Why is this convenience stores bento a box in a box? Some secret heating method? Waste of plastic?

by arnoldstrife

7 Comments

  1. arnoldstrife

    I was just curious if there’s a reason why this is a box in a box, the main box is kind of deep. Is there some sort of heating method like I put hot water in the bigger box to warm up the food or something? Or is there some other reason why they couldn’t just put the food in the main box to begin with.

    Edit: Ah for context, I’ve seen how like onigiri is wrapped and some other crazy japanese packaging, I was just wondering if I’m missing something here.

  2. itsnotaboutyou2020

    I’ve noticed a lot of Japanese convenience foods use a lot of excess packaging.

  3. VW-MB-AMC

    It is probably for heating in this case. I remember being a bit puzzled by this when I went there the first time. Elaborate packaging seems to not be uncommon. I remember that something as simple as a box of chocolate had several layers, and even a little cardboard tray to serve the chocolate on.

  4. still-at-the-beach

    To make it look good, that is all it’s for.

  5. barredbenny77

    The amount of single use plastic in Japan makes me wince

  6. This morning was plastic day for garbage here in Yokohama. I took out a giant bag of plastic wrappings, mostly from food items from the grocery and the konbini (convenience store). The Japanese are absolute worshippers of plastic. At the grocery yesterday all the meat and fish, for example, are packed in plastic boxes wrapped with plastic. At checkout, the cashier wraps it all again in a small plastic bag and you pay for this, plus pay for the big plastic bags for conveyance to your house. But before you go everyone packs their own bag at the packing island. There is tape and there is, yes, a big box of plastic bags to re-rewrap the seafood and meat. This means there are four plastic wraps, maybe five, before it gets sent home. Most of these wraps, if not all, end up in the giant plastic garbage bag like the one that I am setting on the street corner with all the other plastic garbage bags awaiting the garbage man.

  7. Could be to collect condensation when reheating/cooling so food doesn’t get too wet. Could just be that food is prepped in that original container and then fully packed when it’s ready to go on shelves. The separate compartments of the bento aren’t always the most structurally sound, so it’s to prevent the plastic breaking when you pick it up.

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