players can travel through, discover, and interact with in different ways.
And the scale matters.
The developers describe Earthlings.land as an enormous open world containing cities, towns, villages, transportation systems, different environments, and locations designed to reward exploration.
For players who love finding places simply because they look interesting on the horizon, that alone makes the project worth watching.
New Paris Is Where the Adventure Begins
The upcoming public stress test focuses on New Paris.
And New Paris is not just another location on the map.
The official Earthlings.land website describes it as the city where the player’s adventure begins, with an introductory storyline designed to introduce players to the world and its features.
That makes this stress test especially interesting for newcomers.
You are not being dropped into some obscure late-game zone without context.
You are getting access to one of the places designed to serve as an entrance into the Earthlings.land universe.
Think of it as your first step into a much larger world.
New Paris itself is designed as more than a collection of streets and buildings.
The developers have talked about city plots, apartments, shops, galleries, public transportation through a Monorail Tram, and even underground mazes beneath New Paris.
For explorers, that last part should immediately raise a few questions.
What’s hidden underground?
Where do those passages lead?
And what else might be sitting somewhere in the city waiting for players to discover it?
This Is a Stress Test — But That Can Make It More Interesting
Normally, players meet a game after much of the difficult testing has already happened behind the scenes.
A public stress test is different.
You are entering while the developers are actively testing how the game and its infrastructure behave with a larger number of real players.
That means this is not necessarily the polished final version of Earthlings.land.
There may be bugs.
Things may change.
Systems may behave differently than expected.
But that is also part of the appeal.
You are seeing the world during its construction, not years after everyone else has already explored it.
For players who enjoy following game development, discovering unusual behavior, testing systems, exploring unfinished worlds, and watching projects evolve over time, this can be far more memorable than simply arriving on release day.
And Yes, There Are HBAR Rewards to Find
The announcement adds another reason to explore carefully:
HBAR rewards will be hidden throughout the world.
So don’t just sprint from one obvious objective to the next.
Look around.
Check unusual corners.
Explore paths that seem unimportant.
Pay attention to places other players might ignore.
The event turns exploration itself into part of the experience.
Earthlings.land is connected to the Hedera ecosystem, and its wider concept includes digital ownership and an in-game economy alongside its traditional game systems.
But even if blockchain technology is not normally what attracts you to a game, the upcoming test is easy to understand from a player’s perspective:
There is a new virtual city opening, and there may be something valuable waiting for the people curious enough to search it.
Who Should Keep an Eye on This?
You may want to follow the New Paris stress test if you enjoy:
Open-world exploration and discovering hidden locations
Multiplayer games and evolving online worlds
RPGs, quests, puzzles, and adventure gameplay
Virtual cities that feel like places rather than simple menus
Following games while they are still being developed
Being part of early tests and community events
Web3 gaming and the Hedera ecosystem
Hunting for secrets, Easter eggs, or rewards
You certainly do not need to have been following Earthlings.land for years to find this interesting.
In fact, New Paris may be one of the best places for a completely new player to start paying attention.
Europe Is Only the Beginning
Another reason Earthlings.land stands out is the scope of the world being planned around New Paris.
The official game material describes villages focused on production, towns built around trading, larger cities, transportation networks, land ownership systems, and a wider European map that the developers plan to continue opening up for gameplay testing.
So New Paris is important, but it is not intended to be the whole game.
It is a doorway.
Beyond it is a much larger world.
And public testing gives players an opportunity to watch that world take shape much earlier than they normally could.
New Paris Is Almost Ready — Keep Your Notifications On
There is no need to memorize a complicated launch schedule yet.
The current message from the Earthlings.land team is simple:
New Paris is opening for public stress testing.
Explore the city.
Discover what the developers have been building.
Search for the hidden HBAR rewards.
And keep your notifications on, because more details are coming soon.
For existing Earthlings.land followers, this is another important milestone.
For everyone else?
This might be the moment to finally see what the project is about.
A new city is opening.
The world is waiting.
And the first explorers are about to arrive.
Will you be one of them?
New to Earthlings.land? Start Here
If the New Paris stress test has caught your attention, this is a great time to learn more about the game itself.
Earthlings.land is building a large open world filled with cities, exploration, quests, transportation, trading, discovery, and evolving gameplay systems. Our full game introduction takes a closer look at the world, its core ideas, and what players can expect as development continues.
Whether you are discovering the project for the first time or simply want a clearer picture of the world beyond New Paris, this guide is the best place to start.
Japanese food has become part of everyday life far beyond Japan.
Sushi, ramen, tempura, teriyaki, matcha, and Japanese curry are now familiar to millions of people. But there is a much larger side of Japanese cooking that is still relatively unexplored outside Japan: the food Japanese people actually cook at home.
That is where Cookpad becomes especially interesting.
Cookpad is not simply a collection of polished restaurant-style recipes. Instead, it reflects how people actually cook at home. Its huge archive includes quick dinners, family recipes, bento dishes, inexpensive meals, seasonal soups, and vegetable sides. You can also find countless ideas for using leftovers.
Japanese food’s international presence remains substantial. Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries counted approximately 181,000 Japanese restaurants outside Japan in its 2025 survey, while JETRO research has also found that many international visitors already purchase Japanese foods in their home countries.
But eating Japanese food at a restaurant and understanding how Japanese households cook are two different things.
This guide is designed to bridge that gap.
Rather than replacing Cookpad recipes, we will use Cookpad as the recipe library and explain the ingredients, meal structure, substitutions, cooking logic, cultural background, and approximate cost of making Japanese food in an English-speaking country.
Why Cookpad Is So Useful for Learning Real Japanese Home Cooking
International Japanese recipe websites tend to focus on a relatively small group of famous dishes.
Cookpad is different because its Japanese database reflects what people actually cook.
Search for something as ordinary as miso soup and you will find an enormous variety of combinations involving tofu, wakame, mushrooms, potatoes, onions, cabbage, clams, daikon, aburaage, seasonal vegetables, and whatever happens to be available in the refrigerator.
The same is true for dishes such as oyakodon, ginger pork, karaage, tamagoyaki, tonjiru, curry, and kinpira gobo.
This is important because there is no single universal version of most Japanese home dishes.
A household in Hokkaido may cook differently from a household in Osaka. One family may prefer sweet tamagoyaki, while another prefers savory dashi-flavored egg. Some cooks put potatoes in curry; others deliberately avoid them. One miso soup may contain tofu and wakame while another uses cabbage and onion.
That diversity is not a problem.
It is the point.
Cookpad allows international cooks to see Japanese cuisine as a living home-cooking culture rather than a fixed restaurant menu.
Start with the Japanese Meal Structure
Before choosing recipes, it helps to understand how many Japanese meals are assembled.
A typical home meal might contain:
Rice + soup + one main dish + one or more small side dishes
traditional-japanese-breakfast-set
It does not have to follow this formula perfectly.
For example:
Steamed rice
Miso soup
Ginger pork
Shredded cabbage
A small vegetable side dish
Or:
Rice
Grilled salmon
Tamagoyaki
Pickles
Miso soup
Or simply:
Oyakodon
Miso soup
Japanese home cooking often feels varied because several relatively simple components are combined rather than making one enormous centerpiece.
That also makes the cuisine very adaptable to meal planning.
Make one pot of rice, prepare one protein dish, add soup, and use leftover vegetables for a small side dish.
The Essential Japanese Pantry
You do not need an enormous Japanese pantry to begin.
A surprisingly large number of Japanese home recipes are built from a small group of ingredients.
Soy Sauce
Japanese soy sauce provides saltiness, aroma, color, and umami.
For most recipes, ordinary Japanese-style soy sauce works perfectly.
If a Cookpad recipe simply says 醤油 (shoyu), regular Japanese soy sauce is normally appropriate unless the recipe specifically requests light soy sauce or another type.
Mirin
Mirin contributes sweetness, gloss, and a mild fermented flavor.
It appears constantly in sauces for:
Oyakodon
Teriyaki
Simmered vegetables
Ginger pork
Fish
Donburi dishes
If authentic mirin is unavailable, mirin-style seasoning can work for everyday cooking.
A little sugar combined with sake or water can reproduce some of its functional sweetness, although the flavor will not be identical.
Cooking Sake
Sake is frequently used to reduce strong meat or fish aromas while adding complexity.
You will see 酒 (sake) throughout Japanese Cookpad recipes.
If you do not use alcohol, water or stock can often be substituted, although the final flavor will change.
Miso
Miso is much more than an ingredient for miso soup.
It can be used in:
Soups
Marinades
Vegetable dressings
Stir-fries
Meat sauces
Glazes
Hot pots
White miso tends to be sweeter and milder.
Red or darker miso tends to be stronger and saltier.
Awase miso blends characteristics of different styles and is a convenient general-purpose choice.
Dashi
Dashi is one of the foundations of Japanese cooking.
It may be made using kombu, bonito flakes, dried sardines, dried mushrooms, or combinations of ingredients.
For beginners, instant dashi powder is perfectly practical.
Cookpad home recipes frequently use instant dashi because ordinary Japanese families also value convenience.
Potato Starch — Katakuriko
When a Japanese recipe says 片栗粉 (katakuriko), modern recipes usually mean potato starch.
This is especially useful for:
Karaage
Thickening sauces
Crispy coatings
Meat preparation
Cornstarch can sometimes substitute, but potato starch generally produces a more characteristic crisp texture in dishes such as karaage.
Eight Japanese Home Foods Worth Learning First
1. Oyakodon — Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl
homemade-oyakodon-chicken-egg-rice-bowl
Oyakodon is one of the best introductions to Japanese home cooking.
Chicken and sliced onion are gently simmered in a mixture typically containing soy sauce, mirin, dashi, sake, and a little sugar. Beaten egg is then added and cooked until softly set before everything is served over hot rice.
The name is famous for its playful meaning:
oya = parent ko = child don = donburi rice bowl
Chicken and egg — parent and child — together in one bowl.
Do not violently boil miso for a long period after adding it.
Many cooks dissolve the miso toward the end of cooking to preserve more of its aroma.
5. Onigiri — Japanese Rice Balls
Onigiri may be one of the greatest convenience foods ever invented.
At its simplest:
Rice + salt
Add nori and a filling, and you have a portable meal.
Common fillings include:
Salted salmon
Tuna mayonnaise
Umeboshi
Kombu
Bonito flakes with soy sauce
Mentaiko
Takana
But modern variations are almost unlimited.
Cookpad Japan contains an enormous ecosystem of onigiri ideas, reflecting bento culture, school lunches, family breakfasts, travel food, leftovers, and convenience-store inspiration.
This is where Cookpad’s Japanese database becomes especially valuable.
The internationally famous dishes are only the entrance.
The deeper you search, the more you discover the enormous world of Japanese side dishes, preserved foods, vegetable preparations, regional cooking, and family recipes.
How to Read a Japanese Cookpad Recipe Even If You Do Not Speak Japanese
A Japanese recipe page becomes much easier once you recognize a few repeated terms.
Japanese
Meaning
醤油
Soy sauce
味噌
Miso
みりん
Mirin
酒
Cooking sake
砂糖
Sugar
塩
Salt
酢
Vinegar
ごま油
Sesame oil
だし
Dashi
片栗粉
Potato starch
小麦粉
Wheat flour
玉ねぎ
Onion
長ねぎ
Japanese long onion
大根
Daikon
ごぼう
Burdock root
にんじん
Carrot
鶏もも肉
Chicken thigh
豚肉
Pork
卵
Egg
ご飯
Cooked rice
適量
Appropriate amount / as needed
少々
A small amount / pinch
大さじ
Tablespoon
小さじ
Teaspoon
Once you know these terms, many recipes become surprisingly readable even before translation.
Cookpad also exposes recipes originating in Japan through translated international pages, making it easier to move between authentic Japanese recipes and English-language cooking instructions.
Japanese Ingredients That May Need Substitutions
Gobo — Burdock Root
Burdock has a distinctive earthy flavor and fibrous texture.
Asian supermarkets are the best place to look.
There is no perfect substitute.
Carrot, parsnip, or another root vegetable can reproduce the cooking method, but not the actual flavor of gobo.
Daikon
Daikon is now available in many Asian and large Western supermarkets.
Turnip can sometimes perform a similar structural role in soups, but its flavor is different.
Aburaage
Aburaage is thin deep-fried tofu.
It is commonly added to:
Miso soup
Udon
Rice dishes
Simmered vegetables
If unavailable, ordinary tofu can still provide protein and texture, although it is not a direct replacement.
Konnyaku
Konnyaku has a distinctive springy texture and is frequently used in stews and soups such as tonjiru.
It does not have an obvious Western equivalent.
Fortunately, most dishes can simply omit it if necessary.
What Does It Cost to Cook Japanese Food at Home?
Restaurant Japanese food can be expensive.
Japanese home cooking does not have to be.
In fact, many traditional household meals are built around rice, eggs, inexpensive cuts of meat, seasonal vegetables, tofu, and small quantities of strongly flavored seasonings.
Food prices vary enormously by city and country, so the following is an illustrative U.S. supermarket calculation rather than a national price quotation.
That distinction matters: U.S. food-at-home prices were still rising year over year in mid-2026, and rice prices in particular were running higher than a year earlier.
Example 1: Oyakodon for Four People
Assume:
Ingredient
Estimated cost used
1.5 lb chicken thighs
$5.24
8 eggs
$2.40
1 onion
$0.70
Japanese rice
$2.12
Soy sauce, mirin, dashi and sugar used
$1.30
Total
$11.76
$11.76 ÷ 4 = approximately $2.94 per serving
Add simple miso soup:
Ingredient
Estimated amount used
Miso
$1.04
Tofu
$1.25
Wakame
$0.40
Dashi
$0.50
Green onion
$0.40
Total
$3.59
$3.59 ÷ 4 = approximately $0.90 per serving
Oyakodon plus miso soup therefore comes to roughly:
$2.94 + $0.90 = $3.84 per person
Again, this is an example basket, not a promise that every U.S. shopper can reproduce the same price.
Example 2: Japanese Curry for Six
Illustrative basket:
Chicken: $6.98
Curry roux: $4.00
Onion, carrot and potato: $4.00
Rice: $3.17
Estimated total: $18.15
$18.15 ÷ 6 = approximately $3.03 per serving
This becomes even cheaper if curry is used again the next day in another dish.
Example 3: Karaage Dinner for Four
Illustrative basket:
Chicken thighs: $6.98
Potato starch/flour: $0.50
Soy sauce, ginger, garlic and seasoning: $0.90
Cooking oil allocated to the meal: $0.70
Rice: $2.12
Cabbage or vegetable garnish: $0.80
Estimated total: $12.00
$12.00 ÷ 4 = about $3.00 per person
The broader lesson is simple:
Japanese home cooking can be very economical once you own the basic pantry ingredients.
Soy sauce, miso, rice vinegar, mirin, dashi, sesame oil, and potato starch are not purchased for a single meal. They are used repeatedly across dozens of dishes.
The Japanese Pantry Has Strong “Ingredient Network Effects”
This is one reason Japanese cooking becomes much cheaper after the first few meals.
Buy soy sauce for oyakodon.
You also use it for:
Ginger pork
Teriyaki
Kinpira
Karaage
Simmered vegetables
Buy miso for miso soup.
You can also use it for:
Tonjiru
Miso-glazed vegetables
Meat marinades
Stir-fries
Buy mirin for oyakodon.
You can also use it for:
Fish
Teriyaki
Donburi
Simmered dishes
The pantry gradually becomes a reusable flavor system.
A Beginner Japanese Home-Cooking Week
Here is one practical way to start.
Monday — Oyakodon
Learn:
Donburi
Soy/mirin balance
Soft egg technique
Serve with miso soup.
Tuesday — Ginger Pork
Learn:
Thinly sliced meat
Quick pan sauce
Shredded cabbage as a side
Use the same rice and soy sauce from Monday.
Wednesday — Japanese Curry
Make a large batch.
Serve with rice.
Save leftovers.
Thursday — Curry Udon or Leftover Curry Rice
Do not cook an entirely new meal.
Japanese home cooking contains a strong culture of intelligently reusing prepared food.
Friday — Karaage
Learn:
Marinades
Potato starch
Japanese-style fried food
Serve with rice and cabbage.
Saturday — Tonjiru
Use vegetables left from the week.
Add pork and miso.
Make a large pot.
Sunday — Onigiri and Tamagoyaki
Use remaining cooked rice and pantry ingredients.
This is also an excellent introduction to Japanese bento-style thinking.
Do Not Assume Japanese Food Must Be Perfectly Authentic
Authenticity is valuable.
But home cooking has always adapted to:
Region
Budget
Season
Family preference
Available ingredients
Time
Cookpad makes this visible.
One recipe may be extremely traditional, while another might rely on a microwave for convenience. Some cooks reduce the salt, whereas others substitute chicken breast for thigh meat. In addition, leftover curry may be transformed into an entirely different meal.
That flexibility is part of genuine home cooking.
The objective should not be:
“Can I reproduce one idealized Japanese dish perfectly?”
A better question is:
“Can I understand how Japanese cooks use these ingredients and techniques, then make them work in my own kitchen?”
Why Search Cookpad Japan Even If You Prefer English
For globally famous dishes, English-language Cookpad searches are often sufficient.
But searching Japanese Cookpad becomes extremely valuable when you want:
More regional variations
Bento dishes
Vegetable side dishes
Seasonal recipes
Very specific ingredient combinations
Leftover ideas
Budget meals
Family-style variations
For example, Japanese Cookpad currently contains extremely large collections around everyday categories such as onigiri, tamagoyaki, karaage, curry, and miso soup.
That depth is difficult to reproduce with a conventional editorial recipe site.
Frequently Asked Questions About Japanese Home Cooking and Cookpad
Is Cookpad useful if I cannot read Japanese?
Yes.
Start with translated Cookpad recipes where available, then gradually use Japanese search pages when you want more variety.
Learning twenty or thirty common ingredient words also makes Japanese recipe pages dramatically easier to navigate.
Do I need Japanese cooking equipment?
Usually not.
A rice cooker is convenient but optional.
A regular saucepan can cook Japanese rice.
A rectangular tamagoyaki pan is helpful but not essential.
A donabe is wonderful but unnecessary for beginners.
Start with the equipment you already own.
Do I need a rice cooker?
No.
Japanese short-grain rice can be cooked in a normal pot with a lid.
A rice cooker becomes useful primarily because Japanese cooking uses rice frequently and the machine makes consistency and timing easier.
What rice should I buy?
Look for Japanese short-grain rice.
Calrose is a practical alternative in North America.
Avoid using basmati or jasmine rice when the recipe depends on sticky Japanese rice texture, particularly for onigiri.
Is sushi rice the same as Japanese rice?
“Sushi rice” can refer to the rice variety or to rice already seasoned with sushi vinegar.
For ordinary Japanese meals, you normally want plain cooked short-grain rice without sushi seasoning.
Is Japanese curry the same as Indian curry?
No.
Japanese curry developed into its own style.
It is typically thicker, sweeter, milder, and commonly served over Japanese rice.
Commercial roux blocks are extremely common in Japanese households.
Can I make Japanese curry without boxed roux?
Yes.
You can build a roux from fat, flour, curry powder, spices, stock, and seasonings.
But using commercial roux is not somehow less legitimate for home cooking.
What is the easiest Japanese meal for a complete beginner?
Oyakodon is difficult to beat.
It requires only a few ingredients, uses one pan, teaches several fundamental Japanese seasonings, and produces a complete rice bowl.
Japanese curry is another excellent beginner dish.
What is the cheapest Japanese meal to start with?
Rice, miso soup, eggs, and simple vegetable dishes can be extremely inexpensive.
Tamagoyaki, onigiri, and basic donburi also have relatively low ingredient costs.
Why do Japanese recipes use so much mirin, sake, soy sauce and dashi?
Together they create a flavor structure that appears repeatedly throughout Japanese home cooking.
Instead of learning a completely new sauce for every meal, you gradually learn how proportions change.
That is why owning a small Japanese pantry opens up so many recipes.
What can I substitute for mirin?
Mirin-style seasoning is the simplest substitute.
A small amount of sugar combined with sake or water can imitate some of its sweetness, but the flavor will not be identical.
What can I substitute for sake?
Depending on the recipe, water or stock can be used.
Dry sherry is sometimes used as a culinary substitute, but it will produce a different flavor.
Is miso soup always tofu and seaweed?
Absolutely not.
That is only one famous version.
Japanese home cooks use an enormous variety of vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, tofu products, and seasonal ingredients.
Japanese cuisine includes fried dishes, sugary sauces, salty preserved foods, rich ramen, mayonnaise-heavy foods, sweets, and large portions just like other cuisines.
The advantage of home cooking is that you control portions and ingredients.
What is the difference between restaurant Japanese food and home Japanese food?
Restaurant menus naturally emphasize dishes people are willing to go out and pay for.
Home cooking places much more emphasis on:
Speed
Cost
Leftovers
Seasonal vegetables
Small side dishes
Bento
Family preference
Cookpad is valuable precisely because it exposes this less internationally visible side of Japanese cuisine.
What should I search after learning the basics?
Try searching Cookpad for:
肉じゃが — Nikujaga
きんぴらごぼう — Kinpira gobo
炊き込みご飯 — Takikomi gohan
筑前煮 — Chikuzen-ni
ほうれん草の胡麻和え — Spinach with sesame dressing
焼きおにぎり — Yaki onigiri
豚汁 — Tonjiru
生姜焼き — Shogayaki
親子丼 — Oyakodon
卵焼き — Tamagoyaki
Each of these opens another part of Japanese household cooking.
Cookpad Is Best Used as a Gateway, Not Just a Recipe Page
The real value of Cookpad is not finding one recipe.
It is being able to compare ten, fifty, or hundreds of ways that home cooks approach the same dish.
Read several versions of oyakodon and you begin to understand which ingredients are fundamental and which are optional.
Compare several miso soups and you realize that the ingredients change constantly.
Look at dozens of tamagoyaki recipes and you discover how strongly sweetness, dashi, texture, and seasoning vary by household.
That is something a single cookbook cannot easily reproduce.
Cookpad becomes a window into the collective cooking knowledge of ordinary kitchens.
And for cooks outside Japan, that may be one of the most interesting ways to move beyond sushi and ramen and begin exploring Japanese food as Japanese people actually live with it.
