Many Japanese pizzas seem to seriously disconcert Western travellers, especially Americans.

A classic Neapolitan pizza would be a simple yet elegant affair of a thin crust with a tiny dizzle of a fresh tomato sauce, chopped fresh basil, and a few slices of mozarella (which is only mozarella when it is made from buffalo milk), fired in a wood-burning oven. A drizzle of a good extra virgin olive oil and a twist of fresh black pepper. That's it.

American pizzas on the other hand come in a vast range of sizes, thicknesses, and toppings. But even with the now faded California spree of odd pizza toppings or the addition of leeks here or chevre there, nothing equals the Japanese tectonic shift of the ground rules of what makes a pizza a pizza.

Squid with cheddar and squid ink? Of course. Corn and scallops? Hai! Sausage, crab, bacon and mayonnaise? Hai. (Or with corn. You can get corn on any Japanese pizza.) Fetuccine alfredo with corn and shrimp on a pizza? Yes.

Take out or eat in.

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