At 4 a.m., 69-year-old Tomohiko Otake puts just-delivered "bento" boxed lunches and "onigiri" rice balls on the shelves at the Omiya Takagi convenience store run by Lawson Inc. in the city of Saitama.
Otake, a part-timer, works from 10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. three nights a week for 875 yen an hour. He applied for the job late last year after seeing a "help wanted" ad for someone 50 or older, thinking his experience in the restaurant business could prove useful.
He and his wife have enough to live on, but he decided to take the job because "it takes 50,000 yen for travel and souvenir expenses" when the couple visit their grandchildren in Fukushima Prefecture.