There are various stories about how pizza was introduced to Japan, but the view that it was introduced by Italian back in 1940's is the strongest one. In later years, an Italian cuisine boom set off in Japan and an increasing number of pizza specialty shops and Italian restaurants opened. Supermarkets started to sell frozen pizza and also pizza delivery service was launched. As these became popular, pizza became one of the main stream foods for Japanese.

Both American pizza and Italian pizza are eaten often in Japan. The round pizza is common in Japan. As for Italian style pizza, ones with full of tomatoes and cheese on top such as margherita are popular. Pizzas with chopped mushroom on top are also popular. In addition, there are Japanese original pizza using toppings including mayonnaise, corns, spicy cod roe and mochi (rice cakes).

There might not be many pizza specialty shops in Japan, but you can find some in various locations. Many are situated in the center of metropolitan cities like Tokyo. Some specialty shops freshly cook and serve wood-fired pizza. There are lots of Italian restaurants where you can have pizza. Delivery service is offered by many companies, and you can order pizza on the phone or internet, and they will deliver the fresh pizza to your designated address. Supermarkets and convenience stores also sell frozen pizza.