The Japanese liking of curry may seem a bit surprising to people from abroad.
The are countless numbers of curry shops in Tokyo, ranging from Indian, Thai, European (!), to traditional Japanese curry. Magazines often publish articles listing the "best curry rice in Tokyo", and people head to their favorite shops to wait in line to eat them.
There are a variations of curry, like curry-udon(noodles), curry-bread, and several shops now serve "soup-curry".
Curry in Japan is Japanese food, even from the fact that most curry is served with rice as "curry-rice". The root of this culture is the curry-rice that is served as a popular and favorite house dish in Japanese homes. Most Japanese kids grow up eating lots of curry, so the taste is well a part of the Japanese toungue, just like soy sauce is !

I've always been wondering why quite a few non-Japanese speak on their cell phones inside running trains and quiet restaurants, where "cell phone manners" are common sense to the Japanese. (well...except for some teenage highschool kids who don't have any comon sense to start with.) There may be some cases where the person is new to Japan and is not aware of (or cannot read) the rules, but manners seem kind of obvious to one by looking around and seeing no one else talking on the phone. Yes, there is partly a fault on the Japanese who "pretend to see nothinng" and don't bother cautioning the person, especially when that person is a non-Japanese.
Well, my wondering became clear when I read that cell phone manners in public has only RECENTLY become a major topic of concern the US. This is due to the fact that Japan has had a head start in people realizing the issue and coping with it when cell phones began spreading at an explosive rate, whereas the US is following the same path right now. As result, there may be an awareness difference between (people from) countries with the Japanises being more concious than others.
In any case, I still feel public manner is common sense whatever the situation is in one's land of origin.

Wired News : Cell-Phone Shushing Gets Creative