TOKYO: Food trucks, which are usually seen at business districts and event venues, have started to appear in residential areas in Japan amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Such trucks have become popular among people working from home and staying at home with children amid business, school and restaurant shutdowns.

A business cooperative that sends such trucks to Tokyo, Osaka and other cities has had nearly no sales since March due to event cancellations and office closures, according to director Koichi Takahashi. The cooperative has been shut since April 7.

The situation in residential areas is another story.

During lunchtime one day late last month, people were lined up with a distance of about one meter from each other, in front of seven food trucks serving curry with rice and other items near a condominium building in Tokyo's Chuo Ward.

According to Mellow Inc., which sent three of the seven trucks, each truck prepared around 110 meals on average for the day, with all three vendors selling out at around 2 p.m.

Expressing his astonishment, a 40-year-old man selling roast chickens on his truck said, "While the number of customers was limited, some of them were families who bought whole roast chickens."

"Being able to wonder what to eat is a refreshing change for me," said Kiyohito Takada, 34, a corporate employee currently working from home. "I wasn't able to feel this way recently," he said.

Noting that it is difficult to make all three meals a day, a 42-year-old homemaker who lives with her husband and two-year-old daughter, said, "I want to cut corners for lunch."

Demand for food trucks has also been growing in rural areas.

On a mid-April weekend, five people were waiting in front of two food trucks before their 11:30 a.m. opening at a residential area in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan, despite the rain.

"Although food trucks have nowhere to go due to the coronavirus, the customer response is good in residential areas," said Tomohiko Mori, the head of a company that operates the Kakamigahara food trucks.

"While we don't know how long the pandemic will last, we hope to find a way to keep operating," Mori said.

JIJI Press