At the end of the 19th century, when Japan was modernizing and getting its own navy, the administration had to deal with the problem of beriberi among sailors. The answer was a change in diet with the addition of beef and because Japanese people weren't used in eating beef, the navy started serving it with curry to make it more spicy. Being one of Japan's first naval bases and the home of the Imperial Navy's arsenal, Kanagawa's Yokosuka (横須賀/よこすか) became the capital of curry and this is how we ended up with sandwiches like this with a "Yokosuka Navy Curry" (よこすか海軍カレー) filling; according to the label on the right they have used the original recipe from the "Navy's Cooking Guidebook" (Kaigun Kappo-jutsu Sankosho/海軍割烹術参考書) of 1908.
(For a bigger version of this picture both in color and black and white, check my "Japan Arekore" set on Flickr).
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