Anpan was first made on 1875, during the Meiji era, by a man called Yasubei Kimura who was a samurai who lost his job. Meiji era was the period of time that started to progress towards civilization, and many samurais who lost their jobs were given a work that was totally new to them. It was mostly a job from the western culture, which Japan was trying to adopt at that time, and bakery was one of those jobs. One day, Yasubei who lost his job found a young man making breads while wandering around the area which the jobs of the western culture centered. Yasubei knew that it was time for Japanese culture to change into European culture, and so he started a bakery Buneido. But at that time, breads were salty and tasted bad, or at least it tasted bad to Japanese citizens. Yasubei thought for a new idea to make the bread become easier for the Japanese to eat, and it was Anpan he made. Anpan flew off the shelves every day.

One day a man called Takayuki Yamaoka who loved Anpan, and who was also a chamberlain of the Meiji emperor, requested the Tokugawas who was the ruler of Japan before Meiji, to present Anpans to the emperor when visiting him. So the Tokugawas asked Yasubei to make some for the emperor. Yasubei tried making it again and again, and he also cared about the looking of it which led them to stuff the salted sakura in the middle of the buns . The Anpan was in shape, and the Meiji emperor had it on April 4, 1875. The emperor told Yasubei to present him the Anpan everyday, and because of the rumor that the emperor ate Anpan, breads especially Anpans began spreading around the country. This was how Anpan began.