All yellow – Corn with corn. Moreover, he has to eat with chopsticks.

November 15, 2014 8:25 PM

Revenge obento. From IroMegane (via flex).

(See also the linked article within the piece: Japanese mums get stressed about making Obento.)

posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome (32 comments total)

taking passive aggressive to new artistic levels.
posted by Ferreous at 8:29 PM on November 15, 2014 [2 favorites]

These are good and I want more.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:36 PM on November 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

nice
posted by arnicae at 8:59 PM on November 15, 2014

I wonder if the Lunch bag art guy gets ticked off and just draws Garfield or something.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:21 PM on November 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

I love the inverted umeboshi one so much
posted by DoctorFedora at 9:44 PM on November 15, 2014 [7 favorites]

When my brother and I were little, setting the table for dinner gave us a chance to express similar feelings. The Crashed Airplane Napkin is exactly what it sounds like: make a paper plane, crash it, then place the fork carefully atop it as always.

maybe we weren't that little when we last did it
posted by Madamina at 10:09 PM on November 15, 2014 [4 favorites]

I love the inverted umeboshi one so much
posted by DoctorFedora at 12:44 AM on November 16 [2 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]


Yeah, that is the one that made me actually laugh out loud.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 10:57 PM on November 15, 2014

I can't decide which is more perfect, corn on corn or marshmallow rice.
posted by ana scoot at 11:48 PM on November 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

Look at these beautiful lives torn apart by sorrow and petty revenge.

By observing you alter them.

Hell is other people.
posted by poe at 1:03 AM on November 16, 2014 [1 favorite]

That severed finger, yeesh. That is certainly memorable. But I had a good laugh over the corn-on-corn one and the uncooked rice.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:47 AM on November 16, 2014 [1 favorite]

Holla grlfrndz. It's Corn and Corn Alone Day!
posted by darksasami at 1:57 AM on November 16, 2014 [8 favorites]

I think their might be more story behind the Boobs Bento than meets the eye.

The detail and care that went into this is nothing like uncooked rice, or a torn black nori heart. I suspect the husband was cheating, and his wife not only found out about it but knew who he was cheating with, and made a bento in the mistress' likeness. Not saying a word about the affair, she sends him on his way to work. Only in the middle of the day does he open it, seeing the topless likeness of the woman he's been seeing on the side, and the realization sets in that he is doomed.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 3:11 AM on November 16, 2014 [11 favorites]

... and the realization sets in that he is doomed.

Or maybe in for a hot threesome...

Nah, probably doomed.
posted by sour cream at 4:04 AM on November 16, 2014

I think this sort of thing may extend to their husbands' clothing as well. I've seen more than one salaryman (not to mention the governor of the prefecture I lived in) whose wives must have said something like, "I'm sick of your emotional distance and lack of involvement in this family, so today you're wearing the green suit."
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:06 AM on November 16, 2014 [2 favorites]

I think their might be more story behind the Boobs Bento than meets the eye.

The people behind the linked site don't seem to be much for crediting their sources, and there are lots of similar "revenge bento" lists out there with roughly the same photos, but in the original boobs bento recipe it's clearly framed as a joke, both in the recipe itself and in the many user-contributed photos (some of which are somewhat less safe for work, at least if you work with people who might be upset by strategically placed sausages).

But yeah, it works as a creative writing prompt as well :-)
posted by effbot at 4:13 AM on November 16, 2014 [4 favorites]

Also, this entire blog is great. I've been having fun going through the different articles. The "Call Her Name" article was eye-opening, and that video at the end ... wow, that seriously choked me up.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 4:27 AM on November 16, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the boobs one didn't come across as "I caught you cheating" so much as "I want you horny so you jump me when you get home".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:29 AM on November 16, 2014

Yeah, I was not seriously suggesting this was an "I caught you cheating" thing. Just my coffee-addled brain running with a context-free image.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 4:34 AM on November 16, 2014 [1 favorite]

You weren't suggesting the cheating narrative - but the original revenge-obento article was.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:46 AM on November 16, 2014

Ah? I took it to mean "he'll open his softcore lunch in front of everyone, and won't he be embarrassed then!" Which, to be fair, would be pretty embarrassing, depending on the company around him.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 4:51 AM on November 16, 2014 [2 favorites]

Googling 仕掛け弁当 is a great idea you guys
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:56 AM on November 16, 2014 [2 favorites]

Or to save people a step: 仕掛け弁当. Does 仕掛け弁当 mean "revenge bento" or just "fancy bento"?
posted by ardgedee at 5:04 AM on November 16, 2014 [1 favorite]

Pedobear is in ur bento.
posted by Wolof at 5:27 AM on November 16, 2014

This combination of loving attention to detail and stinging condemnation is quite different from the West; here, one would feel almost honour-bound to not waste time or effort in one's expressions of anger or contempt. Doing so would look odd and kitschy, like a beautifully frosted cake reading “I Hate You And Hope You Die”.
posted by acb at 5:51 AM on November 16, 2014 [3 favorites]

Googling 仕掛け弁当 is a great idea you guys

Yes it is. I think laughter would keep me from being able to dig into this one.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 5:53 AM on November 16, 2014 [1 favorite]

Making obento everyday is a hard work especially the wife is also work. However since it´s an everyday thing, it becomes just an habit.

This is the kind of thing people mean when they're talking about women putting in more work in a relationship. She has to make lunch every day, but it's okay because it becomes just a habit.

If a grown man expected me to make his lunch every day he'd never get anything but that corn bento.
posted by winna at 6:47 AM on November 16, 2014 [14 favorites]

> like a beautifully frosted cake reading “I Hate You And Hope You Die”.

Something like this happened.
posted by ardgedee at 6:59 AM on November 16, 2014

Found via youtube autosuggest on a video on that site: How To Walk Freely In Japan. I particularly liked the example on the escalator. This would probably work in northernwestern Europe as well, but few other places and certainly not in the US.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:04 AM on November 16, 2014 [5 favorites]

At least you could eat the all-corn one, the uncooked rice one on the other hand...
posted by tommasz at 3:56 PM on November 16, 2014

Am I the only person who first heard of umeboshi by watching "America's Next Top Model (Cycle 3)?" I am, aren't I. Oh god.
posted by argonauta at 4:12 PM on November 16, 2014

Found via youtube autosuggest on a video on that site: How To Walk Freely In Japan yt . I particularly liked the example on the escalator. This would probably work in northernwestern Europe as well, but few other places and certainly not in the US.

posted by George_Spiggott at 1:04 PM on November 16 [3 favorites +] [!]

That is the greatest thing ever. People in Kansai walk so slowly, and always side-by-side. That bell would give you an extra hour each day.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 7:19 PM on November 16, 2014

Look at these beautiful lives torn apart by sorrow and petty revenge.

It's sad that a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs. - Jack Handey
posted by plinth at 8:37 AM on November 17, 2014 [3 favorites]