The Rising Sun: Beautiful Bento Boxes

I read an article recently about how there has been an increase in people who take the time to make Bento boxes look beautiful based on the food’s color and shape. For those who don’t know, a Bento box is a Japanese lunch box. It has gotten so popular that a contest was created recently for people who like to make kyaraben bentos (a bento with a fictional character theme). The question that was put forthin the article was: What does the care devoted to the visual details in a packed lunch suggest about the culture? Why is such value placed on aesthetics in everyday life in Japan?

The answers were an interesting mix of opinions from native Japanese to Scottish foreigners. As with some debate topics, none of the answers were wrong but people might agree more with one than the other. Someone stated that because Japan is an island with few resources so they “make less into more” (John Maeda). This means that beautiful bento boxes are made small to conserve resources but beautiful to please the person eating the bento. Another answer was that mothers will spend more time to make a bento beautiful to make their child smile when they open their bento (Denis Dutton).

I believe the bento shows the Japanese’s value for spreading happiness. When you create something very splendid, you make something people will enjoy. In other words, people usually feel happy when looking at something that they’d call a lovely creation.

A bento box is a way to show one’s love for another person like Denis Dutton said. It’s a bit of a big deal if a girl makes a guy a bento. To show her love or care or devotion, she will spend more time to make a nice bento rather than making it sloppily.

If a person makes their own bento, I think that they’d do it as something to look forward to in their work day. Perhaps they’re having trouble or they’re having a stressful day. When they look at their beautifully crafted bento they will feel two things. First, pride for their perfect lunch and second a sense of peace. They’ll feel the kind of peace that a person might feel when listening to soothing music or relaxing in a hot tub. That is the meaning behind making a beautiful bento.

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