Which Japanese bread is filled with curry and often fried or baked?

The Japanese bread filled with curry and often fried or baked is curry bread.

Known as karē pan, it consists of dough wrapped around Japanese curry. The dough is commonly coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried, although bakeries also produce baked versions. The result is crisp outside and soft, savory, and often mildly sweet inside.

Its exact origin is uncertain, but a frequently cited account places its creation in Tokyo in 1927 and associates it with Nakata Toyoharu. It emerged during the early Shōwa era, when yōshoku—Japanese adaptations of Western-style foods—were becoming popular. Early versions were reportedly called yōshoku-pan, or “Western food bread.”

Curry bread is easy to confuse with anpan, which is filled with sweet red-bean paste, or melonpan, whose name refers to its sweet crust rather than a curry filling. It is now common in Japanese bakeries and convenience stores.