Castella, a sponge cake popular in Japan that legend has it was introduced to the country in Nagasaki by Portuguese traders in the 16th century, has been undergoing a revival in the land of its creation.
The moist, sweet cake was "brought back home" for the first time in more than 400 years in the mid-1990s by Paulo Duarte, 39, a Portuguese workman who received training in Nagasaki, and his Japanese wife, Tomoko, 45.
Their confectionery shop, Castella do Paulo, which the couple opened in 1996, is located on a corner of the government office area along the Tejo River, which flows into the Atlantic. The factory that produces the cake is on the opposite bank of the river.