O-bento! (お弁当)

I realize seeing a foreign language in the title of a post can be off-putting, but bear with me and I promise translations will be provided, and transliteration employed for the duration of this installment. Japanese stuff, in general, is awesome. I could devote many an entry to the mystique of Japanese culture, both popular and traditional, and who knows, I might, but not tonight. I have to go to sleep in fifteen minutes and this is just as precious as the next gem our friends to the east (but actually west) have to offer.

Obento literally translates to boxed lunch. Throw a little Japanese flair into the mix and this what you get:

As cute as can be, these bad boys are commonly known just as Bento (no plural in Japanese) and have been a central part of Japanese lifestyles the country over for centuries. I can't confirm that the Edo period had schools of fish made out of rice, but then again, if I were emperor, I'd definitely have my servants whip up some Star Wars themed lunches.

If you've read the only other post on this blog (besides the intro, which doesn't offer much beyond getting you to read the second post), then you know I've been packing my lunch for work. And since yogurt and melba toast gets boring, I think I'll spice things up a bit this coming week with a Bento creation of my own. Flikr has a Bento challenge group that had weekly prompts for homemade Bento, which has since died out, but is where I shamelessly pulled the photos for this post from (credit given below).

Also, Michael Jackson died. May he continue to thrill us through generations to come.

*Fish Bento by snappiness, Star Wars Bento by vingt_deux.