Mimi Webber has lived permanently in the UK since 1995 but says she has never been homesick.
She admits it was difficult, in the early years, to buy ingredients to make Japanese dishes.
However, she says now you can get most things from Asian supermarkets, although at home she will cook everything from Japanese to Spanish meals.
The Bento boxes she sells at Mimi’s Sandwich and Coffee Bar in Spalding are a single-portion meal, traditionally holding rice, fish or meat, with pickled or cooked vegetables. These sell for between £3 and £4, depending on ingredients.
Bento boxes are typically sold in many places throughout Japan, such as bento shops, railway stations and other stores.
Occasionally, Mimi makes sushi for her Bento boxes – vinegared rice mixed with raw fish or seafood – but this takes a lot of preparation time so it’s not something you will find very often at Mimi’s.