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I wish this article didn't just talk about the "shame society" in Japan but also the culture of taking pride in your work and valuing craftsmanship. To me that'

I wish this article didn't just talk about the "shame society" in Japan but also the culture of taking pride in your work and valuing craftsmanship. To me that's what these bento boxes say a lot more about than the pressure to keep up appearance. So many aspects of Japanese culture are finely done even when the craftsman is anonymous or their work won't be personally recognized.

neonate 7y ago
"It is easy for a non-Japanese person to shrug off this societal or cultural pressure, but it is something that stayed with me all my life, even though I have lived abroad for half of it."
- malvosenior 7y ago
  Right, I'm not saying that doesn't exist. I'm just saying it's only half the story.
- mikekchar 7y ago
  A healthy home-made lunch with a variety of different items in it is practically a necessity for school children. I've seen teachers scold parents for not providing a good enough lunch. However, where this article gets it wrong, IMHO, is in asserting that character bentos are indicative of the amount of effort that mothers spend on making lunches. It absolutely is not (and I've seen thousands upon thousands of bento boxes to prove it -- to myself, anyway ;-) ). It takes about 30 minutes a day to make lunches, generally. This is a long time especially when you add in cooking breakfast as well. Many women get up at 5 am to make lunch for their kids/husband before going off to work themselves. Character bentos, as the article states, are far from the norm. When you are talking about people who think they need to make these, they are exactly the same kind of people who are stressing out about not being able to keep up with Martha Stewart's staff in the US. As far as I can tell, that pressure is entirely self imposed. The vast majority of people in society completely ignore it. However, when the author states that there is societal and cultural pressure to achieve a certain level, it's absolutely true. This is not just with respect to women, but also with men as well. It's a double edged sword, though. For example, with bentos, you have an entire country where in almost every household you have at least one person who knows how to make healthy food and who practices it every day. You have country of school children, all of whom eat at least one home cooked meal every single weekday. You have no opportunity to for big business to negotiate what's going to be included in the school lunch because for the most part there is no school lunch. It is objectively a good thin. There is a price, though. Is the price too high? I'm definitely on the fence at that. I used to make bentos and breakfast for my wife and I every single morning. We have no children, but to be honest, making 2 or 4 bentos takes virtually no extra time (and, in fact, 2 is sometimes difficult to manage the really small amounts of ingredients you have to use). Of the things that working women need to do for their families, this is probably the least onerous IMHO.
sterkekoffie 7y ago
The very first pull-quote is "Bento boxes are expressions of a mother’s love for her child".
- malvosenior 7y ago
  That doesn't say anything about the Japanese culture of craftsmanship.
- skellera 7y ago
  It’s clarified later in the article that she’s saying making lunch for your children is the expression, not specifically fancy bentos.
ryuukk_ 7y ago
Be a nice slave, asian! be happy!

neonate 7y ago

"It is easy for a non-Japanese person to shrug off this societal or cultural pressure, but it is something that stayed with me all my life, even though I have lived abroad for half of it."

malvosenior 7y ago
Right, I'm not saying that doesn't exist. I'm just saying it's only half the story.
mikekchar 7y ago
A healthy home-made lunch with a variety of different items in it is practically a necessity for school children. I've seen teachers scold parents for not providing a good enough lunch. However, where this article gets it wrong, IMHO, is in asserting that character bentos are indicative of the amount of effort that mothers spend on making lunches. It absolutely is not (and I've seen thousands upon thousands of bento boxes to prove it -- to myself, anyway ;-) ). It takes about 30 minutes a day to make lunches, generally. This is a long time especially when you add in cooking breakfast as well. Many women get up at 5 am to make lunch for their kids/husband before going off to work themselves. Character bentos, as the article states, are far from the norm. When you are talking about people who think they need to make these, they are exactly the same kind of people who are stressing out about not being able to keep up with Martha Stewart's staff in the US. As far as I can tell, that pressure is entirely self imposed. The vast majority of people in society completely ignore it. However, when the author states that there is societal and cultural pressure to achieve a certain level, it's absolutely true. This is not just with respect to women, but also with men as well. It's a double edged sword, though. For example, with bentos, you have an entire country where in almost every household you have at least one person who knows how to make healthy food and who practices it every day. You have country of school children, all of whom eat at least one home cooked meal every single weekday. You have no opportunity to for big business to negotiate what's going to be included in the school lunch because for the most part there is no school lunch. It is objectively a good thin. There is a price, though. Is the price too high? I'm definitely on the fence at that. I used to make bentos and breakfast for my wife and I every single morning. We have no children, but to be honest, making 2 or 4 bentos takes virtually no extra time (and, in fact, 2 is sometimes difficult to manage the really small amounts of ingredients you have to use). Of the things that working women need to do for their families, this is probably the least onerous IMHO.

sterkekoffie 7y ago

The very first pull-quote is "Bento boxes are expressions of a mother’s love for her child".

malvosenior 7y ago
That doesn't say anything about the Japanese culture of craftsmanship.
skellera 7y ago
It’s clarified later in the article that she’s saying making lunch for your children is the expression, not specifically fancy bentos.

ryuukk_ 7y ago

Be a nice slave, asian! be happy!