Japanese shoppers are to be given a taste of Shetland’s award-winning fish and chips.
Britain’s most northerly chipper, Frankie’s Fish and Chips in Brae, was crowned the best in the UK at a ceremony in London earlier this year.
Shift manager Carlyn Kearney was then selected to take part in the annual British Fair, run by the Hankyu department store, over three weeks in September and October.
She will fly more than 5,000 miles to Fukuoka in Kyushu, where she will fry fish and chips in a pop-up shop in Hankyu’s Hakata store.
Ms Kearney will then move north to Honshu and Hankyu’s store in the Umeda district of Osaka.
Her trip follows a recent visit to Frankie’s by two representatives of Hankyu, whose stores are widely seen as the equivalent of Harrods or Harvey Nichols in the UK.
Wataru Kuwahara and Keiji Hayashi flew to Shetland as part of a round of visits to a wide range of UK businesses that were invited to take part in the British Fair, which has been running for 40 years.
Ms Kearney said: “This is a hugely exciting opportunity for us to show off our wares and our skills in Japan.
“We enjoyed having Mr Wataru and Mr Keiji at Frankie’s – they were so enthusiastic and full of fun and really keen to have us out in Japan.”
She added: “Logistically, it’s going to be tough to get everything in order and out to Japan for the pop-up shop.
“But we relish a challenge and look forward to making this happen.”
Mr Keiji, who lives in London, said: “We were delighted to come to Frankie’s and really enjoyed our fish and chips.
“Fish and chips have become a major part of the British Fair in recent years, and we always like to have the best of British there.
“We look forward to welcoming Carlyn and Frankie’s to Japan and to Hankyu. Carlyn will be busy as Japanese people are enthusiastic about this kind of food and in past years have bought a lot of fish and chips.”
Ms Kearney will be travelling with Calum Richardson of The Bay in Stonehaven, which won the No.1 fish and chip shop title two years ago.
All the fish and potatoes for the chips will be transported to Japan from Scotland in a freezer container.
Frankie’s are having special boxes made for the trip, with some text in Japanese to tell customers about the shop and Shetland seafood in general.