A Kare Pan Is a Pretty Good Start

Common in train stations and department store food courts, Japanese bakery chains often specialize in clever interpretations of European baked goods and reconfigurations of culinary traditions from other countries. They provide visitors not only with snacks, but with a unique perspective. Kare pan is curry bread, a typical bakery item. In Japan, foreign cultural symbols aren't merely appropriated; they're savored, celebrated, and then regurgitated as something fresh. In the rich world of Japanese baked goods, this process can be seen as authentically Japanese, even if the food itself is not.