2016–2023: Japanese Breakfast and Crying in H Mart
On April 1, 2016, Japanese Breakfast released its debut studio album, Psychopomp. Zauner had decided to quit music and not tour after releasing the album, but changed her mind after it received critical praise and more attention than she expected. Japanese Breakfast subsequently opened for Mitski alongside American musician Jay Som. On June 23, 2016, Dead Oceans announced that it had signed Japanese Breakfast, which made its live international debut that August in the United Kingdom.
On July 13, 2016, Zauner won the 11th edition of the Glamour magazine essay contest with "Real Life: Love, Loss, and Kimchi", which discussed her mother's cancer diagnosis and death and the bond they shared over Korean food. Zauner said the essay was "largely about cooking along with" Korean-born American YouTuber Maangchi's cooking tutorials.
On July 13, 2017, Japanese Breakfast released its second studio album, Soft Sounds from Another Planet. The album received critical acclaim and was the band's first album to chart, reaching the Billboard Top Heatseekers, US Independent Albums, New Zealand Heatseekers Chart, and the UK Indie Chart.
On August 20, 2018, The New Yorker published Zauner's essay, "Crying in H Mart", which describes her experiences shopping at H Mart, a Korean-focused grocery store. She was subsequently contacted by literary agents and publishing houses, which convinced her to write a book-length memoir. On February 28, 2019, American publishing house Alfred A. Knopf announced that it had acquired the rights to her memoir in an auction.
Later in 2019, Zauner hosted a five-episode Munchies series, "Close to Home", that explored the effects of immigration on various cultures' cuisine and experiences "tied into intermingling food cultures." The series featured Maangchi and other guests.
In 2020, Zauner formed Bumper with Ryan Galloway of the band Crying. Galloway had earlier contributed a guitar part for a song, "Slide Tackle", that eventually appeared on Japanese Breakfast's studio album Jubilee (2021). As Bumper, the duo recorded songs remotely during the COVID-19 lockdowns. On September 3, 2020, Bumper released an EP, pop songs 2020, to positive reviews.
On April 1, 2021, Harper's Bazaar published Zauner's essay, "#Forgiveness," which discussed her estrangement from her father after her mother's death. On April 20, 2021, Knopf released Zauner's debut book, Crying In H Mart: A Memoir. The book's first chapter is essentially her New Yorker essay. The memoir received critical acclaim and debuted at number two on the New York Times's nonfiction bestseller list; it would ultimately spend 60 weeks on the list from July 2021 to September 2022. On June 7, 2021, Orion Pictures announced that it would adapt Crying In H Mart into a feature film and pay Zauner to write the film's screenplay and supervise its soundtrack. In April 2022, Zauner said she had finished the first draft of the screenplay. On March 20, 2023, Zauner said the film would be directed by Will Sharpe.
On June 4, 2021, Japanese Breakfast released its third studio album, Jubilee. Zauner directed the video for the single "Be Sweet". The album was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 64th annual Grammy Awards. The album received widespread critical acclaim and was the band's first to make the Billboard 200 list; it peaked at 56.
In 2023, Zauner said she planned to move to Seoul in December to work on a new album and her second book, which is to document her experience in learning Korean for a year.
