Sitting at the wheel of a 4-ton truck, Charles McJilton suddenly says, "Oh wait, wait!" before pulling off his T-shirt and swapping it for a white one with a bright orange Second Harvest Japan logo on the chest and "Food for all people" spanning his back. "It's all about branding," he jokes, as he slips the truck into gear and pulls out into the street.
As the executive director of Second Harvest, Japan's first food-banking organization, which incorporated in 2002, McJilton is described on the group's Web site as a "driver, fundraiser, public speaker, promoter of food banking in Japan and outreach coordinator." Today, he has to deliver industrial kitchen equipment across Tokyo, from Hatanodai to the Second Harvest warehouse in Asakusabashi.
"An organic bento box company is shutting down its distribution side," he says, gesturing at the building behind the truck. "They offered the kitchen equipment to Second Harvest because they remembered seeing us featured on a TV show."