Not sure but in anime shows you occasionally hear the mention of hotpot which I believe is stew in Japan.
As for the stew, in a cold climate before electricity they had root cellars aka for potato's, carrots, onions, etc and those are good at lasting at low temps and have plenty of starch for a good stew so naturally in the winter centuries ago they would use what they had during the winter that had to last for months so they wouldn't starve and stew is a good food for energy as in hunting and even fishing when it's winter and the men need to warm up fast inside and outside a stew would be on that list or a chowder.
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