My daughter will (probably) start preschool come April. I put "probably" in parentheses because I applied late and haven't heard back from the Child Department at the City Office yet as to whether or not my daughter will be able to attend preschool. It is extremely annoying considering Japan has such a low birth rate (I've seen a TV program that showed a calculation where if situations don't improve, Japan will end up with only a few thousand people or so within a few centuries -- I actually don't remember the exact figure, but it was that dire). Our local preschool advertises the maximum number of students to be at 70 and they only have about 60, so space is definitely not a problem. I believe it's just a massive amount of red tape. It's also strange because it's not like preschools are free. I will be a paying customer. You would think the school would be begging us to attend their school!
So .. for other parents who have their places for their children assured, this is the season for them (the mothers) to start preparing all the school-related items such as clothing (with names written on tags on all articles of clothing), school supplies (crayons and such, again with names taped to each and every crayon and each and every item), school bags (which I heard that many schools require the mothers to make by hand because they have to be of a precise size and measurement), futons for sleeping (nursery schools have nap times whereas kindergartens do not), and shoes (for use inside the school grounds). Many schools will also have days when there aren't school lunches available and the parents (the mothers) will have to make lunches for their children to take to school.
This is where the mothers aim to excel and impress. Japanese mothers take great pains and, seemingly, joy in preparing ornate, cutesy lunchboxes (o-bento) for their little ones. It is an obsession and I have a feeling, a competition among the mothers to see who can make cuter lunchboxes. If you go to any bookstore here in Japan at around this time, you will find books after books about making school lunches.
I am not artistic or crafty. My husband is. Today, he actually made lunch for our daughter in the shape of a well-known and well-loved character in Japan for the under 5 age group -- Anpanman (bean paste bread man). I don't have a picture of my hubby's artwork, but it was rice with cut-up veggies stir-fried in ketchup, shaped in to a circle (Anpanman's head), 3 round slices of carrots for cheeks and nose, a small, thin slice of cheese for the mouth, and seaweed for eyes and eyebrows. Surrounding Anpanman's head is a leafy bed of lettuce. Wow ..
This is not the one hubby made, but this is how an Anpanman lunch looks.
My next order for hubby is lunch shaped into the face of a Disney's princess. I'll definitely take a picture of that and post it when my husband has the time and desire to employ his culinary and art skills.
Hello Kitty Lunchbox
O-bento recipes
No comments:
Post a Comment