COFFEEHOUSES

(kissaten). Establishments that serve coffee, tea, and other beverages and snacks. Japan’s first modern coffeehouse, the Kahii Sakan, opened its doors in 1888 in the Ueno district of Tokyo. In addition to serving coffee, it provided magazines and board games for customer use. Soon after, similar establishments began springing up around the Ginza area. After World War II “speciality” coffeehouses, establishments that play a particular type of music (such as jazz or classical) or are designed with some special theme in mind, became popular. Today coffeehouses can be found all over Japan, especially in urban areas. Certain coffeehouses have breakfast and lunch menus and are more like American-style coffee shops. Altough a cup of coffee can be expensive, ranging from ¥300 to ¥500 (US $2.35-$3.90), customers are permitted to stay as long as they like and are not required to order anything else. Coffeehouses are popular places for meeting with business associates or, informally, with friends.

BENTO

(box lunch). In premodern Japan box lunches, usually consisting of dried rice, rice balls (nigirimeshi), or sweet potatoes, wrapped in a leaf or in the sheath of bamboo shoot, were eaten chiefly by travelers and people who worked outdoors. In the Edo period (1600-1868) elaborate meals were prepared and carried in tiered lacquer boxes (jubako) on outings. Bento sold at theaters to be eaten during intermission were called makunouchi bento (“entr’acte box lunches”), the prototype of today’s shidashi bento, which are usually ordered in quantity and delivered by the restaurant that prepares them. Since the middle of the Meiji period (1868-1912) bento known as ekiben (“station box lunches”) have been sold at railway stations. In recent years there has been a proliferation of shops that specialize in take-out bento.

Bento nowadays, you can buy bento at convenience store such as 7eleven, lawson etc.