Why do Japanese eat curry?

Answer 1

I heard this explanation from a food historian ( I'm sorry I can't remember his name so I am unable to credit him) which is very reasonable since you don't commonly find curry in Chinese cooking which would seem to rule out an overland route of entry.

In the latter part of the 19th century, the Meiji Government set out to modernize Japan which had been fairly isolated from the world by the Tokukawa Shogunate for about 250 years. They decided to pattern the navy after the greatest in the world at the time which was the British Royal Navy. India had been a British colony for over 100 years by this time and curry stew had become a common item in the mess and the Japanese adopted it as part of the standard food shipboard.

So curry comes to Japan from India by way of Great Britain.