Talk:Melonpan

Word 'Pan'

The word PAN is actually Portuguese. The following website clearly confirms this: http://dictionary.infoseek.co.jp/?spa=&sc=1&se=on&lp=0&gr=ml&qt=%A4%D1%A4%F3&sm=1&sv=2T Nearly every source I could find confirms that this word (and many others) was introduced to the Japanese language in the 16th century, when Portuguese explorers first reached Japan. It is also worth to note that the Portuguese "ão" diphthong is commonly translated into Japanese as "an", hence "pão" becomes "pan".

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—Preceding unsigned comment added by Unnilquadium (talk • contribs) 14:06, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

In the second paragraph it is mentioned that the word 'pan' is borrowed from the Portuguese 'pão' when in reality it is borrowed from the Spanish word 'pan', which itself is a derivative of the Latin 'panis'. The Portuguese seems less relative than the Spanish word that sounds, and written just like the Japanese word from bread. I'm going to change it unless there a really good argument why it should stay as such. Nadiasama (talk) 00:15, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

• Someone changed the origin of the word 'pan' saying it was Portuguese when it is Spanish. 'Pan' is a Spanish word as 'pão' is the word for bread in Portuguese. Both languages are pretty similar in relation to the other Romanic based languages but not all of their words are interchangeable, bread being one of them. There are plenty of online dictionaries to confirm this. Nadiasama (talk) 03:52, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Please don't justify the word's origin based on another wikipedia article! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.161.86.254 (talk) 16:19, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Is this not the same bread as the South American "concha"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.234.12.85 (talk) 18:19, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

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The terminology "PAN" in Japanese if searched on Japanese to English dictionaries from Yahoo Japan Dictionaries (http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/) and Kenkyusha's New College Japanese-English Dictionary it also states that the word comes from Portuguese origin.Hiroinjp (talk) 02:05, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Flavor

I'd rather say they are meant to be melon-flavoured, which does not mean that they actually taste like melons, of course. Melon baking flavouring is available in many supermarkets.

In the book Japanese food and cooking by Emi Kazuko, it states "MELON PAN - This is a yellow fluffy bun, with sugar coating on top. It is called melon pan because of the colour and shape, and has nothing to do with the taste. It has a crisp sugary texture outside but light bread inside, and a sweet flavour." The melon pan I have ate were not melon flavoured.

In yakitate, the meronpans they make all have real meron in them (though azuma's has only meron juice). I assume that the merchandise version http://mz1200.seesaa.net/image/IMG_6481.jpg tastes of meron too.

That was the main point to the joke about Azuma Kazuma not being very good with melonpan. The main reason he thought he wasn't any good with it was that he didn't understand why it was called melonpan when in reality, there isn't always melon in it.

In the first light novel of Shakugan no Shana, Shana says "It's called melon bread because of the way the top cracks when it bakes. Real melon bread shouldn't taste like melon - that's heresy!". Thought it might be worth mentioning. I've got to say, I only ate it from two different places in Japan, one bakery one pre-packed, but neither tasted of melon. --Aceizace 00:35, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

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They are melon flavored to Japanese people. In general, sweets are less strongly flavored in Japan (as well as being less sweet), so foreigners sometimes fail to perceive subtle flavors.

That may be... Do you have a reference to cite on this? I'd really like to see other sources cited that would negate the information I've found in a book on Japanese food written by a Japanese person. I have edited the page until sources can be cited on this topic. Please stop changing this until someone actually finds a source and not original research on this topic. See Wikipedia:Attribution Caradea 19:00, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Here's the Japanese wikipedia article: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/メロンパン. Using Google translate, it gets kind of scrambled, but it explains the various etymology theories, and ends up concluding that they didn't necessarily contain melon flavor in the Meiji period (and "melon" may be a folk etymology, a truncated "meringue"), but today they do have melon flavor--at least that's how I understand the Japanese. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.216.103.16 (talk) 05:46, 4 April 2007 (UTC).

It only says that in recent times it's become popular for some bread makers to actually add melon to it but some people consider this wrong. Basically, melon bread really has nothing to do with melon. If you actually asked a Japanese person, you would know this (although sadly it seems that some young people may be getting an entirely wrong impression due to the "add melon" craze). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.180.231.218 (talk) 14:29, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

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User:Aceizace　seems to be correct that melon pan is not necessarily melon flavored. I live in Japan (and am Japanese literate) and looked up 10 melon pan recipes in Japanese (http://cookpad.com) and only one called for melon flavoring.Hiroinjp (talk) 02:05, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Anime references

Do we really need so many references to different anime cartoons? Can we just shorten it to "Melon pan is mentioned to many anime cartoons"? Caradea 23:26, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

I see a total of one. *(unsigned)*

I agree; this is silly. Melonpan is a kind of bread that you can buy at the convenience store or grocery store in Japan. Everyone eats it. To say that anime characters eat it is like putting similar notes under the article for chicken. Dekimasu 09:04, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

It would indeed be absurd to mention every single time melonpan is eaten in an anime cartoon. However, I didn't think briefly mentioning Shakugan no Shana was irrelevant, since the main character is seen eating melonpan (with great gusto) at least once per episode on average. The erasing - within mere hours and without a single word of explanation - of what I had written strikes me as a bit discourteous. Baldric_FR 25/08/06

I wasn't the one who erased your addition, but it wasn't with a single word of explanation. I noted that the edit summary directed you to the talk page, and it was probably made by an editor who (like me) has this page on his watchlist. However, in response, I continue to view this as irrelevant. It may be relevant to the topic Shakugan no Shana if it has become a significant plot element. However, it is not significant to the topic of melonpan, which is first and foremost a type of bread (how does this add to someone's understanding of melonpan?). A survey of anime references is not likely to be useful or relevant to someone reading this article. I am going to re-revert this now, but I hope that you won't be offended. If other editors side with you, of course I would respect that. Dekimasu 11:15, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Thinking back about it, my contribution was indeed fairly irrelevant. Ah, hindsight... Baldric 03/09/08 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.199.191.94 (talk) 01:19, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Dekimasu: Sure, in Japan everybody eats it, but here in the United States where I live, it's not exactly commonplace (far from it, actually). Baldric: I agree with you. I too believe that it'd be kinda dumb to mention every single occurrence of an anime character eating melon pan, although Shana's love for melon pan is a very memorable element from the anime, and those who associate Japanese culture with anime (or vice-versa) would be interested in this knowledge. AceOfHeartsDX (talk) 00:15, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

This argument can be extended to the popular culture section in general. I note that (from Wikipedia_talk:Trivia):

That should be required reading for anyone participating in this debate. What's said there about Marduk could apply to just about any other article about a deity or other mythological figure:

• Osiris: "In the movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hedwig's song "Origin of Love" mentions Osiris";
• Apollo: "The original classic 1978 Battlestar Galactia series. The main character of the show was called Apollo. Who was an ace Viper pilot (space fighter planes seen throughout the series) and the Captain and strike leader of Galactica's Blue Squadron."
• Quetzalcoatl: "In the computer game Rise of Legends, there is a playable race called Cuotl. There are also air units in this race's army called 'Quetzals'."

Etc, etc, etc, by way of Kokopelli, Ozymandias, Sigurd, King Arthur... (the list goes on). Adopting the Marduk solution (wiping it all off and depositing it on Marduk in popular culture) as general practice would enable such articles to give a much better impression (seriousness, rigor, perspective) than they do at the moment. Bolivian Unicyclist 12:24, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

It's a tenable solution. But, then, this is an encyclopedia, not an indiscriminate collection of information. I think editors are perfectly within their rights to delete random trivia factoids on sight. And I'd caution against avoiding "popular culture" sections altogether; these can be nice additions to articles, provided they are well written, academically sound, and analytical rather than exhaustive. I'm currently reading a book on Jeki la Njambè (sadly, we have no article yet), an oral epic of the Duala people of Cameroon, and the author devotes quite a few pages to interpretations in Cameroonian popular culture. So I guess I'm trying to say: If you've got something intelligent to say about Fujin in popular culture, say it. If all you have is the fact that a character in Final Fantasy VIII is named Fujin, keep it to yourself or put it in the Fujin (Final Fantasy character) article. But ghettoizing these sections to X in popular culture is akin to sweeping the dust under the rug. — BrianSmithson 13:04, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

If the references do not add to anyone's understanding of melonpan, they should be out of the article. We should not forget that the fact that a reference is interesting doesn't make it notable or encyclopedic. Dekimasu 07:45, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, actually, interest does make something "notable" by definition. You are, however, correct that interesting facts are not necessarily encyclopedic, though I do agree with BrianSmithson on his points regarding "sweeping dust under rugs": If a pop culture section is found necessary, it should be treated with care, and contain only prominent pop culture references; it is not necessary to write an exhaustive list of every single one. Moderation is the key. AceOfHeartsDX (talk) 00:15, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Notability has one definition in English and another in Wikipedian. I was referring to the Wikipedian definition when I should probably have been writing in English, and for that I apologize. Dekimasuよ! 03:51, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

If I were immature enough (although not enough to be annoyed by this section) I would start listing random movies and cartoons where things such as pizza, hot dogs, and spaghetti are eaten. Now that I think about it, I hope nobody thought it to be a good idea to add that Mario likes spaghetti, the tmnt like pizza and Sonic the Hedgehog likes .... chilli dogs? 16:23, 22 February 2008 (UTC) m0u5y —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.228.52.221 (talk)

I see that nearly 4 years on, people still absolutely insist on putting lots of anime references in this article. I would really like to see OTHER popular culture references rather than insanely specific down to the characters of cartoon/anime series. If this cannot be provided, I forsee the whole Popular Culture section being removed since the only use of it seems to be adding more and more anime references to it.

Let's step back a minute and look at this article: This article is about a foodstuff. It is not about anime in popular culture, not anime reflecting popular culture, it is about a sweet bread. As stated previously, we could do similar to pizza, hotdogs, or whatever else you want to nitpick through... but it's not about the foodstuff anymore, it's about whatever is being referenced. Caradea (talk) 18:55, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

Anime references again

I support removing the "in popular culture" section. The anime references are connective trivia which tell us nothing about melon bread. One sentence on this is more than enough. The link should be going from the anime articles to this article, but not from this article to many anime articles. JoshuSasori (talk) 03:15, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Earliest appearance?

The Pinapple bun is at least 70 years old, according to the article. How far back can we trace Melon pan? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.249.244.5 (talk) 21:21, 7 June 2015 (UTC)