Japanese Bread
パン
Though often referred to as yoshoku – a Western-style dish – bread has a long history in Japan, dating back to the arrival of Portuguese traders in Nagasaki in the mid-16th century. The Japanese word for bread – pan – reflects these origins and stems from the Portuguese ‘pão’.
Bread flourished in the Meiji era (1868-1912), a period known for rapid development and westernisation, a popularity which coincided with the introduction of anpan – sweet buns stuffed with red bread paste known as anko. These Japanese twists on western food traditions have made bread increasingly popular throughout the country – so much so in 2011 household sales of bread were reportedly higher than rice for the first time in recorded history.