Answer to March 10th's "?"

A picture of the black plastic chopstick cover was posted on the 10th. I bought it recently for Big Sister. I had never seen one before. She was served lunch in elementary school and in junior high school, so I didn't really look at lunch box items for a while. Now in high school, she has to take her lunch. I was wrapping her chopsticks or fork in saran wrap. This plastic cover is handy. Maybe there's a cover for the ends of forks and spoons. There are cases for forks and chopsticks but they're bulky.

Obentou for a School Outing

Today Little Brother went on a school outing. He needed to take an obentou or boxed lunch. This morning, I made him onigiri or rice balls for his lunch box. I also put small weiners, smoked cheese, slices of mikan and a tomato in the obentou box. Two of the onigiri had yukari or flakes of dried shiso in them. One was just plain rice. I forgot to put in nori or slices of seaweed for him to wrap the onigiri. I'll take pictures of obentou that are more typical.

We got this lunch box at 31 (Baskin Robbins) as a gift. It stacks together. Click on the label below to see more pictures.

(When writing the word obentou in romaji, a "u" is used. It makes the "o" long.)


Kids Web Japan--lunch boxes

Setsuko Watanabe's site

Bento Box

School Days: Lunch Boxes

Here are examples of Japanese lunchboxes. Big Sister used the pink one in kindergarten. I used to put a cherry tomato or mini tomato in the little pink plastic star so it wouldn't roll around. Little Brother uses the yellow and green lunch box for elementary school outings and Sports Days. We got it as a gift from Baskins & Robbins. (The ice cream shop is called "31" here). The little green container that has Pluto on it is for onigiri or rice balls. Little Brother prefers to have several onigiri along with other things. Sometimes I need to put an extra onigiri in this container. He has school lunch service so he doesn't need this lunch box every day.

The other picture shows Little Brother's lunch box in its carrying bag. The black box is the lunch box Big Sister used in junior high. The long thin black container is for chopsticks or ohashi . Someday I'll show you full lunch boxes. Hopefully, I'll be a better photographer by then!

Kids Web Japan--lunch boxes

Setsuko Watanabe's site

Bento Box

Boxed Lunch

Here is a store that sells boxed lunches. You choose from many different kinds of dishes to fill up a disposable plastic box. Convenience stores and grocery stores sell lunches that are pre-packed. These boxed lunches are called obentou. Big Sister and Little Brother needed an obentou when they were in nursery school. They had their own heavy duty plastic lunchbox that I prepared each morning. Their elementary school has a school lunch service. Big Sister had to take an obentou the first two years of junior high, but this year her school started a school lunch service. She will need to take an obentou to high school.

Note: The word obentou is spelled with a "u" in Japanese romaji. The "u" makes the "o" long. So, if you were learning or writing romaji in Japan you would spell it with a "u" at the end.


Setsuko Watanabe's site

Bento Box