Japanese Mothers and Obentos: "...women find play and creativity not outside of their social role...

1. What is Obento

1.1. Part of every day Japanese life

1.2. prepared by the mothers

1.3. Food is put into an Obento

1.4. Obento is taken to school by the children

1.5. Perfectly structured meal, strategically place in the Obento.

2. Nursery School and the Obento

2.1. Transitioning the child from home to the real world

2.2. Takes the mother 20-45 minutes to complete

2.3. Included are things a child may not like. Teaches them to do things they dont necessarily want to.

2.4. "..the obento is meant as a device to assist a child in the struggles of first adjusting to school"...(257)

2.5. "...the mothers role generally is perceived as being the support...she will perform endless tasks to assist in her child's study..." ( 257).

3. Why Obento

3.1. gendered state ideology

3.2. "no food is just food in Japan" (251)

3.3. Food is a sign of the culture

3.4. Freshness, healthiness

3.5. Says everything about the mother and the child

4. Obento and the relationship with the school and state

4.1. school teaches children who to be and how to act

4.2. schools are responsible for socially constructing children

4.3. Teaches children to be comminted

4.4. Shows the mothers commitment to her family

4.5. Teaches children especially girls the role they must take on as a woman and as a mother.

4.6. Provides structure to the childs life.

4.7. Obento represents structure in a non-structured reality which is the world outside of school

4.8. "Learning is hard work with few choices or pleasures" (255)