Bento Box

My Bento (lunch box) given to me by a friend in Japan

I enjoy Japanese culture. My first visit to Japan was in 1985. I was in the Army, a combat medic in the infantry. This was a period of peace. There were no global conflicts. The Vietnam war was over. The quick US invasion of Grenada was over. It was a relatively peaceful time and my trip to Japan was a joint training exercise with the Japanese ground forces. I stayed at a Marine base at the base of Mt. Fuji for about a month. We did the things that the infantry do, we went to the range and honed our skills in targeting with fully automatic weapons. Practicing our land navigation skills and receiving a brief about our time off. We were told that we would see Japanese protesters along the perimeter fence, they would hold signs and chant anti-American armed forces things. We were told that would stop about five p.m. and we could leave the base at six. There were several Japanese bars, restaurants and Izakaya within walking distance.

You will be sharing those places with the protesters…

And it was true. 

Japanese people are some of the best people on our planet. Politics are ills of a necessary evil, the government. We are people, friends of the Japanese people. We were off work and it is time to enjoy a beer, maybe a little food and talk about our interests. We are not the enemy. We are people first.

I learn about humanity and the human condition from Japanese culture. We are people first, citizens next and protesting peacefully is absolutely necessary. Speaking of being people first, if someone is a supporter of the current in power administration of the United States government, they are not people I want to share my time with. They can fuck off. My time is far too valuable to spend with people that do not support diversity and law.

This being said, later, I travelled to Japan two more times as a fisherman. I meet with old and young Japanese fishermen. We traveled to the mountain streams to enjoy a little trout fishing here and there. I travelled from one group to another sharing stories of my own culture and drinking, celebrating life with my friends. Rarely did we talk politics but when we did, the government was always referred to as necessary, usually not good and not well run. Mostly we spoke of each others time growing up, our families and what it was like living in each others country.

Japanese culture is interesting. It is central to the human condition. In busy areas, people are polite, if someone drops something, people help pick it up. Because everyone is helpful, the seemingly chaotic crowded streets are not so random but contain order. Everybody everywhere is doing something different but everyone contributes to the whole by operating with a simple set of orderly politeness.

It is an amazing thing to participate in and understand.

My bento box was presented to me as a gift. I use it for leftovers from dinner for lunch the next day. It is made of wood and natural cloth. The joints are pinned with wood, there is no metal and the lacquer covers the entirety of the wood.

It is a traditional Japanese item used everyday and every time I use it I am reminded of just how cool the Japanese people are and how they look at humanity.