Japanese Mothers and Obents: The Lunch-Box as Ideological State Apparatus

Author(s): Anne Allison

Source: Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 4, Gender and the State in Japan (Oct., 1991),
pp. 195-208
Published by: The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3317212
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JAPANESE MOTHERS AND OBENTOS:

THE LUNCH-BOXAS
IDEOLOGICALSTATE APPARATUS
ANNE ALLISON
University of Colorado
Obentus are boxed lunches Japanese mothers make for their nursery school children. Following Japanese codes for food preparation-multiple courses that are aesthetically arranged-these lunches have a cultural order and meaning. Using the obentu as a school
ritual and chore-it must be consumed in its entirety in the company of all the children-the nursery school also endows the obentu with ideological meanings. The child
must eat the obentu; the mother must make an obentu the child will eat. Both mother and
child are being judged; the subjectivities of both are being guided by the nursery school as
an institution. It is up to the mother to make the ideological operation entrusted to the
obentu by the state-linked institution of the nursery school, palatable and pleasant for her
child, and appealing and pleasurable for her as a mother. [food, mother, Japan, education,
ideology]
Introduction

accomplished.
I use Althusser's concept of the Ideological
State Apparatus (1971) to frame my argument. I
will briefly describe how food is coded as a cultural
and aesthetic apparatus in Japan, and what authority the state holds over schools in Japanese society.
Thus situating the parameters within which the
obentv is regulated and structured in the nursery
school setting, I will examine the practice both of
making and eating obentv within the context of one
nursery school in Tokyo. As an anthropologist and
mother of a child who attended this school for fifteen months, my analysis is based on my observations, on discussions with other mothers, daily conversations and an interview with my son's teacher,
examination of obento magazines and cookbooks,
participation in school rituals, outings, and
Mothers' Association meetings, and the multifarious experiences of my son and myself as we faced
the obento process every day.
I conclude that obentos as a routine, task, and
art form of nursery school culture are endowed
with ideological and gendered meanings that the
state indirectly manipulates. The manipulation is
neither total nor totally coercive, however, and I
argue that pleasure and creativity for both mother
and child are also products of the obentv.

Japanese nursery school children, going off to

school for the first time, carry with them a boxed
lunch (obento) prepared by their mothers at home.
Customarily these obentvs are highly crafted elaborations of food: a multitude of miniature portions,
artistically designed and precisely arranged, in a
container that is sturdy and cute. Mothers tend to
expend inordinate time and attention on these
obentos in efforts both to please their children and
to affirm that they are good mothers. Children at
nursery school are taught in turn that they must
consume their entire meal according to school
rituals.
Food in an obentv is an everyday practice of
Japanese life. While its adoption at the nursery
school level may seem only natural to Japanese and
unremarkable to outsiders, I will argue in this article that the obento is invested with a gendered
state ideology. Overseen by the authorities of the
nursery school, an institution which is linked to, if
not directly monitored by, the state, the practice of
the obentv situates the producer as a woman and
mother, and the consumer, as a child of a mother
and a student of a school. Food in this context is
neither casual nor arbitrary. Eaten quickly in its
entirety by the student, the obento must be fashioned by the mother so as to expedite this chore for
the child. Both mother and child are being
watched, judged, and constructed; and it is only
through their joint effort that the goal can be

Cultural Ritual and State Ideology

As anthropologists have long understood, not only
are the worlds we inhabit symbolically constructed,
195

196

ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY

but also the constructionsof our culturalsymbols

are endowedwith, or have the potentialfor, power.
How we see reality,in otherwords,is also how we
live it. So the conventionsby which we recognize
our universeare also those by whicheach of us assumesour place and behaviorwithinthat universe.
Cultureis, in this sense, doublyconstructive:constructingboth the worldfor peopleand peoplefor
specificworlds.
The fact that culture is not necessarilyinnocent, and power not necessarilytransparent,has
been revealedby much theoreticalworkconducted
both insideand outsidethe disciplineof anthropology. The scholarshipof the neo-MarxistLouis Althusser (1971), for example, has encouragedthe
conceptualizationof poweras a force which operates in ways that are subtle, disguised, and acceptedas everydaysocialpractice.Althusserdifferentiatedbetweentwo majorstructuresof powerin
modern capitalist societies. The first, he called,
(Repressive)State Apparatus(SA), whichis power
that the state wields and manages primarily
throughthe threat of force. Here the state sanctions the usage of power and repressionthrough
such legitimizedmechanismsas the law and police
(1971: 143-5).
Contrastedwith this is a second structureof
power-Ideological State Apparatus(es) (ISA).
These are institutionswhich have some overt function other than a political and/or administrative
one:mass media,education,healthand welfare,for
example.More numerous,disparate,and functionally polymorphousthan the SA, the ISA exert
powernot primarilythroughrepressionbut through
ideology.Designedand acceptedas practiceswith
anotherpurpose-to educate (the school system),
entertain(film industry),inform(news media),the
ISA serve not only their stated objectivebut also
an unstatedone-that of indoctrinatingpeopleinto
seeing the world a certain way and of accepting
certain identities as their own within that world
(1971: 143-7).
While both structuresof poweroperatesimultaneouslyand complementarily,it is the ISA, accordingto Althusser,whichin capitalistsocietiesis
the more influentialof the two. Disguised and
screenedby anotheroperation,the powerof ideology in ISA can be both more far-reachingand insidiousthan the SA's powerof coercion.Hiddenin
the movieswe watch,the musicwe hear,the liquor
we drink, the textbookswe read, it is overlooked
becauseit is protectedand its protection-or its al-

ibi (Barthes1957: 109-111)-allows the termsand

relationsof ideologyto spill into and infiltrateour
everydaylives.
A world of commodities,gender inequalities,
and power differentialsis seen not therefore in
these terms but as a naturalizedenvironment,one
that makessensebecauseit has becomeour experience to live it and accept it in preciselythis way.
This commonsenseacceptanceof a particularworld
is the workof ideology,and it worksby concealing
the coerciveand repressiveelementsof our everyday routinesbut also by makingthose routinesof
the everydayfamiliar, desirable,and simply our
own. This is the critical elementof Althusser'snotion of ideologicalpower:ideologyis so potentbecause it becomesnot only ours but us-the terms
and machineryby whichwe structureourselvesand
identifywho we are.
Japanese Food as Cultural Myth

An authorin one obentvmagazine,the type of medium-sizedpublicationthat, filled with glossy pictures of obentosand ideas and recipesfor successfully recreatingthem, sells in the bookstoresacross
Japan, declares, ". .. the making of the obento is

the one most worrisomeconcernfacingthe mother

of a child going off to school for the first time
(Shufunotomo1980:insidecover).Anotherobento
journal,this one heftierand packagedin the encyclopedic series of the prolificwomen'spublishing
firm, Shufunotomo, articulates the same social
fact: "first-timeobentvsare a strainon both parent
and child" ("hajimete no obentv wa, oya mo ko
mo kinchoshimasu") (Shufunotomo 1981: 55).

An outside observermight ask: What is the

real sourceof worryover obentv?Is it the food itself or the entranceof the young child into school
for the first time? Yet, as one look at a typical
child'sobentv--a smallbox packagedwith a fiveor
six-course miniaturizedmeal whose pieces and
parts are artisticallyarranged,perfectlycut, and
neatly arranged-would immediately reveal, no
food is "just"food in Japan.What is not so immediately apparent,however,is why a small child
with limitedappetiteand perhapsscant interestin
food is the recipientof a meal as elaborateand as
elaboratelypreparedas any made for an entire
family or invitedguests?
Certainly,in Japanmuchattentionis focussed
on the obento, investingit with a significancefar
beyond that of the merely pragmatic,functional

JAPANESE MOTHERSAND OBENTOS

197

one of sustaininga child with nutritionalfoodstuffs.

Since this investmentbeyondthe pragmaticis true
of any food preparedin Japan,it is helpfulto examineculinarycodes for food preparationthat operate generallyin the society before focussingon

only to retain,as muchas possible,the innatenaturalness of ingredients-shoppingdaily so food is

fresh and leaving much of it either raw or only
minimallycooked-but also to recreatein prepared
food the promiseand appearanceof being "natu-

children's obentvs.

ral." As Richie writes, ". .. the emphasis is on

As has been remarkedoften about Japanese

food, the key elementis appearance.Foodmust be
organized, re-organized, arranged, re-arranged,
stylized,and re-stylizedto appearin a designthat
is visuallyattractive.Presentationis critical:not to
the extent that taste and nutritionare displaced,as
has been sometimesattributedto Japanesefood,
but to the degreethat how food looksis at least as
importantas how it tastes and how good and sustainingit is for one's body.
As Donald Richie has pointedout in his eloquent and informativebook A taste of Japan
(1985), presentationalstyle is the guidingprinciple
by whichfood is preparedin Japan,and the style is
conditionedby a numberof codes. One code is for
smallness,separation,and fragmentation.Nothing
large is allowed,so portionsare all cut to be bitesized, served in small amountson tiny individual
dishes, and are arrangedon a table (or on a tray,
or in an obentvbox) in an arrayof small, separate
containers.1There is no one big dinnerplate with
three large portionsof vegetable,starch,and meat
as in Americancuisine. Consequentlythe eye is
pullednot towardone totalizingcenterbut away to
a multiplicityof de-centeredparts.2
Visually, food substances are presentedaccording to a structuralprinciplenot only of segmentationbut also of opposition.Foodsare broken
or cut to make contrasts of color, texture, and
shape. Foodsare meantto opposeone anotherand
clash: pink against green, roundishfoods against
angular ones, smooth substances next to rough
ones. This oppositionalcode operates not only
within and betweenthe foodstuffsthemselves,but
also betweenthe attributesof the food and thoseof
the containersin or on which they are placed:a
circularmoundin a squaredish, a bland colored
food set againsta brightplate, a translucentsweet
in a heavilytexturedbowl (Richie 1985: 40-1).
The containeris as importantas what is contained in Japanesecuisine,but it is reallythe containment that is stressed, that is, how food has
been (re)constructedand (re)arrangedfromnature
to appear,in both beauty and freshness,perfectly
natural.This stylizingof natureis a thirdcode by
whichpresentationis directed;the injunctionis not

presentationof the naturalratherthan the natural

itself. It is not what naturehas wroughtthat excites admirationbut what man has wroughtwith
what?naturehas wrought"(1985: 11).
This naturalization of food is rendered
through two main devices. One is by constantly
the naturethat comes
hintingat and.appropriating
from outside-decorating food with seasonal reminders,such as a mapleleaf in the fall or a flower
in the spring,servingin-seasonfruits and vegetadishes such as
bles, and using season-coordinated
glasswarein the summerand heavypotteryin the
winter. The other device, to some degree the inverse of the first, is to accentuateand perfectthe
preparationprocessto such an extentthat the food
appearsnot only to be natural, but more nearly
perfect than nature without human intervention
ever could be. This is naturemadeartificial.Thus,
by naturalization,nature is not only taken in by
Japanesecuisine,but takenover.
It is this abilityboth to appropriate"real"nature (the mapleleaf on the tray) and to stampthe
humanreconstructionof that natureas "natural"
that lends Japanesefood its potentialfor cultural
and ideologicalmanipulation.It is what Barthes
calls a second order myth (1957: 114-7): a language which has a functionpeopleaccept as only
pragmatic-the sendingof rosesto lovers,the consumptionof winewith one'sdinner,the cleaningup
a motherdoes for her child-which is taken over
by some interest or agenda to serve a different
end-florists who can sell roses, liquorcompanies
who can marketwine, conservativepoliticianswho
campaign for a gendereddivision of labor with
womenkept at home. The first orderof language
("language-object"),thus emptied of its original
meaning,is convertedinto an emptyformby which
it can assume a new, additional,second order of
signification ("metalanguage"or "second-order
semiologicalsystem").As Barthespointsout however, the primarymeaningis neverlost. Rather,it
remains and stands as an alibi, the cover under
which the second, politicizedmeaning can hide.
Roses sell better, for example, when lovers view
them as a vehicle to expresslove ratherthan the
meansby which a companystays in business.

198

ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY

At one level, food is just food in Japan-the

mediumby whichhumanssustaintheir natureand
health. Yet under and through this code of
pragmatics,Japanesecuisine carries other meanings that in Barthes'terms are mythological.One
of these is nationalidentity:food being appropriated as a sign of the culture.To be Japaneseis to
eat Japanesefood, as so many Japaneseconfirm
when they travel to other countriesand cite the
greatestproblemthey encounterto be the absence
of "real" Japanese food. Stated the other way
around,rice is so symbolicallycentralto Japanese
culture (meals and obentosoften being assembled
with rice as the core and all otherdishes,multifarious as they may be, as mere complimentsor side
dishes) that Japanesesay they can never feel full
until they have consumedtheir rice at a particular
meal or at least once duringthe day.'
Embedded within this insistence on eating
one as a memJapanesefood,therebyreconfirming
ber of the culture,are the principlesby whichJapanese food is customarilyprepared:perfection,labor,smalldistinguishableparts,opposingsegments,
beauty, and the stamp of nature. Overarchingall
these moredetailedcodingsare two that guide the
makingand ideologicalappropriationof the nursery schoolobentomostdirectly:1) thereis an order
to the food: a right way to do things, with everything in its place and each place coordinatedwith
every other,and 2) the one who preparesthe food
takes on the responsibilityof producingfood to the
standardsof perfectionand exactness that Japanese cuisine demands.Food may not be casual, in
otherwords,nor the producercasualin her production. In these two rulesis a messageboth aboutsocial order and the role gender plays in sustaining
and nourishingthat order.
School, State, and Subjectivity
In additionto languageand secondordermeanings
I suggest that the ritualsand routinessurrounding
obenrosin Japanesenurseryschools present,as it
were, a third order,manipulation.This order is a
use of a currencyalreadyestablished--onethat has
already appropriateda language of utility (food
feeds hunger)to expressand implantculturalbehaviors.State-guidedschoolsborrowthis codedapparatus:usingthe naturalconvenienceand coverof
food not only to code a culturalorder,but also to
socialize childrenand mothers into the gendered
rolesand subjectivitiesthey are expectedto assume

in a political order desired and directed by the

state.
In moderncapitalistsocietiessuchas Japan,it
is the school, accordingto Althusser,which assumesthe primaryrole of ideologicalstate apparatus. A greater segment of the populationspends
longerhoursand more yearshere than in previous
historicalperiods.Also educationhas now taken
over from other institutions,such as religion,the
pedagogicalfunctionof beingthe majorshaperand
inculcatorof knowledgefor the society. Concurrently, as Althusserhas pointedout for capitalist
modernism(1971: 152, 156), there is the gradual
replacementof repressionby ideologyas the prime
mechanismfor behaviorenforcement.Influenced
less by the threatof force and moreby the devices
that presentand informus of the worldwe live in
and the subjectivitiesthat worlddemands,knowledge and ideology become fused, and education
emergesas the apparatusfor pedagogicaland ideological indoctrination.
In practice,as schoolteacheschildrenhowand
what to think,it also shapesthem for the rolesand
positionsthey will later assume as adult members
of the society. How the social order is organized
through vectors of gender, power, labor, and/or
class, in otherwords,is not only as importanta lesson as the basics of reading and writing, but is
transmittedthroughand embeddedin those classroom lessons. Knowledgethus is not only socially
constructed,but also differentiallyacquiredaccording to who one is or will be in the politicalsociety
one will enterin lateryears.Whatpreciselysociety
requiresin the way of workers,citizens, and parents will be the conditiondeterminingor influencing instructionin the schools.
This latterequation,of course,dependson two
factors:1) the convergenceor divergenceof different interestsin whatis desiredas subjectivities,and
2) the powerany particularinterest,includingthat
of the state, has in exertingits desiresfor subjects
on or throughthe systemof education.In the case
of Japan, the state wields enormouscontrolover
the systematizationof education.Throughits Ministry of Education(Monbushu),one of the most
powerfuland influentialministriesin the government, educationis centralizedand managedby a
state bureaucracythat regulatesalmost every as:
pect of the educationalprocess.On any given day,
for example,what is taught in every publicschool
followsthe same curriculum,adheresto the same
structure,and is informedby textbooksfrom the

JAPANESE MOTHERSAND OBENTOS

prescribedlist. Teachers are nationallyscreened,
school boards uniformly appointed (rather than
elected), and students institutionallyexhorted to
obey teachersgiventheir legal authority,for example, to write secret reports(naishinsho),that may
obstructa student'sentranceinto high school.4
The role of the state in Japaneseeducationis
not limited,however,to such extensivebut codified
authoritiesgranted to the Ministryof Education.
Even more powerful is the principle of the
"gakurekishakkai" (lit. academic pedigreesociety) by which careersof adults are determinedby
the schoolsthey attendas youth. A reflectionand
constructionof the new economicorderof post-war
Japan,"school attendancehas become the single
most importantdeterminantof who will achieve
the most desirablepositionsin industry,government, and the professions.Schoolattendanceis itself based on a single criterion:a system of entrance exams which determinesentranceselection
and it is to this end-preparation for exams-that
school,even at the nurseryschoollevel, is increasingly oriented.Learningto followdirections,do as
one is told, and "ganbaru"(Asanuma1987) are social imperatives, sanctioned by the state, and
taught in the schools.
Nursery School and Ideological Appropriation of

the Obento
The nurseryschool standsoutsidethe structureof
compulsory education in Japan. Most nursery
schoolsare private;and, thoughnot compelledby
the state, a greaterproportionof the three to sixyear old populationof Japan attends pre-school
than in any other industrializednation (Tobin
1989; Hendry1986; Boocock1989).
Differentiatedfrom the hoikuen,anotherpreschool institutionwith longerhourswhich is more
like daycare than school,6 the yochien (nursery
school) is widely perceivedas instructional,not
necessarilyin a formalcurriculumbut morein indoctrinationto attitudesand structuresof Japanese
schooling.Childrenlearn less about reading and
writingthan they do about how to becomea Japanese student, and both parts of this
formula-Japanese and student-are equally
stressed.As Rohlen has written, "social order is
generated"in the nurseryschool, first and foremost, by a systemof routines(1989: 10, 21). Educational routines and rituals are therefore of
heightened importancein yochien, for whereas

199

these routines and rituals may be the format

throughwhichsubjectsare taughtin highergrades,
they are both form and subjectin the yochien.
While the state (throughits agency,the Ministry of Education)has no direct mandate over
nurseryschoolattendance,its influenceis nevertheless significant. First, authority over how the
yochien is run is in the hands of the Ministryof
Education.Second,most parentsand teacherssee
the yochienas the first step to the systemof compulsoryeducationthat startsin the firstgradeand
is closelycontrolledby Monbusho.The principalof
the yochien my son attended,for example,stated
that he saw his mainduty to be preparingchildren
to enter moreeasily the rigorsof publiceducation
soon to come. Third, the rules and patterns of
"groupliving"(shadanseikatsu),a Japanesesocial
ideal that is reiteratednationwideby politicalleaders, corporatemanagement,and marriagecounselors, is first introducedto the child in nursery
school.'
The entryinto nurseryschoolmarksa transition both away from home and into the "real
world,"which is generallyjudged to be difficult,
even traumatic, for the Japanese child (Peak
1989). The obentris intendedto ease a child'sdiscomfitureand to allow a child's motherto manufacture somethingof herself and the home to accompany the child as s/he moves into the
potentiallythreateningoutsideworld.Japaneseuse
the culturalcategoriesof soto and uchi;soto connotes the outside, which in being distancedand
other, is dirty and hostile;and uchi identifiesas
clean and comfortablewhat is inside and familiar.
The schoolfalls initiallyand, to some degree,perpetually, into a category of soto. What is ultimately the definitionand locationof uchi, by contrast, is the home, where family and mother
reside.8By producingsomethingfrom the home,a
motherbothgirdsand goadsher child to face what
is inevitablein the worldthat lies beyond.This is
the mother'srole and her gift; by givingof herself
and the home (whichshe both symbolicallyrepresents and in reality manages"),the soto of the
schoolis, if not transformedinto the uchi of home,
made more bearableby this sign of domesticand
maternalheartha child can bringto it.
The obento is filled with the meaning of
motherand homein a numberof ways.The firstis
by sheerlabor.Womenspendwhat seemsto be an
inordinateamountof time on the productionof this
one item. As an experiencedobentomaker,I can

200

ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY

attest to the intenseattentionand energydevoted

to this one chore. On the average,mothersspend
20-45 minutes every morningcooking,preparing,
and assemblingthe contentsof one obentofor one
nurseryschool-agedchild. In addition,the previous
day they have planned,shopped,and often organized a suppermeal with left-oversin mind for the
next day's obento. Frequentlywomen'0 discuss
obentoideas with othermothers,scan obentmcookbooks or magazinesfor recipes,buy or make objects with which to decorateor contain (part of)
the obento,and perhapsmake small food portions
to freeze and retrievefor futureobento."
Of course, effort alone does not necessarily
Casualnesswas never
producea successfulobentW.
indulged,I observed,and even motherswith children who wouldeat anythingpreparedobentosas
elaborateas anyoneelse's. Such labor is intended
for the child but also the mother:it is a sign of a
woman'scommitmentas a motherand her inspiring her childto beingsimilarlycommittedas a student. The obento is thus a representationof what
the motheris and what the child shouldbecome.A
model for school is added to what is gift and reminderfrom home.
Thisequationis spelledout morepreciselyin a
nursery school rule-all of the obento must be
eaten. Thoughon the face of it this is petty and
mundane,the injunctionis taken very seriouslyby
nurseryschool teachersand is one not easily realized by very small children.The logic is that it is
time for the childto meet certainexpectations.One
of the mainagendasof the nurseryschool,after all,
is to introduceand indoctrinatechildreninto the
patternsand rigorsof Japaneseeducation(Rohlen
1989;Sano 1989;Lewis 1989). And Japaneseeducation, by all accounts, is not about fun (Duke
1986).
Learningis hard work with few choices or
pleasures.Even obentosfrom home stop once the
child entersfirstgrade.'2The mealsthereare institutional:largely bland,'unappealing,and prepared
with only nutritionin mind. To ease a youngster
into these upcoming(educational,social, disciplinary, culinary) routines, yochien obents are
designedto be pleasingand personal.The obentois
also designed,however,as a test for the child. And
the double meaningis not unintentional.A structure already filled with a significationof mother
and home is then emptiedto providea new form:
one now also writtenwith the ideologicaldemands
of beinga memberof Japanesecultureas well as a

viable and successful Japanesein the realms of

schooland later work.
The exhortation to consume one's entire
obent'3 is articulatedand enforcedby the nursery
school teacher.Makinghigh dramaout of eating
by, for example,singinga song;collectivelythanking Buddha (in the case of Buddhist nursery
schools),one's motherfor makingthe obentv,and
one's father for providingthe means to make the
obentm;havingtwo assignedclass helperspourthe
tea, the class eats togetheruntil everyonehas finished.The teacherexaminesthe children'sobentvs,
makingsure the food is all consumed,and encouraging, sometimesscolding,childrenwho are taking
too long.Slow eatersdo not fare well in this ritual,
becausethey hold up the other students,who as a
peer group also monitora child's eating. My son
oftencomplainedabouta childwhoseslownessover
food meantthat the otherswerekept inside(rather
than being allowedto play on the playground)for
much of the lunch period.
Ultimately and officially, it is the teacher,
however,whose role and authorityit is to watch
overfoodconsumptionand to judgethe personconsumingfood. Her surveillancecoversboth the student and the mother, who in the matter of the
obentv, must work together.The child'sjob is to
eat the food and the mother'sto prepareit. Hence,
the responsibilityand executionof one'stask is not
only sharedbut conditionedby the other.My son's
teacher would talk with me daily about the progress he was making finishing his obentos. Although the overt subject of discussionwas my
child, most of what was said was directedto me:
what I could do in orderto get David to consume
his lunch more easily.
The intensityof these talks struckme at the
time as curious.We had just settled in Japanand
David, a highly verbalchild, was attendinga foreign school in a foreign languagehe had not yet
mastered;he was the only non-Japanesechild in
the school.Many of his behaviorsduringthis time
weredisruptive:for example,he went up and down
the line of childrenduringmorningexerciseshitting each child on the head. Hamada-sensei(the
teacher), however,chose to discuss the obentos.I
thoughtsurely David'ssurvivalin and adjustment
to this environmentdependedmuch moreon other.
factors,such as learningJapanese.Yet it was the
obentmthat was discussedwith such recallof detail
("Davidate all his peas today,but not a singlecarrot until I asked him to do so three times") and

JAPANESE MOTHERS AND OBENTUS

seriousnessthat I assumedher attentionwas being

misplaced. The manifest reference was to boxlunches,but was not the latent referenceto something else?"1
Of course,there was anothermessage,for me
and my child. It was an injunctionto followdirections, obey rules, and accept the authorityof the
school system. All of the latter were embeddedin
and inculcatedthroughcertainrituals:the nursery
school,as any school(exceptsuch non-conventional
ones as Waldorfand Montessori)and practically
any socialor institutionalpracticein Japan,was so
heavilyritualizedand ritualisticthat the very form
of ritual took on a meaningand value in and of
itself (Rohlen 1989:21, 27-8). Both the schoolday
and school year of the nurseryschoolwere organized by these rituals.The day, apartfrom two free
periods,for,example,was brokenby discreteroutines-morning exercises,arts and crafts, gym instruction,singing-most of whichwere namedand
scheduled.The schoolyear was also segmentedinto
and marked by three annual events-sports day
(undokai) in the fall, winter assembly (seikatsu
happyokai)in December,and dance festival (bon
odori) in the summer.Energy was galvanizedby
these rituals,whichdemandeda degreeof orderas
well as a disciplineand self-controlthat non-Japanese wouldfind remarkable.
Significantly,David'steachermarkedhis successful integrationinto the school system by his
masterynot of the languageor otherculturalskills,
but of the school'sdaily routines-walking in line,
brushinghis teeth after eating, arrivingat school
early, eagerly participatingin greetingand departure ceremonies,and completingall of his obento
on time. Not only had he adjustedto the school
structure,but he had also become assimilatedto
the otherchildren.Or restated,whatonce had been
externallyenforcednow becameideologicallydesirable; the everydaypracticeshad movedfrom being
alien (soto) to familiar(uchi) to him, from,that is,
being someone else's to his own. My American
child had to become,in some sense, Japanese,and
wherehis teacherrecognizedthis Japanesenesswas
in the daily routinessuch as finishinghis obento.
The lesson learnedearly, which David learnedas
well, is that not adheringto routinessuch as completingone's obentoon time leads to not only admonishmentfrom the teacher, but rejectionfrom
the other students.
The nurseryschool system differentiatesbetween the child who does and the child who does

201

not managethe multifariousand constantritualsof

nurseryschool.And for those who do not manage
there is a penaltywhich the child learnseither to
avoid or wish to avoid.Seeking the acceptanceof
his peers, the student developsthe aptitude,willingness,and in the case of my son-whose outspokennessand individualitywere the characteristics
most notedin this culture-even the desireto conformto the highlyorderedand structuredpractices
of nurseryschool life. As Althusser(1971) wrote
aboutideology:the mechanismworkswhenand because ideas aboutthe worldand particularroles in
that world that serve other (social, political,economic, state) agendas become familiar and one's
own.
Rohlen makes a similar point: that what is
taughtand learnedin nurseryschoolis socialorder.
Called shudanseikatsuor grouplife, it means organizationinto a groupwherea person'ssubjectivity is determinedby group membershipand not
"the assumptionof choice and rationalself-interest" (1989: 30). A child learnsin nurseryschoolto
be with others,thinklike others,and act in tandem
with others.This lessonis taughtprimarilythrough
the precisionand constancyof basic routines:"Order is shapedgraduallyby repeatedpracticeof selected daily tasks . . . that socialize the children to

high degreesof neatnessand uniformity"(p. 21).

Yet a feeling of coercivenessis rarelyexperienced
by the childwhenthreeprinciplesof nurseryschool
instructionare in place: 1) school routines are
made "desirableand pleasant" (p. 30), 2) the
teacherdisguisesher authorityby trying to make
the groupthe voice and unit of authority,and 3)
the regimentationof the schoolis administeredby
an attitudeof "intimacy"on the part of the teachers and administrators(p. 30). In short,when the
desiresand routinesof the schoolare madeinto the
desires and routinesof the child, they are made
acceptable.
Mothering
Apparatus

as

Gendered

Ideological

State

The rituals surroundingthe obento'sconsumption

in the schoolsituatewhat ideologicalmeaningsthe
transmitsto the child. The processof proobento
ductionwithinthe home,by contrast,organizesits
somewhat different ideological package for the
mother.While the two sets of meaningsare intertwined,the motheris faced with differentexpectations in the preparationof the obentm than the

202

ANTHROPOLOGICAL QUARTERLY

child is in its consumption. At a pragmatic level

the child must simply eat the lunch box, whereas
the mother's job is far more complicated. The onus
for her is getting the child to consume what she has
made, and the general attitude is that this is far
more the mother's responsibility (at this nursery
school, transitional stage) than the child's. And this
is no simple or easy task.
Much of what is written, advised, and discussed about the obento has this aim explicitly in
mind: that is making food in such a way as to facilitate the child's duty to eat it. One magazine
advises:
rhe first day of taking obent' is a worrisomething for
motherand "boku"(child'G)too. Put in easy-to-eatfoods
that your child likes and is already used to and prepare
this food in small portions(Shufunotomo1980: 28).

Filled with pages of recipes, hints, pictures, and

ideas, the magazine codes each page with "helpful"
headings:
- First off, easy-to-eatis step one.
- Next is being able to consumethe obent' withoutleaving anythingbehind.
- Make it in such a way for the child to becomeproficient
in the use of chopsticks.
- Decorate and fill it with cute dreams (kawairashi
yume).
- For older classes (nencha), make obent'5filled with
variety.
- Once he's become used to it, balance foods your child
likes with those he dislikes.
- For kids who hate vegetables....
- For kids who hate fish. ...
- For kids who hate meat. . . (pp. 28-53).

Laced throughout cookbooks and other magazines

the
devoted to
guidelines issued by
obento
obento,
the school and sent home in the school flier every
two weeks, and the words of Japanese mothers and
teachers discussing obentW,are a number of principles: 1) food should be made easy to eat: portions
cut or made small and manipulable with fingers or
chopsticks, (child-size) spoons and forks, skewers,
toothpicks, muffin tins, containers, 2) portions
should be kept small so the obentm can be consumed quickly and without any left-overs, 3) food
that a child does not yet like should be eventually
added so as to remove fussiness (sukikirai) in food
habits, 4) make the obentv pretty, cute, and visually changeable by presenting the food attractively
and by adding non-food objects such as silver paper, foil, toothpick flags, paper napkins, cute
handkerchiefs, and variously shaped containers for

soy sauce and ketchup, and 5) design obentv-related items as much as possible by the mother's
own hands including
the obentzr bag
in
which
the
(obentofukuro)
obento is carried.
The strictures propounded by publications
seem to be endless. In practice I found that visual
appearance and appeal were stressed by the
mothers. By contrast, the directive to use obento as
a training process-adding new foods and getting
older children to use chopsticks and learn to tie the
furoshikil'-was emphasized by those judging the
obento at the school. Where these two sets of concerns met was, of course, in the child's success or
failure completing the
this outobento. Ultimately
come and the mother's role in it, was how the
obento was judged in my experience.
The aestheticization of the obentWis by far its
most intriguing aspect for a cultural anthropologist.
Aesthetic categories and codes that operate generally for Japanese cuisine are applied, though adjusted, to the nursery school format. Substances
are many but petite, kept segmented and opposed,
and manipulated intensively to achieve an appearance that often changes or disguises the food. As a
mother insisted to me, the creation of a bear out of
miniature hamburgers and rice, or a flower from an
apple or peach, is meant to sustain a child's interest in the underlying food. Yet my child, at least,
rarely noticed or appreciated the art I had so laboriously contrived. As for other children, I observed
that even for those who ate with no obvious "fussiness," mothers' efforts to create food as style continued all year long.
Thus much of a woman's labor over obento
stems from some agenda other than that of getting
the child to eat an entire lunch-box. The latter is
certainly a consideration and it is the rationale as
well as cover for women being scrutinized by the
school's authority figure-the teacher. Yet two
other factors are important. One is that the obento
is but one aspect of the far more expansive and
continuous commitment a mother is expected to
make for and to her child. "Kyoiku mama" (education mother) is the term given to a mother who
executes her responsibility to oversee and manage
the education of her children with excessive vigor.
And yet this excess is not only demanded by the
state even at the level of the nursery school; it is
conventionally given by mothers. Mothers who
manage the home and children, often in virtual absence of a husband/father, are considered the factor that may make or break a child as s/he ad-

JAPANESE MOTHERSAND OBENT7S

vances towards that pivotal point of the entrance
examinations.17

In this sense, just as the obento is meant as a

device to assist a child in the struggles of first adjusting to school, the mother's role generally is perceived as being the support, goad, and cushion for
the child. She will perform endless tasks to assist in
her child's study: sharpen pencils and make midnight snacks as the child studies, attend cram
schools to verse herself in subjects her child is weak
in, make inquiries as to what school is most appropriate for her child, and consult with her child's
teachers. If the child succeeds, a mother is complimented; if the child fails, a mother is blamed.
Thus at the nursery school level, the mother
starts her own preparation for this upcoming role.
Yet the jobs and energies demanded of a nursery
school mother are, in themselves, surprisingly consuming. Just as the mother of an entering student
is given a book listing all the pre-entry tasks she
must complete, for example, making various bags
and containers, affixing labels to all clothes in precisely the right place and with the size exactly
right, she will be continually expected thereafter to
attend Mothers' Association meetings, accompany
children on fieldtrips, wash the clothes and indoor
shoes of her child every week, add required items
to a child's bag on a day's notice, and generally be
available. Few mothers at the school my son attended could afford to work in even part-time or
temporary jobs. Those women who did tended either to keep their outside work a secret or be reprimanded by a teacher for insufficient devotion to
their child. Motherhood, in other words, is institutionalized through the child's school and such routines as making the obento as a full-time, kept-athome job.'8
The second factor in a woman's devotion to
over-elaborating her child's lunch-box is that her
experience doing this becomes a part of her and a
statement, in some sense, of who she is. Marx
writes that labor is the most "essential" aspect to
our species-being and that the products we produce
are the encapsulation of us and therefore our productivity (1970: 71-76). Likewise, women are what
they are through the products they produce. An
obent therefore is not only a gift or test for a
child, but a representation and product of the woman herself. Of course, the two ideologically converge, as has been stated already, but I would also
suggest that there is a potential disjoining. I sensed
that the women were laboring for themselves apart

203

from the agenda the obento was expected to fill at

school. Or stated alternatively, in the role that females in Japan are highly pressured and encouraged to assume as domestic manager, mother,
and wife, there is, besides the endless and onerous
responsibilities, also an opportunity for play. Significantly, women find play and creativity not
outside their social roles but within them.
Saying this is not to deny the constraints and
surveillance under which Japanese women labor at
their obento. Like their children at school, they are
watched by not only the teacher but each other,
and perfect what they create, partially at least, so
as to be confirmed as a good and dutiful mother in
the eyes of other mothers. The enthusiasm with
which they absorb this task then is like my son's
acceptance and internalization of the nursery
school routines; no longer enforced from outside it
becomes adopted as one's own.
The making of the obentmis, I would thus argue, a double-edged sword for women. By relishing
its creation (for all the intense labor expended, only
once or twice did I hear a mother voice any complaint about this task), a woman is ensconcing herself in the ritualization and subjectivity (subjection) of being a mother in Japan. She is alienated
in the sense that others will dictate, inspect, and
manage her work. On the reverse side, however, it
is precisely through this work that the woman expresses, identifies, and constitutes herself. As Althusser pointed out, ideology can never be totally
abolished (1971: 170); the elaborations that women
work on "natural" food produce an obento which is
creative and, to some degree, a fulfilling and personal statement of themselves.
Minami, an informant, revealed how both restrictive and pleasurable the daily rituals of motherhood can be. The mother of two children-one,
aged three and one, a nursery school student,
Minami had been a professional opera singer
before marrying at the relatively late age of 32.
Now, her daily schedule was organized by routines
associated with her child's nursery school: for example, making the obento, taking her daughter to
school and picking her up, attending Mothers' Association meetings, arranging daily play dates, and
keeping the school uniform clean. While Minami
wished to return to singing, if only on a part-time
basis, she said that the demands of motherhood,
particularly those imposed by her child's attendance at nursery school, frustrated this desire.
Secretly snatching only minutes out of any day to

204

ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY

practice,Minamimissedsingingand told me that

being a motherin Japanmeansthe exclusionof almost anythingelse.1"
Despitethis frustration,however,Minamidid
not behavelike a frustratedwoman.Rathershe devoted to her motheringan energy, creativity,and
intelligenceI foundto be standardin the Japanese
mothers I knew. She plannedspecial outings for
her childrenat least two or threetimes a week, organizedgames that she knew they wouldlike and
wouldteach them cognitiveskills, createdher own
stories and designedcostumesfor afternoonplay,
and shoppeddaily for the meals she preparedwith
her children'sfavoritefoods in mind. Minamitold
me often that she wishedshe could sing more,but
neveronce did she complainabouther children,the
choresof child-raising,or being a mother.The attentivenessdisplayedotherwisein her mothering
was exemplifiedmost fully in Minami'sobentws.
No two were ever alike, each had at least four or
five parts, and she kept trying out new ideas for
both new foods and new designs.She took prideas
well as pleasurein her obentohandicraft;but while
Minami'sobento creativitywas impressive,it was
not unusual.
Examples of such extraordinaryobentwcreations from an obentwmagazineinclude:1) ("donut obentv"):two donuts,two wienerscut to look
like a worm, two cut pieces of apple, two small
cheese rolls, one hard-boiledegg made to look like
a rabbitwith leaf ears and pickleeyes and set in an
aluminummuffintin, cute papernapkinadded, 2)
(wiener doll obenro):a bed of rice with two doll
creationsmade out of wienerparts (each consists
of eight pieces comprisinghat, hair, head, arms,
body, legs), a line of pink ginger, a line of green
parsley,paperflag of Franceadded, 3) (vegetable
flowerand tulip obenro):a bed of rice laced with
choppedhard-boiledegg, three tulip flowersmade
out of cut wienerswith spinachpreciselyarranged
as stem and leaves, a fruit salad with two raisins,
threecookedpeaches,threepiecesof cookedapple,
4) (sweetheart doll obentr-abekku ningyo no
obentv):in a two-sectionobenrobox there are four
rice balls on one side, each with a differentcenter,
on the otherside are two dolls madeof quail'seggs
for heads,eyes and mouthadded,bodiesof cucumber, arrangedas if lying downwith two rawcarrots
for the pillow, covers made of one flower-cut
cookedcarrot,two pieces of ham, pieces of cooked
spinach,and with differentcoloredplastic skewers
holdingthe dolls together(Shufunotomo1980:27,

30).
The impulse to work and re-worknature in
these obentois most obviousperhapsin the strategies used to transform,shape, and/or disguise
foods.EverymotherI knewcame up with her own
repertoireof such techniques,and every obento
magazineor cookbookI examinedoffereda special
sectionon these devices.It is importantto keep in
mind that these are treatedas only flourishes:embellishmentsaddedto partsof an obentycomposed
of many parts. The followingis a list from one
magazine:lemonpieces made into butterflies,hard
boiledeggs into daruma (popularJapaneselegendary figureof a monk without his eyes), sausage
cut into flowers,a hard-boiledegg decoratedas a
baby,an applepiece cut into a leaf, a radishflaked
into a flower, a cucumbercut like a flower, a
mikan (nectarineorange) piece arrangedinto a
basket,a boat with a sail made from a cucumber,
skeweredsausage,radishshapedlike a mushroom,
a quail egg flaked into a cherry, twisted mikan
piece, sausage cut to becomea crab, a patterned
cucumber,a ribboned.carrot, a floweredtomato,
cabbageleaf flower,a potatocut to be a worm,a
carrotdesignedas a red shoe,an applecut to simulate a pineapple(pp. 57-60).
Nature is not only transformedbut also supplementedby store-boughtor mother-madeobjects
which are preciselyarrangedin the obento. The
former come from an entire industry and commodificationof the obentoprocess:completeracks
or sectionsin storessellingobentvboxes,additional
small containers,obentobags, cups, chopstickand
utensilcontainers(all these with variouscute characters or designs on the front), cloth and paper
napkins, foil, aluminum tins, colored ribbon or
string,plasticskewers,toothpickswith paperflags,
and paper dividers. The latter are the objects
mothers are encouragedand praised for making
themselves: obentu bags, napkins, and
handkerchiefswith appliqueddesignsor the child's
name embroidered.These supplementsto the food,
the arrangementof the food, and the obentobox's
dividingwalls (removableand adjustable)furnish
the order of the obento. Everythingappearscrisp
and neat with each part kept in its own place:two
tiny hamburgersset firmlyatop a bed of rice;vegetables in a separatecompartmentin the box; fruit
arrangedin a muffintin.
How the specificformsof obentoartistry-for
example,a wienercut to look like a wormand set
withina muffintin-are encodedsymbolicallyis a

JAPANESE MOTHERSAND OBENTOS

205

fascinatingsubject. Limited here by space, how- who are not only sustaininga child throughfood
ever, I will only offerinitial suggestions.Arranging but carryingthe ideologicalsupportof the culture
that this food embeds.No Japaneseman I spoke
food into a scene recognizableby the child was an
ideal mentionedby many mothersand cookbooks. with had or desired the experienceof making a
Why those of animals, human beings, and other nursery school obentmeven once, and few were
food forms (making a pineappleout of an apple, more than peripherallyengagedin their children's
for example) predominatemay have no other raeducation.The male is assigneda positionin the
outside worldwhere he laborsat a job for money
tionale than being familiarto childrenand easily
and is expectedto be primarilyidentifiedby and
re-producedby mothers.Yet it is also true that this
committedto his place of work.20Helping in the
tendencyto use a trope of realism-casting food
into realistic figures-is most prevalent in the
managementof home and raising of childrenhas
meals Japanesepreparefor theirchildren.Mothers not becomean obviousmale concernor interestin
I knew createdanimalsand faces in suppermeals Japan,even as more and more womenenter what
and/or obentmsmade for other outings, yet their was previouslythe male domainof work.Females
have remainedat and as the centerof home in Jaimpulse to do this seemed not only heightenedin
the obenmthat were sent to schoolbut also played pan and this messagetoo is explicitlytransmitted
down in food preparedfor other age groups.
in both the productionand consumptionof entirely
What is consistentin Japanesecookinggener- female-produced
obentm.
The state accruesbenefitsfrom this arrangeally, as stated earlier, are the dual principlesof
ment. Withchildrendependingon the laborwomen
manipulationand order. Food is manipulatedinto
someotherformthan it assumeseithernaturallyor
devote to their motheringto such a degree, and
uponbeingcooked:lines are put into mashedpota- women being pressuredas well as pleasurizedin
such routinematernalproductionsas makingthe
toes, carrots are flaked, wieners are twisted and
sliced. Also, food is orderedby some humanrather obentr--both effects encouragedand promotedby
than naturalprinciple;everythingmust have neat
institutional features of the educationalsystem
boundariesand be placedpreciselyso those bound- heavily state-runand at least ideologicallyguided
aries do not merge. These two structuresare the
at even the nurseryschoollevel-a gendereddiviones most importantin shapingthe nurseryschool sion of labor is firmly set in place. Labor from
obentoas well, and the inclinationto designrealis- males, socializedto be compliantand hard-worktic imagery is primarilya means by which these
ing, is more extractablewhen they have wives to
otherculinarycodesare learnedby and madeplearely on for almostall domesticand familial mansurablefor the child. The simulacrumof a pineap- agement. And females becomea source of cheap
ple recreatedfrom an apple thereforeis less about labor, as they are increasinglyforcedto enter the
seeing the pineapple in an apple (a particular labormarketto pay domesticcosts (includingthose
the appleinto
vast debts incurredin educatingchildren)yet are
form)and moreaboutreconstructing
somethingelse (the processof transformation).
increasinglyconstrainedto low-payingpart-time
The intenselabor,management,commodifica- jobs becauseof the domesticdutiesthey must also
bear almosttotally as mothers.
tion, and attentivenessthat goes into the makingof
an obentolaces it, however,with manyand various
Hence, not only do females,as mothers,operate within the ideologicalstate apparatusof Jameanings.Overarchingall is the potentialto aestheticizea certainsocialorder,a socialorderwhich pan'sschoolsystemthat starts semi-officially,with
is coded (in culturaland culinaryterms) as Japa- the nurseryschool,they also operateas an ideologinese. Not only is a mother making food more cal state apparatusuntothemselves.Motherhoodis
state ideology,workingthroughchildrenat home
palatableto her nurseryschoolchild,but she is creand at school and throughsuch mother-imprinted
ating food as a more aestheticand pleasingsocial
structure.The obentr'smessageis that the worldis
labor that a child carriesfrom home to school as
constructedvery preciselyand that the role of any
with the obento.Hencethe post-WorldWarII consingle Japanesein that world must be carriedout
ceptionof Japaneseeducationas beingegalitarian,
with the samedegreeof precision.Productionis dedemocratic,and with no agenda of or for gender
manding;and the producermust both keep within differentiation,does not in practicestandup. Conthe bordersof her/his role and workhard.
cealed within such cultural practicesas culinary
The messageis also that it is women,not men,
style and child-focussedmothering,is a worldview

206

ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY

in whichthe positionand behavioran adultwill assume has everythingto do with the anatomyshe/
he was bornwith.
At the end, however,I am left with one question. If motherhoodis not only watched and
manipulatedby the state but madeby it into a conduit for ideological indoctrination, could *not
women subvertthe political order by redesigning
obento? Asking this question, a Japanesefriend,
upon readingthis paper, recalled her own experiences. Thoughher motherhad been conventional
in most other respects, she made her children
obentosthat did not conformto the prevailingconventions. Basic, simple, and rarely artistic, Sawa

also noted, in this connection,that the lines of

these obentos resembledthose by which she was
generally raised: as gender-neutral,treated as a
person not "just as a girl," and being allowed a
marginto thinkfor herself.Todayshe is an exceptionallyindependentwomanwho has createda life
for herself in America,away from homelandand
parents,almostentirelyon her own. She lovesJapanese food, but the plainobentosher mothermade
for her as a child,she is newlyappreciativeof now,
as an adult. The obentosfed her, but did not keep
her culturallyor ideologicallyattached. For this,
Sawa says today, she is glad.

NOTES
AcknowledgmentsThe fieldworkon which this article is based
was supportedby a Japan FoundationPostdoctoralFellowship.
I am gratefulto CharlesPiot for a thoughtfulreadingand useful suggestionsfor revisionand to JenniferRobertsonfor inviting my contributionto this issue. I would also like to thank
Sawa Kurotanifor her many ethnographicstories and input,
and PhyllisChockand two anonymousreadersfor the valuable
contributionsthey made to revisionof the manuscript.
'As Dorinne Kondo has pointed out, however, these
cuisinalprinciplesmay be conditionedby factorsof both class
and circumstance.Her shitamachi (more traditionalarea of
Tokyo) informants,for example,adheredonly casually to this
codingand other Japaneseshe knewfollowedthem morecarefully when preparingfood for guests rather than family and
when eating outsideratherthan inside the home (Kondo 1990:
61-2).
2Rice is often, if not always, included in a meal; and it
may substantiallyas well as symbolicallyconstitutethe core of
the meal. When served at a table it is put in a large pot or
electric rice maker and will be spoonedinto a bowl, still no
bigger or predominantthan the many other containersfrom
which a personeats. In an obent- rice may be in one, perhaps
the largest,section of a multi-sectionedobent- box, yet it will
be arrangedwith a variety of other foods. In a sense rice provides the syntactic and substantialcenter to a meal yet the
presentationof the food rarely emphasizesthis core. The rice
bowl is refilledratherthan heapedas in the preformedobent-o
box, and in the obentarice is often embroidered,supplemented,
and/or coveredwith other foodstuffs.
sJapanesewill both endurea high price for rice at home
and resist Americanattemptsto exportrice to Japan in order
to stay domesticallyself-sufficientin this nationalfood qua cultural symbol. Rice is the only foodstuffin which the Japanese
have retainedself-sufficientproduction.
4The primarysourceson educationused are Horio 1988;
Duke 1986; Rohlen 1983; Cummings1980.
"Neitherthe state's role in overseeingeducationnor a system of standardizedtests is a new developmentin post-World
War II Japan. What is new is the nationalstandardizationof
tests and, in this sense, the intensifiedrole the state has thus
assumed in overseeing them. See Dore (1965) and Horio
(1988).
6Boocock(1989) differs from Tobin et al. (1989) on this
pointand assertsthat the institutionaldifferencesare insignificant. She describesextensivelyhow both y'chien and hoikuen

are administered (y'chien are under the authority of

Monbush5 and hoikuen are under the authority of the
KUseish-,the Ministryof Health and Welfare) and how both
feed into the largersystemof education.She emphasizesdiversity: though certain trends are common amongst preschools,
differencesin teachingstyles and philosophiesare plentifulas
well.
7Accordingto Rohlen(1989), familiesare incapableof indoctrinatingthe child into this social pattern of sh'indanseikatsu by their very structureand particularlyby the relationship (of indulgenceand dependence)betweenmother and
child. For this reason and the importanceplaced on group
structuresin Japan,the nurseryschool'sprimaryobjective,argues Rohlen,is teachingchildrenhow to assimilateinto groups.
For furtherdiscussionof this point see also Peak 1989; Lewis
1989; Sano 1989; and the Journal of Japanese Studies issue
[15(1)] devotedto Japanesepreschooleducationin whichthese
articles, includingBoocock's,are published.
'For a succinct anthropologicaldiscussionof these concepts, see Hendry(1987: 39-41). For an architecturalstudy of
Japan's managementand organizationof space in terms of
such culturalcategoriesas uchi and soto, see Greenbie(1988).
9Endlessstudies,reports,surveys,and narrativesdocument
the close tie betweenwomenand home;domesticityand femininity in Japan.A recent internationalsurveyconductedfor a
Japanesehousingconstructionfirm,for example,polledcouples
with workingwives in three cities, findingthat 97% (of those
polled) in Tokyo preparedbreakfastfor their families almost
daily (comparedwith 43% in New Yorkand 34% in London);
70% shoppedfor grocerieson a daily basis (3% in New York,
14% in London),and that only 22% of them had husbands
who assistedor were willing to assist with housework(62% in
New York, 77% in London) (quoted in Chicago Tribune
1991). For a recent anthropologicalstudy of Japanesehousewives in English, see Imamura(1987). Japanesesources include Juristo z'kan sogo tokushu 1985; Mirai shakan 1979;
Ohirasarino seifu kenky'kai 3.
1OMycomments pertain directly, of course, to only the
women I observed,interviewed,and interactedwith at the one
private nurseryschool serving middle-classfamilies in urban
Tokyo. The profusionof obent'-relatedmaterialsin the press
plus the revelationsmade to me by Japaneseand observations
made by other researchersin Japan(for example,Tobin 1989;
Fallows 1990), however,substantiatethis as a more general
phenomenon.

JAPANESE MOTHERSAND OBENTOS

"To illustratethis preoccupationand consciousness:during the time my son was not eating all his obent- many fellow
mothersgave me suggestions,one motherlent me a magazine,
his teacher gave me a full set of:obent' cookbooks(one per
I
season),and anothermothergave me a set of small frozenfood
portionsshe had made in advancefor future obenlos.
'2My son's teacher,Hamada-sensei,cited this explicitlyas
one of the reasonswhy the obent' was such an importanttraining device for nursery school children. "Once they become
ichinensei(first-graders)they'llbe faced with a varietyof food,
preparedwithout elaborationor much spice, and will need to
eat it within a delimitedtime period."
'3Ananonymousreviewerquestionedwhethersuch emphasis placed on consumptionof food in nurseryschool leads to
food problemsand anxieties in later years. Although I have
heardthat anorexiais a phenomenonnow in Japan, I question
its connectionto nurseryschoolobent's. Much of the meaning
of the latter practice,as I interpretit, has to do with the interface between productionand consumption,and its gender
linkage comes from the productionend (mothers making it)
rather than the consumptionend (childreneating it). Hence
while controlis taught throughfood, it is not a controllinked
primarilyto females or bodily appearance,as anorexia may
tend to be in this culture.
"Fujita argues, from her experienceas a workingmother
of a daycare(hoikuen) child, that the substanceof these daily
talks betweenteacherand motheris intentionallyinsignificant.
Her interpretationis that the mother is not to be overly involvedin nor too informedabout mattersof the school (1989).
""Boku"is a personalpronounthat males in Japanuse as
a familiarreferenceto themselves.Those in close relationships
with males-mothers and wives, for example-can use boku to
referto their sons or husbands.Its use in this contextis telling.
"'6nthe upper third grade of the nurseryschool (nench'a
class; childrenaged five to six) my son attended,childrenwere

207

orderedto bringtheirobent' with chopsticksand not forksand

spoons (considered easier to use) and in the traditional
furoshiki (piece of cloth which enwrapsitems and is double
tied to close it) instead of the easier-to-manage
obent' bags
with drawstrings.Bothfuroshiki and chopsticks(o-hashi) are
consideredtraditionallyJapaneseand their usage marks not
only greater effort and skills on the part of the childrenbut
their enculturationinto being Japanese.
17For the mother'srole in the educationof her child, see,
for example,White (1987). For an analysis,by a Japanese,of
the intensedependenceon the motherthat is createdand cultivated in a child, see Doi (1971). For Japanesesourceson the
mother-childrelationshipand the ideology (some say pathology) of Japanesemotherhood,see Yamamura(1971); Kawai
(1976); Kytitoku(1981); Sorifu seihonen taisaku honbuhen
shinsha (1981). Fujita'saccountof the ide(1981); KadeshobQ
ology of motherhoodat the nurseryschool level is particularly
interestingin this connection(1989).
"'Womenare enteringthe labormarketin increasingnumbers yet the proportionto do so in the capacity of part-time
workers(legally constitutingas much as thirty-fivehours per
week but without the benefitsaccordedto full-time workers)
has also increased.The choice of part-timeover full-timeemploymenthas much to do with a woman'ssimultaneousand
almosttotal responsibilityfor the domesticrealm(Juristo1985;
see also Kondo 1990).
"'As Fujita(1989: 72-79) pointsout, workingmothersare
treated as a separate category of mothers,and non-working
mothersare expected,by definition,to be mothersfull time.
20Nakane'smuch quoted text on Japanesesociety states
this male positionin structuralistterms (1970). Thoughdated,
see also Vogel (1963) and Rohlen(1974) for descriptionsof the
social roles for middle-class,urbanJapanesemales. For a succinct recent discussionof gender roles within the family, see
Lock (1990).

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