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#Bento
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Depachika: the food halls under Japan's department stores
A depachika is the food floor in the basement of a Japanese department store. What it sells, how food came to be in the basement beside the station, and when the boom began. -
What is a konbini? Japan's convenience stores and what they do
A konbini is a Japanese convenience store: a small self-service shop open long hours, every day of the year. What it sells, what else you can do there, and how it began in the 1970s. -
What is onigiri? Japan's rice ball, also called omusubi
Onigiri is cooked rice pressed by hand into a triangle or ball, salted, filled and often wrapped in nori. Its shapes, its 2,000-year history, and the name omusubi. -
Picnic and bento: what the meal on the grass and the Japanese boxed meal have in common
A picnic and a bento are both meals prepared ahead and carried along. Where the word picnic comes from, what goes into the hamper, into the tiered boxes of hanami and into the bento for a train journey, and what sets them apart. -
Shūmai bento: Yokohama's station bento from Kiyoken, sold since 1954
The shūmai bento packs rice, five pork-and-scallop dumplings and side dishes into a box of shaved wood. How Kiyoken made it the ekiben of Yokohama. -
What is bento? The Japanese boxed meal, from rice balls to makunouchi
Bento is a meal carried to be eaten away from home. How it grew from rice balls wrapped in leaves into the makunouchi and shōkadō boxes of today.