Japanese curry has become a brand of its own. Almost every family in Japan has their own recipe, and unlike other countries, they make curry at home using a ready-made curry sauce mix. Literally hundreds of curry mix products are available and competition among producers of curry sauce mix is fierce. According to one survey, The Top 5 Curry in Japan are as follows:
Find out why
HOUSE – VERMONT CURRY MIX
[ 161 votes: 32% | Debut: 1963 ] Vermont Curry is made by applying the method of making honey apple used in the US State of Vermont. Originally produced as curry that is not too hot for children. For 40 and 50-something Japanese, this product is associated with singer Hideki Saijo, who sang “Hey, here is House Vermont Curry!” in a TV commercial in the 70s and 80s.
HOUSE – JAVA CURRY MIX
[ 93 votes: 18.6% | Debut: 1968 ] Another long best seller from HOUSE. Unlike Vermont, this product target adult consumers as curry that symbolises Java Island in the south. Its strong, spicy taste is designed to characterise strong sun and blue ocean on the island. TV commercials tend to feature celebrities on the beach – the most recent is Kitajima the Olympic swimmer.
HOUSE – KOKUMARO CURRY MIX
[ 89 votes: 17.8% | Debut: 1996 ] Relatively a newcomer to the HOUSE line-up, originated in the new approach to curry mix. Adopting the tendency of consumers to blend different kinds of curry mix at home, this product is designed to blend ingredients that create ‘koku’ and ‘maroyaka’, hence the naming of “Kokumaro”.
GLICO – NIDANJUKU CURRY MIX
[ 42 votes: 8.4% | Debut: 2006 ] Nidanjuku is the youngest curry mix in this top 5 list. Its unique characteristic is the blending of caramelised onion and milk which creates maroyaka taste. While Nidanjuku is still popular, its sister brand “Premium Juku Curry” was introduced in August 2015. It remains to be seen whether the Premium version will overtake Nidanjuku.
S&B – GOLDEN CURRY MIX
[ 37 votes: 7.4% | Debut: 1966 ] In Japan S&B’s founder Yamazaki Minejiro first succeeded in producing curry powder in 1923. The spice company then started to sell curry powder in the 1960s and introduced Golden Curry Mix in 1966, two years after the Tokyo Olympic Games. 35 types of spice and spicy aroma continue to attract Japanese consumers.
