Grannies in running shoes are delivering ramen for Uber in Japan

This picture taken on June 14, 2018 shows a man setting off by bicycle to deliver an order of food to a customer for meal delivery service UberEATS in Tokyo's Shibuya shopping district. Thousands of Airbnb reservations scrapped, Uber reduced to delivering food: life is hard in Japan for giants of the sharing economy, stuck between tough regulation and popular suspicion. / AFP PHOTO / Kazuhiro NOGI / TO GO WITH Japan-sharing-economy-Uber-Airbnb,FOCUS by Anne Beade

Uber Technologies Inc’s strategy for Japan, where ride-sharing is banned, is as unique as the country itself – think grandma in running shoes delivering ramen noodles. 

Chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi was in the country this week to stress the importance of the market, where the San Francisco-based company has built a growing food-delivery business but kept rides limited to black-car hires and taxi dispatches. The archipelago is also home to Uber’s biggest shareholder, SoftBank Group Corp, and where he’s planning to boost staff in the coming year.