Melonpan (メロンパン, meronpan?), also known as Melon pan or Melon buns, are inexpensive, sweet bakery products popular in Japan, Taiwan, and China made from brioche covered in a thin layer of crispy cookie dough. Their appearance resembles a melon, such as a rock melon (cantaloupe). They are not necessarily melon flavored. Variations exist, including some with a few chocolate chips between the cookie layer and the brioche layer, and non-melon versions flavored with caramel, maple syrup, chocolate, or other flavors, sometimes with syrup, whipped or flavored cream, or custard as a filling. In the case of such variations, the name may drop the word "melon" ("maple pan") or may keep it despite the lack of melon flavor ("chocolate melon pan").The name has a bilingual etymology, since melon is a loan word from English, while pan is from the Portuguese word for bread, spelled as "Pão" in the original language, but usually spelled as "pan" when romanized on food packaging in Japan.In parts of the Kinki, Chuugoku, and Shikoku regions a variation with a radiating line pattern is called "sunrise," and many residents of these regions call even the cross-hatched melon pan "sunrise." Melonpan and pineapple bun from Hong Kong are very similar.