Food banks are springing up in Japan as people become aware of the disconnect between food waste and the needs of the nation's hidden poor.
Food banks supply items donated by individuals or companies to needy families such as single mothers and cash-strapped pensioners. The items are those that might otherwise be thrown away.
Last spring, a married couple in their 70s in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, turned to the municipal government for help at a time when they were finding it hard to make ends meet. The wife's pension, which was their only income, did not cover the rent and medical bills for the bedridden husband, and they were depleting their savings.