In last month¡¯s column, I looked at the origins of several famous Japanese product brands. Thinking back, perhaps the very first brand I noticed here was a confectioner named ÎÄÃ÷Ìà (Bunmeido). The company, a ÀÏÅn (shinise, well-established shop), was founded in Nagasaki in 1900, taking its name from ÎÄÃ÷é_»¯ (bunmei kaika, the opening of Japan to ¡°civilization and enlightenment¡°). This expression was used to put a positive spin on the import of newfangled Western ideas from around the start of the Meiji Period (1868-1912).

Nagasaki of course has long been associated with trade links with the West, which date back to the mid-16th century. In addition to firearms and Christianity, the Portuguese are credited with having introduced a number of baked foods, known collectively as ÄÏÂùÇ‘×Ó (nambangashi, ¡°southern barbarian confections¡°), one of which was a spongy cake called p?o de Castela, literally bread from Castile (a province in central Spain). Shortened to ¥«¥¹¥Æ¥é (castella), it became Bunmeido¡¯s specialty. The company opened its first Tokyo outlet in 1914 and by 1925 had been designated ŒmÄÚŽØÓùÓÃß_ (kunaicho goy¨­tashi, an official purveyor to the Imperial Household Agency).

But an adorable commercial jingle on TV deserves credit for spreading the company¡¯s fame. In the early 1960s, an ad agency executive happened to attend a marionette performance by an Australian couple, the Bergs, and was charmed to see five puppets dancing the can-can to the overture from Jacques Offenbach¡¯s operetta ¡°Orpheus in the Underworld.¡±