Blame Hollywood if you want, but I’ve noticed Japan is like the US in that they suck up cultural influences like a sponge. Just like English is a hodgepodge of French and German and Latin and Viking, Japanese has tons of loan-words from Chinese and English.
Likewise cuisine - a ramen shop might stand next to a curry shop, next to a Denny’s, with a taiyaki place across the street. Was that Tokyo I just described, or Greenwich Village?
