Bento Boxes Market Growing in Japan

Americans bring lunch sacks to work; Japanese lunch boxes or locally called "bento". Well, not everyone of course when you have varieties of eating joints around. But then, here in Japan, there is a silent boom in the growing, folks, with a recurring trend in favor of the classic "bento" in a modern, more rational format.

Japanese lunch is traditionally a combination of rice and side dishes tastefully placed in a 1.5-inch deep rectangular box with a jar of tea to go with it. The format has gone through stages of transfiguration and now arrived at what seems to be the "ultimate in bento culture".

Statistics show that in 2010 a certain model of bento thermos sold 200,000 a year and in 2013 the total rose by 16.5% to 3.3 million AND this year, 2015, about 3.4 million are expected to sell. Now, what accounts for such an astounding boom?

Osaka's bento thermos manufacturers, Zojirushi are not alone in benefiting from this suddenly rising demand for bento thermoses. Thermos KK of Tokyo explains the trend had all started among health-conscious women from around 2012 as they began using plenty of vegetable in their soup. Popular recipes began featuring wide-mouthed thermoses, thus sparking the boom for that type of lunch thermos. Leading lunch thermos manufactures were quick to respond to the changing market climate and began marketing new models with functions to prevent liquids from leaking out. 

The trend is taking some unique track along the way. Some bento boxes are even equipped with a power plug to "cook rice" with warming other ingredients; others connectable to the USB port of a laptop to keep ingredients warm!

What interests us interests foreigners, naturally, and Shibuya's Loft is overcrowded with many after bento boxes. Chinese tourists are notorious customers of wide-mouthed thermoses, confided Loft's sales staff.