In Japan, single-flavored foods are sometimes just too monotonous to attract new customers, and so snack companies are constantly going back to the planning board to come up with a hot new flavor of potato chips and chocolate. Often their inspiration comes not only from the Western origins of those snacks but also from Japanese cuisine, and so convenience-store and supermarket shelves in this country are filled with fusion treats: bites that bring together the best flavors of East and West.

As I grew up in the United States with a Japanese mother, my family's junk-food cabinet was stuffed with wagashi (Japanese snacks) and yōgashi (American snacks). Nosh time usually involved a stack of Oreos with a couple of rice crackers. Care packages from Tokyo always ensured that my family had a good supply of Japanese goodies to supplement whatever we bought at the grocery store. Dinner was a similar affair: mashed potatoes, grilled veggies and tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlets) instead of steak.

In my bicultural family, I took it for granted that Japanese food and American food belonged on the table together. My mother's hobby was discovering new ways to blend Eastern and Western ingredients together to create an entirely new dishes, and crossing the Pacific Ocean when I came to Tokyo brought me into contact with a snack market that reminds me of my childhood dinner table.