THE Japanese could find themselves with a yen for the stotty after one of the region's most famous baking names welcomed visitors from the Far East.

The representatives from a Tokyo bakery spent a week at Greggs base in Gosforth, Newcastle, studying the company's sandwich development.

Jiro Nagatomi, a new product planner, and Kohta Tsutagawa, who is involved with product development, visited a number of Greggs shops in the region to pick up a few tips.

MD at Greggs, Graham Randell, said: "They like our stotties very much, but in general they say our sandwiches are too big for the Japanese market."

Jiro and Kohta admitted they will be returning to Tokyo with a few Geordie ideas to put to their bosses, but it could still be a while before a cheese savoury stotty is seen on sale in the bakeries in the city centre of Tokyo.