Japanese Kids Packed Lunch Boxes

[Tubby Beaver 209]

How amazing are these lunches that the kids pull out on their school trips?? Tiny boxes filled with layer upon layer of rice, vegetables, fruit all layered away in secret compartments that remind me of those russian dolls!

Packed lunches when I was a kid consisted of soggy sandwiches, yoghurt, a packet of crisps and an apple (which you'd trade away!!)

No wonder western society is full of fat bloaters and Japan is thinner than the end of a 5 pound note!!

[HelperElfMissy 42]

I love packing obento for my kids, it is like a work of art.

Lots of effort and pre planning required though.

 

They enjoy it for the novelty, but if they get them too often they feel like the odd one out - so regrettably it is more of a novelty thing in our house.

 

They are awesome though arent they?

[indosnm 0]

sad thing is that mum has to cook for an hour before work!

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Originally Posted By: Indo

sad thing is that mum has to cook for an hour before work!

she likes it really!
Most of these mums don7t have jobs anyway, they are busy enough with the kids!

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver

Originally Posted By: Indo

sad thing is that mum has to cook for an hour before work!

she likes it really!
Most of these mums don7t have jobs anyway, they are busy enough with the kids!

Really?
The working (even part time) Mum is the norm here nowdays - I am sure it is also in Japan.

However a lot of the obento items are things that can be made the night before - or even HAVE TO be made in advance. The shaped eggs are a definite overnighter - they need to sit in those special star or piggy shaped plastic molds overnight in the fridge to hold their shape in the lunchbox the next day.

[iiyamadude 6]

Kawaiiiiiiii!

[Go Native 70]

Originally Posted By: Mamabear

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver

Originally Posted By: Indo

sad thing is that mum has to cook for an hour before work!

she likes it really!
Most of these mums don7t have jobs anyway, they are busy enough with the kids!

Really?
The working (even part time) Mum is the norm here nowdays - I am sure it is also in Japan.

Um not really MB. Many Japanese wives stop working when they get married. Those that don't almost certainly stop working after having kids and many will never return to work.
You have to remember that as far as womens rights and empowerment go Japan is about where Australia was in the 1960's.
Of course with such a large number of the eligible workforce leaving their jobs it does help to keep unemployment figures pretty low

[grungy-gonads 54]

Actual stats would be interesting. I would guess more Japanese newlyweds/new mothers are back working than were 10/20/30 years ago.

[Go Native 70]

Women in the workforce has been increasing since the bubble burst but the number in management are few and in boardrooms of major companies almost negligible. Much of the increase is also attributed to women being an easy source of cheap labor. Average pay for women in Japan is 44 per cent less than men which is the widest income gap between the sexes of any developed nation.

There are moves to encourage more women to stay in the workforce because of the whole aging population issue and the lack of workers.

Generally though conditions for women in the workplace here are little better than they were for women in the west during the 1960's as far as I can tell. I've certainly heard a number of rather horrendous stories of sexual harassment from Japanese women I've worked with when they worked at Japanese companies. And of course none of them did anything about it except just leave the company...

This is still a country very much dominated by the menfolk.

[RobBright 35]

And the way it should be too.

 

Why on earth do women want to drink until their last train and puke their guts up, associate with people they can't stand, work unbelievably long hours for no extra pay, spend hours away from their loved ones in chase of a bit of young blood which there is no chance of getting all for a bit of equality and freedom?î—ƒ

[RobBright 35]

Back on topic-some of the lunchboxes I see at the kindergarten I work at, should be displayed in the Louvre. They really are a work of love and dedication. Football themed onigiris, umbrella sausages, face-shaped potato croquettes and small veggies on sticks. Amazingly delicate yet woofed down in less time it takes for a kid to say itadekimasuî—….

[Jynxx 4]

You might all be surprised but my mum's (she's 77) 2 friends whom are Japanese, they have retired as executives from Mitsui &Co. In general, Japanese work force never really had an independent union and some of those were called (Dai-Ni Kumiai) second unions because the first was the company's. Not only women but men worked under demanding conditions. You certainly couldn't buy a house in the suburbs of Sydney for sweeping the factory floor, but would have had a small company 4 tatami-mat room

.Since living in the 70's in Japan as a kid, It actually was perceived as a minor disadvantage for kids when their mother was working. The term "Kagi-k-ko" Key-kids describes kids with keys because there was none to open the door for them. Certainly there were a lot of woman in the workforce, but there were not regarded as equal to men as that was how it was in the 60's and 70's all over the world. It was a different time then but some of the culture that is unique and problematic to some is still there in Japan. But certainly, in Japan there are no class separation as such in western nations - Every japanese (non-imports) worker is a potential management candidate. That's fair IMO

[thursday 1]

Over here, there is a war on for the PTA places. The mums seem to think having a PTA position on the resume will get their kid into the best schools. Heeeeeelllllpppppppppp

[thursday 1]

There are lawyers, doctors, company directors, university lecturers all up for nomination. How the hell will they fit the time in for the PTA work?

 

I'm voting for housewives who have stopped working to look after their kids.

[Jynxx 4]

Rob,

back on Topic. Obento is a Major deal for kids.

Dad used to tell me when he found boiled eggs in his lunch box he experienced profound happiness.

I really think, that people, without realizing living anartistic life, artists who really don't realize that themselves but pracise that through love, and you see in Japan.

 

Good stuff

[Jynxx 4]

Thurs,

Actually it's their Dad's that make them.

Not all, but some do.

 

 

I hate to point out but again some assumptions about Jap society here ..

[thursday 1]

Jynxx, is that your thrid or fourth joint?

[Jynxx 4]

I'm in Bavaria, I wish it was ....

The cop's call it poison.

[Jynxx 4]

I actually make my wife Obento.

[RobBright 35]

Ok jynxx is hammered then.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

This is a cool one:

Calvin and Hobbes

[RobBright 35]

That's more worrying than impressive.

 

What I want to know is why mothers do it?

[HelperElfMissy 42]

I would love to spend a little secret time putting something like that together as a surprise for my child while they were at school. It would make me smile all day knowing they would get a huge thrill at lunchtime.

 

But I suppose it wouldnt have the same impact if it was done every other day.

[bobby12 0]

I heard the teachers inspect the bentos, ostensibly to ensure that it is healthy but more to check the mothers are doing their duty. So the bento becomes a kind of mother-o-meter and the mums feel compelled to excel.

 

My collegue is a japanese but she went international school, lived outside japan for about 8 years and has a single mother of a half kid. She is a kind of 50% japanese in terms of personality and doesnt put up with all the BS. She says she gets criticised all the time for the quality of her bentos.

[pie-eater 207]

Get some pies in there!