Japanese market research data shows that whether cooking at home or eating out, Chinese cuisine is one of the most popular foods among Japanese people.
Chinese cuisine is also often featured in Japanese film and television works such as "Chinese Little Boss", "Doraemon", "Lonely Gourmet" and so on, and even well-known novelists Ryunosuke Wasagawa and Aio Kobayashi have highly praised Chinese cuisine.
Why do Japanese people have such a high acceptance and evaluation of Chinese cuisine?
Let's explore it together
Which cuisine is Preferred in Japan?
With the introduction and localization of Chinese cuisine, there are four main branches of Chinese cuisine, namely Cantonese cuisine, Beijing cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, and Shanghai cuisine.
Cantonese cuisine
At the end of the Edo period, after Japan was opened by the United States due to the "Black Ship Incident", a land boundary was set aside in Yokohama specifically for Western merchants and Chinese compradors to live in, of which the Majority of Chinese Compradors were Cantonese.
In 1867, The Cantonese-owned Chinese restaurants began to open to the Japanese, which is considered the real beginning of the Japanese Chinese restaurants.
Beijing Cuisine
After the end of World War II, Japan fell into a food crisis, because China was the victorious power, relatively speaking, the Chinese gathering place was relatively rich in food, so many Japanese people would choose to patronize Chinese restaurants, it can be said that Chinese cuisine helped many people survive that difficult period.
It was also during this period that the Japanese repatriated from China brought with them the eating habits of northern China.
Sichuan Cuisine
Originally, Sichuan had no relationship with Japan in modern history, but because of the relationship between Sichuan chef Chen Jianmin, Sichuan cuisine became popular in Japan.
In 1958, Chen Jianmin and his friends founded the "Sichuan Hotel" in Japan, and improved mapo tofu and dandan noodles according to the tastes of the Japanese.
Later, with the help of the NHK food program "Today's Cuisine", Chen Jianmin brought mapo tofu, hui pot meat and dan dan noodles that had been modified with the tastes of the Japanese to more Japanese people, so that more people knew and accepted Sichuan cuisine.
Shanghai Cuisine
Shanghai cuisine was introduced to Japan after the opening up of modern times and the increase in Sino-Japanese exchanges.
Not only are There Shanghai chefs who go to Japan to set up shops, but there are also Japanese who come to China to learn to cook Shanghainese cuisine, and even Japanese people who go to remote mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas to learn niche cuisine.
What are the most popular Chinese dishes in Japan?
dumplings
Japanese people prefer fried dumplings and generally do not eat dumplings.
And the Japanese use dumplings as a dish to accompany rice or ramen.
Mapo tofu
It is no exaggeration to say that mapo tofu is a representative dish of Chinese food in the hearts of the Japanese, especially in the Kansai area (Kyoto, Osaka and other places), and the enthusiasm for mapo tofu is the highest.
fried rice
Fried rice sold in Japan does not have as many categories as in China, and is generally referred to as fried rice.
Shredded green pepper meat
Unlike in Japan, in Japan, this dish is mostly made of beef as the main ingredient, rather than pork.
spring roll
Unlike in China, spring rolls are not sold cheaply in Japan, but because of their delicious taste, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the higher price cannot stop the Japanese from loving it.
New delicacies were discovered by the Japanese
Bubble tea
In recent years, a boom known as "tapioca boom" has swept Japan, and many well-known bubble tea shops such as Chunshuitang, Gongcha, Buckhorn Lane, CoCo can appear in Japan, and there are bubble teas sold next to tram stops, cafes, rotary sushi restaurants, and even convenience stores and vending machines.
The charm of bubble tea not only conquers voice actors, celebrities, influencers and civilians, but also occupies half of the Japanese Internet celebrity cuisine, and even the annual buzzwords voted by Japanese dramas and middle school girls, and the New Year number prediction for April have "タピオカ (bubble tea)".
Hot pot spicy and hot
With the landing of Chinese food brands such as Xiao Fat Sheep and Haidilao in Tokyo, a Wave of Chinese hot pot fever has also been set off in Japan, and the only regret is that because Japanese people are not very spicy, the hot pot spicy hot pot opened in Japan is not too soulful.
coriander
What is surprising is that after coriander was introduced to Japan, it actually had a good relationship with the Japanese, and according to statistics, there are more than 20 million people who love to eat coriander in Japan.
In order to meet the Japanese coriander fever, merchants not only invented a lot of dishes directly based on coriander, but also produced a series of coriander desserts, snacks, and what is even more incredible is that there are even people who take coriander baths...
It can be said that the Japanese have some coriander poisoning.