One story says that it originated around the turn of the 20th century[4] at a Western-style restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza district called Renga-tei, inspired by chakin-zushi.

[5] Another story says that the dish originated in 1925 at another Western-style restaurant – Hokkyokusei in Minami, Osaka – when a cook decided to enliven a regular customer's order of an omelet with rice.

Often, the rice is fried with various meats (but typically chicken) or vegetables, and can be flavored with beef stock, ketchup, demi-glace, white sauce or simply salt and pepper.

Volga rice is another variation, albeit topped with crumb-covered pork cutlet and the whole dish is covered in rich sauce.

[7][8] A similar dish exists in Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, and is called nasi goreng pattaya.