Japanese Breads & Rolls

Overview

Bread Varieties

Sweet Breads

Melon Bread

Melon Bread is known in Japan as Melon Pan (メロンパン) and is a highly popular bakery confection made from an enriched dough and topped with a cookie crust. These baked goods are highly popular withing Japan, Taiwan, and China. The crust is scored before baking to create a pattern on the crust to make the top appear like a melon. Originally, melon extract was used in the recipes, but later version used actual melon.

Various other alterations have come to melon bread in later years. Some forms have added chocolate chips in between the cookie and bread, and others inject the bread with cream fillings.

Red Bean Bun

Red Bean Bun is known in Japan as Anpan (あんパン). These are a type of sweet roll filled with red bean paste called anko (餡こ). However, the fillings are not exclusively red bean paste. Other Anpan fillings can be white bean paste (白餡, shiro-an), sesame paste (胡麻餡, goma-an), and chestnut paste (クリ餡, kuri-an).

Spicy Breads

Curry Bread

Curry Bread (カレーパン karē pan)

Manga & Anime

These style of breads are highly popular among the young of Japan and are frequently sold in high school cafeterias. these have all made several notable appearances in a variety of manga and anime series. They're often the favorite treat of a certain character.

Azumanga Daioh (1999)

Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga

The Azumanga Daioh series began as a manga created by Kiyohiko Azuma. During the sports festival, there is a bread eating competition. Osaka is taking part in this race for her class. She had diligently practiced a week before using red bean buns, but when the race began she heard there were a variety of breads. She lost her focus and lost the race, but ended it by eating a melon bread.

DearS (2002)

Ren

The DearS manga series is the creation of Peach-Pit. One of the main cast, Ren, has a love for melon bread. In the ending sequence of the anime series, the characters interact with melon breads, and the chibi style characters are crushed under many melon breads.

Shakugan no Shana (2002)

Shana

The Shakugan no Shana series began as a series of light-novels written by Yashichiro Takahashi. The titular character Shana is a harsh and stern girl, but her favorite treat among them all is easily melon bread.