A Japanese Life&nbsp

When one lives in a foreign environment, thousands of miles away from the foods and other creature comforts that one grew up with, one faces many challenges. Among these is the daunting task of finding something to eat for lunch. Residing in my beloved Japan, most midday meal options available to me involve fish or seaweed or some combination thereof. Although I have quite the predilection for weeds of the sea, my tastebuds have yet to acculturate a taste for fish, let alone raw fish. It is by a stroke of fate, however, that the convenience store closest to both of my schools offers a tasty alternative: the nishoku bento.


A literal translation of the phrase nishoku bento into English would read "two-color lunchbox." This is an ample description that well describes the base of the of the lunchbox, which indeed consists of two colors: that of minced meat and that of egg. Manytimes though, as witnessed by the picture above, the phrase "two-color lunchbox" does not do justice to this must succulent culinary concoction. A paraphrased, but perhaps more fitting translation would be "leftover-shit-from-other-lunchboxes-thrown-on-top-of-a-two-color-lunchbox lunchbox." Although I am by no means fluent, I believe this translation more fully conveys the essence of the original Japanese.

Anyhow, the point is that I love this lunchbox and eat it almost everyday. I eat it so much, in fact, that it's become a standing joke among the teachers at my office. Even the women who work at the convenience store know how I like it and have stopped asking me if I want it hot and if it is ok to put it in the same bag as my drink.

This is truly, A Japanese Life.