Elderly residents in a small town in Mie Prefecture consider 22-year-old Mao Higashi a great help when she delivers food from her truck.
Rain or shine, Higashi starts loading food into her truck from a refrigerator in her office in the town of Kihoku at 7 a.m. every morning and then visits wholesalers to purchase "bento" boxed meals to sell on her rounds through the local villages, mainly to elderly patrons.
Higashi then goes to a nearby fishing port at around 8 a.m., where she sells products to people gathered for the fish auction, and later drives to hamlets in the nearby mountains as well as to day care facilities.