Posted April 27, 2012 by Jonelle Patrick Cute to the nth

Anime Lunchboxing

BentoKiki — “Kiki’s Delivery Service” never dropped a lunchbox like this on my kindergarten picnic table!

P1050465 — Yikes! No Face stares hungrily up at the unsuspecting child who just opened his lunchbox…

There’s even a makkuro kurosuke seaweed-covered rice ball (staring up with little nori eyes off to the right), from “Totoro!”

Ordinary Japanese moms were undoubtedly up before dawn with their nail scissors and tweezers, crafting these astonishing Miyazaki tribute bento boxes! And check out what they’re incidentally sneaking into their kids’ stomachs: seaweed, green beans, pickled radish and fish eggs…

These were both made by my friend Mizuki’s fellow preschool mothers.

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Read a novel set in Tokyo

In the wake of a deadly earthquake, fans erupt in a frenzy of mourning when it’s discovered that their favorite pop star is among the dead. But when Detective Kenji Nakamura is sent to investigate a death at a local shrine, he finds evidence that suggests the impossible: How could the head priest have been murdered by…*read more*

Jonelle Patrick View All

Writing mystery books set in Tokyo is mostly what I do, but I also blog about the odd stuff I see every day in Japan. I'm a graduate of Stanford University and the Sendagaya Japanese Institute in Tokyo, and a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters In Crime. When I'm not in Tokyo, I live in San Francisco. I also host a travel site called The Tokyo Guide I Wish I'd Had, so if you're headed to Japan and want to check out the places I take my friends when they're in town, take a look!