On a long-haul flight when it’s impossible to sleep, and after a while reading becomes uncomfortable, there is always the opportunity to catch up with the current zeitgeist. During my recent journey to Japan, I plugged into the film Barbie. You never know when I might need to refer to it at some point. I can’t say that I was sympathetic to all the themes, enough to say that it wasn’t the Disney film I thought it would be.

Arriving at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, everything felt very familiar. I caught the monorail to Hamamatsucho, the closest station to my hotel. This was a non-stop 20-minute ride, which cost the princely sum of £2.50.

The Shiba Park Hotel is in Minato City, in Tokyo’s Business District. It is known as The Library Hotel. I have a reputation for staying in hotels with libraries, including The Library Hotel in Manhattan, during a visit to New York City. I felt at home here, as this is where I stayed during my previous visit to Tokyo in 2020 as the Covid outbreak began and the UK was still operating a herd immunity. Everyone in Tokyo had masked up by then and there were hardly any visitors to Japan. This time was very different. People were back travelling and doing business around the globe.

I made a friend immediately at the hotel foyer. Her name is Connie and she hails from Florida. We spent a lovely morning shopping (pictured) and enjoying lunch.

This was a nice start to my trip, but it was the next day that I was really looking forward to. I was meeting Frances Ma, a very special person (pictured below), who had flown over from Hong Kong to take me out to dinner. We last met up 13 years ago, yet over the years, we have become firm friends through LittlePod.

Frances has her own company called Maza Fine Food, which is based in Hong Kong. She first became a LittlePodder after we met at the Restaurant Show at Earl’s Court in 2011. Frances has been representing LittlePod in Hong Kong ever since.

It was such a warm and instantly-recognisable reunion. We talked and talked and had such fun swapping stories. Frances is very professional and thoughtful and I couldn’t wait to find out where we were going for dinner. I wasn’t disappointed as Frances had discovered the perfect place for our reunion, Casa Setouchi, a beautiful architect-designed restaurant that serves a menu that can be described as Italy-meets-Japan. It’s not quite a fusion menu, more Italian-cooked and presented in Japanese style.

There are just three tables downstairs and a few more upstairs. From the outside it looks like a beautiful home. Like a home, you cannot just walk in, you must book a table. Arriving with Frances was such a joy. We were greeted at the door by Kentaro Yasue-san, the General Manager.

From the first moment, Frances and I felt transported and settled in for what turned out to be the most perfect evening. Ken – his new adopted name – was so attentive. We learnt that he shared our love of Florence. He had happy memories of his time spent there.

Frances and I relaxed over platefuls of the most delicious and well-balanced dishes, with a special welcoming touch at the end! We shared memories and laughed a lot. We both have similar values and have had similar experiences in our lives. As businesswomen, we have known the stresses and strains and the joy of building our own companies.

Frances has been the perfect person to represent LittlePod in Hong Kong. The loyalty she has shown to supporting our work with the vanilla farmers has been outstanding. She can justifiably be proud of being part of our success. Frances now intends to take LittlePod to China. It will be another exciting venture to follow.

I can’t wait until Frances next visits LittlePod HQ. When she came the first time, she couldn’t believe that a small company existed in a village of just 150 houses in deepest Devon. She said that that number would be hard to comprehend in China. That time, as she left, she said, ‘I will tell everyone that I have just been to storyland’. Well, there are lots more LittlePod stories to come Frances!

Having enjoyed a nourishing and fun evening, our Ken (we had, by now, claimed him as ours) led us to the door and we said our goodbyes, with promises that we would keep in touch and return one day to carry on our conversation about Florence.