A 72-year-old woman decided to fry up some croquettes 14 years ago to cheer up her hometown, which was in the doldrums at the time.
So Kyoko Yoshida was overjoyed when her croquettes — named Ryugasaki croquettes after her city in Ibaraki Prefecture — won an online local food popularity contest this year organized with more than 20,000 votes, making the name Ryugasaki known across the nation.
As a native of the city, which has a population of around 80,000, and head of a women's division in the local commerce and industry association, Yoshida felt sad whenever she saw a shopping street with too few customers.