Napolitan
Spaghetti "Napolitan"
ナポリタン
Spaghetti "Napolitan" is a purely Japanese dish, despite the exotic name. It is one of the most popular Japanese-Western dishes in Japan and an old-timer on canteen menus as well. Napolitan was invented in the years after WWII by the chef of a hotel in Yokohama after seeing the spaghetti eaten by the American occupation army. Ingredients are ketchup or a tomato-based sauce, onion, mushrooms, ham or bacon, Wiener sausages and green peppers. The dish on the photo has been sprinkled with seaweed flakes (aonori) to make it even more Japanese, but cheese is often used as well!
The dish is called "Napolitan" as tomato sauce is rumored to come from that city. The dish is also easy to make at home. The pasta is a far cry from al-dente and such soft spaghetti with tomato ketchup would give an Italian a big shock, but even though there are now many authentic Italian restaurants in Japan, the Japanese keep eating their Napolitan - it is sold as bento in convenience stores all over the country!