Castella is a confectionery originally from Portugal but adapted into Japanese traditional confectionery since 17th century, when Nagasaki's local confectionery store Fukusaya was opened in 1624. Although it was brought by Portuguese missionaries in 16th century. Castella does not exist in Portugal. Many confectioneries were brought by these missionaries to Japan from Europe but Castella was quickly widespread in Japan due to it does not use any dairy products at all. Japan. Dairy products, including milk were begun to be eaten or drunk from middle of 19th century in Japan.
Castella became nationwide confectionery after the WWII, when Bunmeido started their TV commercial in metropolitan cities including Tokyo and Osaka. Bunmeido's TV commercial was containing a song and puppets. The song was "Castella Ichiban, Denwa wa niban. Sanji no oyatsu wa Bunmeido", which means "Castella is the number one(priority) and telephone is the second(priority). Snack to be eaten at 3pm is Bunmeido". By the way, afternoon snack in Japan is considered to be eaten at 15:00.
Anywhere you visit in Japan, there is a local special confectionery sold at the local stores and gift shops due to there is a strong custom to bring a gift from the place you visited. These confectioneries are not only consumed by the person who bought but also to be given to your families, friends, colleagues and neighbors. Three important things for Japanese to visit the place are 1)Sightseeing, 2)Shopping and 3)Food. Japanese visit the tourist attraction, buy the local products and eat the local foods.
Castella is recognized by all Japanese as the most famous confectionery of Nagasaki and may be the most famous one in Japan.
