Something new has popped up literally in the middle of Tokyo’s traditional lunchtime regime. Basically, in the one hour between noon and 1 pm, workers in the downtown area flood out of their offices in search of lunch knowing they face four daily alternatives: a long line for sit-down restaurant dining, a box lunch from home (called a bento), a bento purchased at the bento shop or convenience store around the corner (and another long line), or stand-up soba—the original fast food.
  But, in recent years, a new breed of independent guerrilla restaurateur has started a revolution to overthrow the staid lunchtime tradition—off-beat and tasty meals on wheels. We do not mean deliveries to the office, but curbside lunch wagons—here today, gone tomorrow—selling all manner of novel and compelling cuisine from Japan and around the world—if you can catch them. The food is freshly prepared on the spot. Menus range from Japanese regional delicacies and other treats hard to find in the city to Thai and Indian curries, Vietnamese noodles, Hawaiian barbecue chicken, Turkish donner kebab, and so forth. In this business, being unique brings sales.
  Other things separate these “restaurant operators” from their competitors. First, their prices reflect their location on the rent-free side of the sidewalk—parked in the street. Second, vendors are generally young and motivated, but not interested in climbing the corporate ladder. It is an irony that they depend mostly on the corporate world for their customers.
  Everyday around noon at prime locations in cities across Japan, look for wagons clustered together in an exotic “food carnival.” There, you will find customers, drawn in by the festive menus, odd vehicular diversity and lively chatter of the proprietors. They cluster around to celebrate tasty alternative dining at even tastier prices.