The recession and a growing interest in cost-cutting ingenuity have resulted in an unprecedented amount of bento coverage in the international press. From The Guardian to The Washington Post, major newspapers are spilling plenty of ink over this humble yet refined Japanese tradition.
It's easy to see why. Bento provide an extremely photogenic platform to explain larger cultural and economic realities for the beleaguered working classes, who in an effort to save money choose the DIY approach to lunch. However, in the New York Times' opinion blog, "Room for Debate," several well-known creative minds move beyond proletariat concerns to wax philosophic on the nature of bento and how they represent Japanese society.
John Maeda links traditional boxed lunches to the Japanese "less is more" principal, while Muji creative director Kenya Hara argues that bento preparation is an act of focusing on the beautiful and simple in an ugly, chaotic world. Denis Dutton highlights the love and care placed in a bento's creation, while Nick Currie (aka Momus) sees bento as a triumph of aesthetics over efficiency.