Japanese handmade Japanese-style bento, delivering the taste of home

Japan's school nutrition lunches are of a high standard and have made a name for themselves overseas, and reporters from News&Market have also produced a series of reports on them, but have you ever thought about what these children eat for dinner?

Quitting her job as a nutritionist to focus on nutritious dinners for elementary and junior high school students

"My child eats bread from the convenience store at cram school in the evening, but I have to work, and I really don't have time to prepare a bento for him..."

The parent's words came as a shock to Shiina Nobue, who was then working as a nutritionist at an elementary school in Nerima Ward, Tokyo: "We prepare lunch with so much care, and yet the children end up eating that at night!" Add to that a parent's offhand sigh, "If only there were nutritious dinners," and she decided to quit the nutritionist job she had held for five years and instead make "nutritious dinners" for the children. "Even without me, there are other nutritionists for school lunches, but children in their growth period absolutely need a nutritionally balanced dinner!"

Competition for school advancement in Japan is fierce, and elementary school children often attend cram school until late to get into private junior high schools. Parents who have time will bring bento over, while those who have to work can only give their children money to buy food themselves. After Shiina quit her job, the first person she visited was the president of Nichinoken, Japan's largest cram school chain, with classrooms all over the country.

At the time she was only 26 years old, had no funding, and did not yet know how to take the next step, but as soon as the president heard her idea for nutritious dinners, he readily agreed: "Please do deliver bento to our children!" And he encouraged her: "Once you're ready, let us know right away!"

Four months later, in November 2013, Shina founded the FCN (Farmer Child Nutrition) bento shop, specializing in bento for elementary and junior high school students, and from December began delivering to Nichinoken classrooms in the metropolitan area. Shiina rented an izakaya as her workspace, and every evening she rode a white delivery vehicle to deliver the bento.