Yuko Yamashita pauses when asked to tell me her job title in the family business of three restaurants and a catering service that she runs with her husband, Yoshizumi. Her hands-on role involves everything from choosing and arranging the flowers to getting up at the crack of dawn to negotiate with fishmongers at Barcelona's wholesale fish market.
"We have plenty of staff in the restaurants, of course, but there are some details that I prefer to take care of," she says, smiling.
Perfectly groomed with long black hair, Yamashita looks much younger than her 67 years. She puts her good health down to playing golf in a local competition set up by Casa Nippon, the Japanese association that she helped to set up in Barcelona, Spain.