Japanese Seasonal Pizza?

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

It is my understanding that the standard toppings like corn came about because when pizzas first started being sold on US military bases in the 60s, the regular toppings being sold in the US were too expensive to import and keep fresh... So the type of cheese was changed and inexpensive vegetable toppings that kept well (ie. in a can) were used. This ended up making corn a staple. Pizza places started off base used the same topping lineup (As that was "pizza" in their experience). As pizzas have always had corn on them here, to the average person in Japan that IS the standard pizza.

That's a lot like how spam is a staple in Hawaiian cuisine. 80% of spam in the US is consumed in Hawaii, and it started from military bases.

[SHAD0W]

Originally Posted by RealJames

that's where I always order from, have a look

That place looks pretty cool, I love the Pokemon set meal lol. I've never seen Sausages stuffed into the crust before, that's a really good idea! Looks awesome! I doubt they'd deliver to England though......

I love the idea of corn on Pizza. It only comes on BBQ chicken pizza here.. or Veggie.. I think.

Originally Posted by RickOShay

The best pizza I have had in Japan was not even at a pizza place. It was at restaurant/bar in a fairly small town, that does not really have a theme I think. The owner is very well traveled and is a fricking awesome chef. I have never had a bad meal, or even a meal that did not impress me at his place

Where was that? May have to look for that.

[edelweiss]

Originally Posted by MMM

That's a lot like how spam is a staple in Hawaiian cuisine. 80% of spam in the US is consumed in Hawaii, and it started from military bases.

Guam eats the most Spam per capita followed by Hawaii. Also a military connection there. I think it's funny that Hawaiian Pizza is mistaken for a Japanese style - I know a lot of Hawaiian land is owned by Japan but it is still a part of the US. haha. Like my friend from Odawara thinking Denny's was a Japanese chain.

On my first trip to Japan we were a little confused and hungry and we ended up ordering pizza at an Italian cafe. I had no idea what I ordered so I said to my friends "Watch, I bet I just ordered something like squid pizza!" And when it was brought out it was a squid pizza, with mayo! Good thing I like squid, can't say I cared for the mayo. I don't think squid would be out of place in Italy but it's not something you find on pizza in the U.S.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by SHAD0W

I only ate pizza twice in Japan and each time it was the same size as what I'm used to here?

On another note, the teacher thought that Hawaiian Pizza (Ham and Pineapple) was exclusive to Japan and used that as an example of "strange" pizza, but we have that here too?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that. I remember in my first week in Japan practically, someone was freaking out over the idea of a tuna and sweet corn pizza. I eat that all the time in the UK; it's not exactly unheard of. Heck, I think you can even buy frozen ones in Tescos. Domino's was overpriced I thought, but then it's overpriced everywhere for what you get.

Originally Posted by Nyororin

If you want *Italian* pizza though - Japan is GREAT. There are countless small restaurants with stone ovens making the greatest pizzas.

THIS. I have had really great italian food in Japan, especially pizza- properly cooked, proper tasting tomato sauce nice crispy base. It's wonderful stuff.

[JustaJ]

I've only eaten at 3 Italian restaurants in Japan. One was a "La Pausa", which was pretty much like a family restaurant for Italian food, it was in the building adjoining my hotel. They had margherita, pepperoni, seafood, etc. They did have some mayonnaise topped pizzas and, I believe, teriyaki chicken. But, nothing extremely unusual.

Another was the "Canal Cafe" in Iidabashi, I don't recall seeing anything on the menu that wasn't something that I haven't eaten before. They did have rotating specials. probably based on which ingredients were in season, though they were standard fare. I remember that place being packed to the brim with housewives who were eating on the deck to view the sakura off the canal. I don't remember anything having strawberries or sakura flavoring on the menu.

The last place was the same restaurant in 2 different locations. "Pico" in Enoshima and Jiyugaoka. Probably my favorite of the 3 restaurants. They had a pizza with a topping that I have never tried before. It was something that I can only describe as baitfish, I can't remember the name of it. Just these incredibly tiny, white fish fry. I'm not sure if it is seasonal, but it was on the menu both times that I went, autumn and spring, and it was at both locations so maybe it is their trademark pizza. Not as salty as I was expecting it to be, but quite a fishy taste. A little like anchovy, it could very well be extremely small anchovy. I've never had a pizza with that topping before. Aside from that, they had an appetizer set that included ham, sausage, salad, and garlic butter sazae, which is a giant mollusk. I've never had sazae prepared like that before. I think the best part of the experience was that the restaurant had a web coupon for a free margherita pizza for orders over 3000 yen. Gotta love those web coupons. The restaurants did have a specials menu with dishes not on their standard menu, but, again, I don't believe it was filled with anything crazy.

I never did try any of the large chain pizzas, which I would imagine have a thick crust more along the lines of a North American chain style pizza. The places I went to were all very thin stone baked crusts.