Multicultural Japanese Italian Pizza

Despite the thinness of the crust, you can pick up multicultural Japanese Italian pizza with your fingers and eat it American style.

by Bob Kerstetter

Despite mythology claiming its USA origins, pizza was indeed invented in Italy—specifically in Naples by a man named Don Raffaele Esposito. Even the name—pizza—comes from the Latin word ‘pitta’ with two t’s, a flatbread meaning—amazingly—pizza.

In Wakayama, Japan, you can order Japanese Italian pizza from Vabene, on the seventh floor of the Forté building. The menu—entirely in Japanese with no-English assistance—does have pictures. Plus, the Japanese-speaking staff graciously assists you with some basic English vocabulary and hand signs. It’s really a very fun and pleasant place to dine. At night the lights of a city are beautiful. A stroll on the patio gives you a view of the Wakayama Castle on its nearby cat-shaped hilltop.

Japanese pizza at Vabene has a thin crust, almost crepe like, with an excellent base of cheese and tomatoes, plus various toppings—in our case, veggies only—we wanted no meat today. Despite the thinness of the crust, you can pick up multicultural Japanese Italian pizza with your fingers and eat it American style. Yum.

Japanese Italian Pizza. No chopsticks required.