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Download - Brainshare Public Online Library

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Fried gyōza and rāmen noodles rank among the most popular dishes in contemporary<br />

Japan.<br />

The popularization of other Chinese dishes in Japan dates further<br />

back than that of gyōza, however. The influx of Westerners into<br />

Yokohama, Nagasaki and Kobe during the 1860s set the stage for the diffusion<br />

of Chinese cuisine in modern Japan. Although the Chinese had no<br />

legal right to remain in Japan before the first Sino-Japanese treaty was concluded<br />

in 1871, they were brought in under the legal protection of Western<br />

powers. Western merchants relied heavily on their Chinese staff – servants,<br />

clerks and middle-men – to run the households and enterprises that they<br />

relocated from the China coast. During the 1870s and ’80s independent<br />

Chinese merchants began to settle in Japan as well, so that Chinese soon<br />

constituted the majority of the foreign population residing in the ports.<br />

By 1890, for example, 200 Chinese firms operated in Yokohama, compared<br />

to slightly more than 100 firms from all other nationalities combined. Most<br />

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