Japanese Bread and Circuses

Japanese bread tastes different and is used differently to bread in western countries.

Bread in Japan is commonly called "pan" due to the Portuguese traders who introduced it, but it never really started to be baked locally by the Japanese till the Meiji period (1868-1912) when the Japanese were adopting all kinds of Western things. It didn't really take off with the locals though until 1874 when Yasubei Kimura created anpan, or buns stuffed with red bean paste called an, or anko. Anko was commonly used in Japanese sweets (hence the sweet connection) and Kimura's bakery, Kimuraya Sohonten went gang busters as a result - it's still standing even. People really got into bread when the Emperor got a taste of it and gave it the royal tick of approval.

1. Strawberry and Whipped Cream Sandwich: Kinda like an ice cream sandwich, but not as cold - bread here seems to be more commonly associated with desserts or sweeter tastes rather than salty or savory ones.

2. Mystery bread roll: This turned out to be more like a herb bread, though really soft. So more like a sweet herb bread.

3. Mystery bread bun: "Fluffy buttery butter is the deciding factor" says Google translate, and it's correct - it's definitely buttery, and it was the deciding factor in me not eating all of it. It also said it was melon, but I'm pretty sure that is referring to shape rather than taste - this was just like a giant ball of buttery butter.

4. Uchi Cafe: I think these are cream puff pastry, but probably coffee flavoured.

5. Lawson Bakery mystery bread: I think this was anpan with a curry paste...? Probably pork - it's usually pork.

Kaiju Collected:

A lot of carbs and sugar.Read more