So I'm in Japan's official gyoza town, in a gyoza bar, with groups of besuited dudes (and the occasional woman coworker) getting shitfaced and eating gyozas. Apparently the origin story is that returning soldiers and settlers brought the potsticker concept back from China after WW2, and they made it their own! They don't comment further on they were doing there, which is wild considering every 3rd TV program we saw in China was a historical drama about the evils of the Japanese occupation.