BENTO Spreading Across the World

Mr. Bertrand, you run a specialty bento box shop in Kyoto. What was the inspiration behind it?

I was born in France and came to study at Kyoto University in 2003. Initially, I only planned to stay for that one year, but I fell in love with Kyoto and ended up settling down here for good (laughs).

I realized that if I wanted to keep living in Kyoto, I had to create my own job. From 2005, I started writing a daily blog in French about life in Kyoto and things about Japan. Thanks to that, my readership grew to about 1,000 people a day.

That is impressive.

Using that as a starting point, I wondered if I could start a business; I wanted to sell high-quality Japanese goods. I knew about bento boxes, but I hadn't thought about selling them at all. However, during a conversation with my mother, she happened to mention seeing an article about "BENTO" in a French magazine. For some reason, I had an immediate intuition: "Ah, bento boxes will definitely sell in France." It was a strange idea, even to me.

At the time, there were people writing bento blogs in the US and France, but no one was selling the boxes. So, I was sure there was a business opportunity. The timing was excellent. I started in November 2008, right after the Lehman shock. In both the US and Europe, many people were stopping eating out. In Japan, too, bento boxes sell well during economic downturns.

About two weeks after the idea came to me, I launched the website. From April 2012, I opened a physical store in Kyoto. Wholesale started in 2011, and to date, we have shipped bento boxes to 95 countries.

How many staff members do you have?

We have 13 people now. While our public face is a "bento box specialty shop," there are two important aspects to our work. One is marketing. To sell Japanese bento boxes overseas, I believe we must show the value of the product to the customers. It's not just about selling a box; it's about selling it because it's a high-quality item. Just saying "because it's Made in Japan" isn't enough; we try to explain the artisans and companies that made the box, as well as the stories surrounding it.

The other aspect is logistics. Ultimately, we are shipping and selling a physical object called a "bento box."

In your home country of France, was there a custom of eating bento?

In France, there is no bento culture or children's bento boxes at all. Schools either have school lunches, or children go home to eat lunch. Traditionally, lunch breaks in France are quite long, lasting over an hour. Some people take two hours. So, even adults go to restaurants or drink wine at lunch. They are eating almost a full course for lunch.

For French people, lunchtime is a very important period. That is exactly why I think the Japanese bento culture fits. It's not just about the taste; the appearance is also important. They want to eat something better than just a simple sandwich. For French people who want to look forward to their lunch break, bento is a good match.

Don't foreigners find Japanese bento boxes too small?

As expected, bento boxes that are slightly larger than those in Japan sell well. This is because many people bring salads instead of rice, and salads take up quite a bit of space. In Japan, the average 650ml size sells well, but in France, it's around 900ml.

That is quite large.

However, while there were many complaints initially that the "boxes are too small," there aren't many lately. French people have come to understand that even if the box is small, packing it tightly is what makes it a bento (laughs).

I have been collecting hanami (flower-viewing) bento boxes, specifically those with period maki-e (lacquerware), and have gathered about 360 of them. In recent years, through a stroke of luck, I handed over many of the collections to Mr. Masutsugu Hamada (Keio University alumni), the owner of the famous Ise shop "Akafuku," and a portion is displayed in a corner of the Akafuku-related facility "Noasobidana."

My main business is in optics, making industrial lenses. They are specialized items, like lenses for infrared cameras used on highways.

The reason an optics professional collects hanami bento boxes is that many of them are hand-painted maki-e made with lacquer. Maki-e shares a commonality with optics: it is a culture of polishing techniques. Many Japanese people wear glasses, and making eyeglass lenses requires polishing technology. Most of the camera lenses Japan is proud of are also made in Japan.

That's true.

The Three Sacred Treasures passed down from ancient times—the magatama (jewel), the mirror, and the sword—are all born from "polishing." The Japanese are a people who are extremely particular about polishing. Because of this, we can produce various high-quality industrial products such as silicon wafers, bearings, and lenses.

Since I was also involved in polishing, I wondered how people in the past created such a glossy, jet-black world. Eventually, I felt like collecting them myself.

Coming from an old family lineage, the storehouse was full of art and crafts like maki-e and swords. Every season, we would always air out and rotate the furnishings. While helping to bring them out of the storehouse, I began to think, "How wonderful Japanese crafts are." Once I started my business, I began collecting them, thinking, "I want something like this for myself."

I don't particularly specialize in food culture or bento; it's more of a hobby, or rather, I was originally interested in the act of moving/traveling.

Travel, then.

Yes. For example, when on a business trip, I was interested in the management of what to bring as luggage and what to procure locally, and the act of packing one's personal belongings to move.

I was interested in how Japanese people are good at packing various things into small spaces and carrying them around—not just limited to bento—and that's what I wrote about in "Bento and the Japanese."

Mr. Maeda, you make your own hanami bento boxes, and I think a bento is something that creates a single universe. Bonsai is the same. I believe that since ancient times, Japanese people have created things with immense depth within a small space.

Exactly. I also collect antiques, and items like inro (medicine cases) and sword guards are all microcosms. A bento box is also a microcosm that can stir various imaginations.

I completely agree.

That's why—though I don't like it much—you often see bento being sold at stations with samples lined up showing "this is what's inside." What I like is a bento where you don't know what's inside. With the bento your mother made, you didn't know the contents until you opened it. There's that surprise and excitement the moment you open it at school, thinking, "Oh, Mom made this for me!" If you're shown "today's bento is like this" from the start, it's a bit boring.

It might be interesting if there were a bento shop where you couldn't see the contents. Only the price would be visible (laughs).

It's the same in the US and Belgium, but over there, people carry sandwiches, juice, and fruit as they are, without putting them in a box. So, a lunchbox is just a tool for transport. In Japan, you have to make something that fits this container; you think of the menu for the sake of the container.

I see, that's different from just putting in a pre-shaped sandwich for transport.

Yes. In the end, the container might be more important (laughs). For me, if it's a round bento box, I want to put pasta in it, and if it's a square box, I'll make it a rice bowl.

When French people eat outside, they put large pieces of bread wrapped in paper inside a backpack. What do they do for side dishes?

For children's field trips, they put sandwiches and salad in Tupperware. They also carry bananas and water bottles separately. So they bring about three containers.

So they contain things that can be eaten as they are, and nothing that has been processed and finely chopped.

That's right. Japanese bento boxes are small, so they are easy to carry. They have dividers, and you can separate them into one, two, or three tiers, so you can fit a full course even in a small box. I think this is a major characteristic.

It must be a surprise to have three tiers with different things in each. And you don't know until you open it.

The "BENTO BOX" made by a British company called "black+blum" has a transparent lid so you can see the contents. It sells well in Japan too, but some customers say it doesn't feel like a bento if you can see the contents (laughs).

Also, recently in Paris, there are more shops where you can eat bento. Instead of the contents being inside from the start, it's a style where you choose your own side dishes to put in a Shokado bento box and eat inside the shop.

I see. You pick what you like.

Yes. Also, you can now eat bento at luxury hotels through room service. So, we often get orders for bento boxes from hotels.

Bento has really become something. To think its status has risen that much (laughs). It's become a bit of a high-end cuisine.

Yes, they contain things like tempura and sashimi. Also, at high-end restaurants, you can order bento containing Osechi (New Year's) cuisine.

It might be interesting to ask Michelin to select two-star or three-star bento (laughs).

I collect hanami bento boxes, but I believe that tools are only tools if they are used, not just collected.

For the 50th anniversary of our graduation from Keio, my classmates gathered at Shinjuku Gyoen and shared an Edo-period hanami bento. It's a large box called a katsugibako with metal fittings that a pole goes through; in the old days, servants would connect several of these and carry them on their shoulders. We actually used that kind of hanami bento with a carrying box as a bento box.

Meaning it becomes interior decor.

Exactly. Japanese bento boxes combine practicality and artistry.

I found the practical side very interesting—the aspect of it being a durable, easy-to-use tool that office workers and children carry every day.

Nowadays, everyone heats up convenience store bento to eat. But in the past, you couldn't heat up a bento so easily, so even if it was warm when freshly made in the morning, it would be cold by the time you ate it. What I found most interesting is the effort to make something that is delicious even when cold.

That's certainly true.

Fundamentally, a bento is a cold thing, yet it is packed beautifully in a box. It's that balance. In other words, it doesn't feel lonely even if it's cold. Both the appearance and the sense of who made it can be glimpsed from within this small box. That's why it can be eaten deliciously even when cold, don't you think?

Feeling warmth even if it's cold.

Yes, I thought that was very well done.

In Europe, bento is usually a cold thing too, isn't it?

In the past, there was something in France called a Gamelle. It didn't have a very good image; you'd put leftovers in a round stainless steel container, simmer it over a fire, and eat it with a spoon. It's the kind of thing soldiers ate during the Napoleonic era. The word "gamelle" is also used for a dog's bowl.

Is that so?

As expected, bento values both appearance and taste. Recently, bento boxes that can be heated are very popular. The bento boxes that sell well now are microwave-safe ones.

To begin with, French people in the past didn't eat straight out of the box. They would take it to work in Tupperware, take it out at lunchtime, put it on a plate, and heat it up.

So they don't eat it as is.

Exactly. Eating out of a box was unthinkable. Using a knife and fork would damage the box. With bento, the food is cut into bite-sized pieces from the start.

The ethnologist Kunio Yanagita once said, "An event that just happened may seem to have its cause in the immediate past, but that's not the case; the cause lies 1 year, 10 years, 50 years, 100 years, or even 500, 1,000, or 2,000 years ago."

If we look at where bento originated, it starts from when rice was first introduced to Japan. According to a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture, there are artifacts called plant opals from the late Jomon period that show traces of rice. Rice cultivation flourished in the Yayoi period. Modern Japanese rice is certainly delicious even when cold. This is thanks to Japonica rice (chopstick culture). If it were Indica rice (hand-eating culture), I don't think Japan's bento culture would have blossomed. Chopstick culture makes one's hands more dexterous.

That might be true.

Japonica rice is sticky. That component is why bento rice stays delicious even when cold.

I think there are two factors in the modern era that led to the development of bento. One is the spread of automatic rice cookers and electric pots. When I was little, my mother cooked rice over gas. It wasn't like you could set it the night before and have rice cooked the next morning (laughs).

The other is the microwave. You can't use metal containers because they cause electrical discharge. Some Tupperware can be used. I think the spread of these two inventions was significant.

The impact of the microwave is huge, isn't it? The reason bento spread in France is also because they can be used in the microwave.

That's right.

A lacquerware bento box would be ruined instantly if you put it in a microwave (laughs).

But occasionally, customers ask if they can use Magewappa (bentwood) in the microwave. While not authentic Magewappa, there are wooden items that are microwave-safe.

In France, is it common to put rice in bento?

Yes. Of course, we eat rice. However, it's not Japonica, but the slightly long-grain rice from Italy, Southern France, or America. In France, rice and pasta are considered the same thing. In Japan, you're often asked "bread or rice?", but that's unthinkable over there (laughs). Water, a fork, a knife, and bread are a set; bread is absolutely necessary.

In France, rice is boiled. Just like pasta, you put in plenty of water and salt and boil it thoroughly.

So you boil it instead of steaming it.

That's right. Just like pasta, we eat it with a bit of butter and a sprinkle of salt. It's usually served with fish dishes.

Recently, rice cookers are being sold in Europe, and some people have started steaming rice. But there aren't wonderful rice cookers like the ones in Japan.

Besides bento boxes, products for onigiri (rice balls) are also popular with foreigners. Like cases to put onigiri in.

I went to France six months ago, and when I went to the supermarket, they were selling "Koshihikari" and "Sasanishiki."

People who like Japanese culture make onigiri. That's because they are easy to make. They are happy because they can live like Japanese people. I used to watch Japanese anime as a child, and they were eating onigiri in "Dragon Ball." I had no idea what it was at the time; I thought it was meringue covered in chocolate (laughs).

Was it after you came to Japan that you ate onigiri and rice?

Yes. At first, I thought Japanese rice didn't have much flavor. That's because in France, we eat rice with sauces from fish or meat. Also—this might just be my family—but I put lemon on my rice.

What?!

I love it (laughs). Salt and lemon are my favorites. I think it actually goes well with Japanese rice, but I've stopped doing it lately (laughs). I guess you have to learn about taste. I've eaten various Japanese foods over the last 10 years, and the number of things I find "incredibly delicious!" has increased.

For some reason, conversations about bento always get lively. Like how your mother made one for you to take to school, or how you felt embarrassed comparing yours with friends (laughs). Everyone has various memories, don't they?

They certainly do.

The bento box itself is important, but I think it serves as a catalyst for all sorts of communication.

After I published this book, a colleague suddenly started talking to me (laughs). He's an older male professor, but he had very strong memories, and listening to him, it was essentially a story about his relationship with his mother. It was a story about bento, but it seems he remembered his relationship with the mother who made it for him. That's what bento is.

I started taking bento around junior high school, which was when Japan began its post-war economic growth. But there was a gap between the rich and the poor. It was a public school, and there were many kids who would hide their bento with the lid while eating.

Those bento still leave a strong impression on me. That's exactly why I have a strong desire for bento boxes to be luxurious and for bento to be eaten joyfully. Bento is something that reminds you of the era you lived through.

True, bento are completely different depending on the era.

In our generation, it was an era where parents just wanted to make sure their children ate plenty. Because we were raised with the abundance of the thought "at least give them food," I think our generation has a relatively good image of bento.

In our time, the only ready-made bento sold were Ekiben (station bento). There were no convenience stores.

It was definitely convenience stores that spread the practice of buying bento.

France doesn't have convenience stores. There are small supermarkets, though.

Since March this year, a JR East PR train has been selling Ekiben in Paris. The contents were all Japanese food, and they were selling them at Gare de Lyon in Paris. It was a huge hit.

Japanese Ekiben sell local specialties from that region. Is it the same in France?

I think it would be great if it were. The food on the French TGV isn't good (laughs). If it's Paris, I think bento made with Parisian ingredients that are delicious even when cold would be popular.

Hanami (cherry blossom viewing) bento are meant to be eaten together by several people. It's different from something you eat alone, like a convenience store bento.

That's right. The point where Hanami bento are decisively different from others is that those for large groups always come with a sake container. There are plates for everyone, but only one sake cup. This is always the case. The reason is that drinking while passing a single cup around signifies solidarity: "We are comrades. We are in the same boat, bound by a strong bond." For that purpose, the cup is passed around and everyone drinks from one cup.

I see.

In my collection, there are none with two sake cups. No matter how many people eat, there is only one sake cup. Hanami bento contain a meaning beyond just "eating."

Are there differences in the shapes of bento boxes depending on the region of Japan?

The way the lacquer is applied might differ by location, but there aren't many differences in shape. However, there are differences in materials. Also, depending on social rank, for example, noble people would use ones made of silver or with incredible maki-e (lacquer decoration). Others would use simple bamboo bento boxes made by cutting Moso bamboo in half. These were simple bento boxes that loggers going into the mountains would attach to their waists.

There is a word "hanpamon" (half-baked person/outcast). It is said to have come from the term "hanmeshimon" (half-rice person), referring to how poor workers were only allowed to eat from half a bamboo.

Is that so?

In your book, Mr. Kato, you wrote, "Leave just one bite of bento. Then, if an evil spirit appears, eating that one bite will drive it away," and that is also true.

There is another reason for leaving one bite. If you get lost or stranded, you can survive by having saved that last bite. If you finish your hunting or logging in the mountains and return safely, you offer that bite to the gods and give thanks, saying, "I have returned safely." An old Matagi (traditional hunter) told me that this kind of spirituality also exists in Japanese bento boxes (laughs).

I heard there is a bento box that exists only in Tokushima Prefecture.

Ah, the Yusan-bako. A girl receives one when she turns seven. They still exist today. It is strictly decided that these must have three tiers.

It seems they have become rare lately because there are no craftsmen who can make them anymore.

Yes, so it seems the form has become one where daughters inherit what their mothers used for generations. But recently they've been getting a second look, and it seems some places have started holding Yusan-bako parties.

In a Yusan-bako, sweets are placed in one of the tiers. Girls enjoy them while chatting away in the fields. After all, bento is something fun; it's "Hare" (extraordinary/festive) rather than "Ke" (ordinary/everyday). Bento boxes are only used for "Hare" occasions.

Mr. Bertrand, do you also create designs for bento boxes yourself?

I do occasionally. I have about 10 original designs now, and I often make proposals to plastic manufacturers.

The manufacturer is in Yamanaka-machi, Ishikawa Prefecture. They used to make lacquerware bowls, but they stopped lacquerware around the 80s and started making bento boxes. In Yamanaka Onsen, Kaga, there are mold-making companies and plastic companies, so everything can be made there.

Since craftsmen make them one by one, even though they are plastic bento boxes, a lot of effort goes into them. Our best-seller is the bento box made in Kaga. It's plastic, but the quality is high.

Is plastic still the best-seller?

Yes, it's the same as in Japan. They are easy to handle and easy to wash.

And they don't break if you drop them.

We also sell wooden bento boxes, and Aizu craft bento boxes sell well. Then there's Magewappa.

Magewappa is made from Akita cedar, so the number that can be made is decided every year. They take trees that are about 100 years old and let them sit for a year before making them, so it's very labor-intensive. But overseas collectors will say, "I want a Magewappa made by this specific craftsman."

Magewappa is getting a lot of attention from foreigners now. For example, if you put ice in a metal wine cooler to chill wine, water droplets will form on the outside. With Magewappa, they don't.

When you put rice inside, it absorbs the steam, so it tastes good. In the old days, people used to transfer cooked rice from the pot to an ohitsu (wooden rice container). It's the same as that.

That's true.

When I went back to France and went to a three-star restaurant, they had various types of bread, and it was served in an ohitsu. It's functional, of course, but incorporating a bit of Japanese style makes it look fashionable.

It is stylish, for sure.

For people from overseas, the appeal is that "this is a one-of-a-kind item made by a craftsman." This might not resonate as much with Japanese people.

That is exactly why it is also an opportunity for the craftsmen who make bento boxes.

Nowadays, the number of lacquer-tapping craftsmen who collect lacquer is decreasing. Also, fewer people are making the lacquer-tapping knives used for that purpose. Before the war, Japan had over 10,000 tons of lacquer, but now I believe domestic production is down to just a few tons. When you write "japan" in lowercase, it refers to lacquerware. We must cherish this "japan."

There are also few craftsmen left for wappa (bentwood) boxes now, aren't there? In the past, wappa was considered a cheap item compared to lacquerware. Now, a wappa bento box can cost tens of thousands of yen. Bertrand: The cheapest ones start from 8,000 yen and go up to about 30,000 yen. Even at our shop, customers have to wait about three months to half a year after ordering. We get orders from Japanese customers as well.

That scent of wood is wonderful. The seams of the wappa are bound with the bark of mountain cherry trees, but that bark can only be harvested during the summer. You thread the cherry bark string through and pull it tight. Including that, it forms a single pictorial pattern and landscape. In my opinion, this is the very essence of Japanese sensibility and aesthetics.

There are many good things about bento, but along with being inexpensive, it is of course good for your health. When you eat out, there tends to be a lot of salt, and you worry about additives. In 그 sense, I think bento is very good for the body.

Of course it's healthy, and I also think it's very good for society. Buying ingredients from scratch and making your own bento is very eco-friendly. It's also good for agriculture. If everything becomes convenience store bento, it's not very eco-friendly. It produces plastic waste, too.

Nowadays, "food education" is often talked about in schools. "Food is culture," isn't it? Children are learning not just about cooking, but also about how the ingredients—the vegetables and the rice—are produced.

Yes, in France there is an event called "la Semaine du Goût" (Week of Taste). It has started being held in Japan as well; for one week, school lunches across the country feature special menus. These menus are designed by famous chefs and use vegetables from nearby farmers. In classes, children are taught how these ingredients are made and the flavors of ingredients that don't usually appear in school lunches.

That is wonderful.

On those occasions, we also hold bento contests. I think bento fits very well with that kind of culture.

It is a great pleasure to see that you are not just introducing bento culture, but Japanese food culture in general.

Of course I sell bento boxes, but occasionally in interviews I'm asked, "Do you love bento boxes?" Not particularly (laughs). It's the food I love. And I want Japanese people to use bento boxes more and to value the act of cooking.