Bento boxes

A bento box is a box divided into compartments with different kinds of food. This is basically a portable lunch. When these are sold at train stations they are termed ekiben. These go back to the year 1885 when the very first ones (consisting of two plain rice balls and a few pickles wrapped in bamboo leaves) was sold on the Ueno-Utsunomiya line. Today there are around 1600 different kinds available and at a wide variety of prices.

The most popular is the makunouchi which consists of fish, meat, pickles, eggs and vegetables along with rice and a sour plum. There are also other kinds such as a chestnut-rice, sweetfish sushi and meat-and-rice-casserole forms.

These are also served cold, although the Japanese have much less aversion to cold food than do people in the U.S.

The bento boxes will usually be fixed by mothers for their children going off to school and consist of pretty much the same kinds of things.