At the beginning of the twentieth century, when western food was starting to spread in Japanese homes, a shop called Misawaya (now Bull-Dog Sauce, established in 1902) developed a sauce that would suit Japanese tastes based on Worcestershire Sauce.

It succeeded not as a cooking ingredient or secret ingredient, but as condiment used as is on western foods like cutlets and fried foods. 

After that, as "Bull-Dog Sauce" began to reach Japanese homes, it greatly impacted the development of Japanese food culture, starting with tonkatsu.