At 8 a.m. one day in April, three workers at FujiNippon Refeicoes, a catering company serving Brazilian workers in Japan, were filling boxed lunches with freshly made Brazilian dishes on a large kitchen counter.
Dressed in white uniforms, they neatly arranged baked mashed potatoes and carrots rolled up in sliced meats in the packs.
"We used to fill up these lunch boxes four times a day using two counters," said Shigemi Fujiwara, 64, a second-generation Japanese-Brazilian.