TOKYO—For the first time ever, Indian curry topped the list of American tourists’ favorite Japanese foods according to the results of a survey released Wednesday by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT).

“Hands down the most delicious food I ate in Japan. They should really do a better job promoting it world-wide,” said one American woman who participated in the survey and who went on to call the curry Japan’s “best-kept culinary secret.”

“In America, it’s not on the menu of any Japanese restaurant that I know of,” said another tourist. “But here in Japan it’s everywhere. It’s like they don’t want foreigners knowing about it.”

Reo Oikawa, a spokesman for MLIT, said in an interview with OMGaijin that the reason Indian curry didn’t appear on the menus of Japanese restaurants had nothing to do with trying to keep it a secret from the rest of the world and everything to do with it not being a Japanese food.

“Honestly, I can’t believe I’m even dignifying this with a response,” he said. “Americans are truly the scourge of the earth.”

According to Oikawa, when asked why they thought the food was called Indian curry and not Japanese curry, most American tourists talked about French fries.

“Everybody knows America invented fries,” said Oikawa, reading from the transcript of a conversation between him and an American. “So why do we call them French fries? There’s no reason, we just do. It’s the same way with Indian curry and Japan.”

Following a long break where Oikawa reported doing some soul-searching to regain faith in humanity, he gave one more statement to OMGaijin.

“This year’s survey is a total failure. It was supposed to be used to find out what foreigners love most about Japan so we know what to brag about amongst ourselves this year,” he said. “Its goal was never to show how stupid Americans are. Nobody needs a survey to tell them that.”

While no specific reason was given, MLIT later announced it was permanently banning anybody wearing a MAGA hat or “BUILD THE WALL” t-shirt from participating in its surveys.

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