Today, the students had a lecture on Japanese Pop Culture by Professor Shigematsu. Professor Shigematsu showed a few clips from popular Japanese anime shows, passed around a couple of manga books, and later explained to the students the strategies that the creators of these shows used to draw in the audience’s attention.
Then, Akiyama-sensei gave students a lecture on the history of the bento box. She went into detail about bento box developments, including those that are now able to keep food hot for hours. Students also learned about different kinds of bentos, for example, those that are made in the home are known as tezuki-bento and those sold in stations are called eki-ben.
Following the lecture, the students eagerly put on their aprons, hair caps, and gloves as they entered the kitchen to make their own kyara-ben (character bento). With the help of Showa students, we wrapped rice in egg to make Pikachu’s yellow face, used seaweed for the eyes, nose, and dark part of the ears, ham for the cheeks and mouth, and cheese for the ears and white part of the eyes. The “background” of the bento was filled with octopus-shaped sausages, vegetables, and a rabbit-shaped apple. The students took many photos of their artistic creations and shared them on their social media accounts for their friends and family members to see back home. Although we were all hungry by the time we finished making the bento, some of us felt like our cute Pikachus looked too good to eat especially after putting so much effort into making it. Overall, it was fun to make and enjoy food together!
