Lunchbox philosophy, or the world according to the Japanese
lunchbox: how an object of sublime beauty offers a key to
understanding Japanese aesthetics, design, and culture. The
Makunouchi Bento, or traditional Japanese lunchbox, is a highly
lacquered wooden box divided into quadrants, each of which contains
different delicacies. It is also one of the most familiar images of
Japan's domestic environment. When presented to the diner, the
Japanese lunchbox seems straightforward enough; each of four food
portions resides in its own compartment, apparently obeying a
strict lunchbox geometry. So far, just food. But Kenji Ekuan
reveals that a much deeper reading is possible, one that sees the
lunchbox as nothing less than a key to an understanding of Japanese
civilization, the spirit of form, and the aesthetic ideal in which
the many are reduced to one. Ekuan reads the Japanese lunchbox as
both object and metaphor. It is one of this book's many charms that
he is able to see it as both simultaneously. He compares the visual
pleasures of the Zen lunchbox to an aerial view of the Japanese
archipelago; he invites us to savor its quadripartite structure as
we savor the four seasons. In so doing, he unlocks the secrets of
ancient Japanese rituals, celebrates the aesthetics of Japanese
design, explores the contours of Japanese landscapes and
technology, and delineates the forty-eight rules of the etiquette
of Japanese form. With an agility more characteristic of poetry
than of design criticism, he connects everything from food,
television, motorcycles, package tours, and department stores to
landscape, ecology, computers, and radios, all the while keeping
his eye on his subject. In this book of magical transformations,
nothing is what it first appears, but everything is deepened by
"lunchbox theory." Consider the influence of the lunchbox on TV
viewing, for example: chopsticks are used to stroll through a meal,
just as remote control devices are used to browse TV channels. This
book reveals a world of secret connections between its covers, in
the spirit of the lunchbox itself.
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