Heading into the 1980s, there was a diversification of the kind of food the Japanese populace was exposed to and a growing interest for something new. This resulted in a spicy food boom at the time, as traditional Japanese cooking is quite mild and subtle. This was driven by products like Koikeya’s「Karamūcho」potato chips that appeared in 1984, and the「Bolst’s Curry House」chain in Tokyo that allowed guests to choose their heat level.

At the same time, the retort pouch curry market was growing. Retort curry had been introduced to Japan in 1968 with Otsuka Foods’「Bon Curry」which proved to be popular as an alternative to canned food in a country where refrigerators had not yet come into widspread use. Now, food manufacturers wanted in on the spice trend. Ezaki Glico released their hot「LEE Curry」in 1986, which was apparently a success as it can still be found on most grocery store shelves in Japan today.

House Foods also tried their hand at a spicier product with「Curry the Hot」in red and black varieties. For advertising, they hired up-and-coming actor MIKAMI Hiroshi who was about to have his breakout role as the lead in the popular film 「Watashi wo Ski ni Tsuretette」 (Take Me Skiing) that released that same year. However, it seems his stardom wasn’t enough to carry the product, as House Foods discontinued the brand.