The rice-centered food culture of Japan evolved following the introduction of wet
rice cultivation from Asia more than 2,000 years ago. The tradition of rice served with
seasonal vegetables and fish and other marine products reached a highly sophisticated form in the Edo period (1600-1868) and remains the vibrant core of native Japanese cuisine. In the century and a half since Japan reopened to the West, however, Japan has developed an incredibly rich and varied food culture that includes not only native-Japanese cuisine but also many foreign dishes, some adapted to Japanese tastes and some imported more or less unchanged.