Anpan

Anpan (あんパン^?) is a Japanese sweet roll most commonly filled with red bean paste. Anpan can also be prepared with other fillings, including white beans (shiro-an), sesame (goma-an) and chestnut (kuri-an).

Anpan was first made in 1875, during the Meiji period, by a man called Yasubei Kimura, a samurai who lost his job with the rise of the Imperial Army (made up of conscripts) and the dissolution of the samurai as a social class. The Meiji era was a period in which Japan was becoming increasingly westernized, and many samurai who lost their jobs were given work that was totally new to them. The Western role of baker was one such job.