だるま 弁当箱―駅弁の散歩
To eat one of the fresh prepacked lunchboxes with a local delicacy while
riding a train is one of the joys of this country. But beware, or you
will end up as one of my German friends. He bought a delicious looking
pink box with red ribbon wrapped around it, but when he opened it he looked
bewildered. "What is wrong?"I asked him. "I thought I had
bougth a box of chocolates (Pralinen), but what is this? Dead fish and
cold rice! Horrible! I lost all my appetite for sweets!" What happened
is a comon thing: you take an image of your own culture and project it
into an unknown culture. Pink and red ribbon equals chocolate box in Europe,
but not in Japan! So even while buying a simple lunchbox we have to learn
about cultural differences.
I always tell this story to make people aware of the problems of intercultural
differences. Japanese men wear a suit and necktie, but the heart inside
is quite different!
The HP Ekiben Everywhere gives you an English
introduction.
http://jin.jcic.or.jp/nipponia/nipponia11/spot01.html
Here is a list of all the different Station Lunchboxes (ekiben) of Japan.
Click on any of the area names to get there.
日本各地方の駅弁リスト：
北海道 東北 関東 北陸 中部 関西 中国 四国 九州
On the following HP you find a list of names on the left in the column
called 駅弁名. Click on anyone to have a look at a special container for
a lunchbox.
弁当箱の種類はこちらのＨＰにあります：
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~vn4t-nnmy/youki.htm
You can also check about various Ekiben here:
http://www26.freeweb.ne.jp/art/jinraku/ekiben.html
Just to mention one other special lunchbox of my area, in Okayama you
can get a Peach Boy Lunchbox 桃太郎弁当箱：
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~vn4t-nnmy/ekiben/momotaromatsurizushi.jpg
You even find a Daruma Bentoo on a HP in English:
http://nre.jp/english/ressya/sales/sale-bento&sand1.htm
Or order your Bentoo online in Japanese.
オンラインで注文が出きる：
http://www.takaben.co.jp/fobentou.htm
The most famous of all the Daruma Lunchboxes is of course the Takasaki
Bentoo.
The Takasaki Lunchbox contains fresh vegetables from the mountains of
Gunma Prefecture and the famous Sasanishiki rice of Yamagata Prefecture.
The Shiitake mushrooms are all grown in Japan and dried naturally. It
is all handmade and comes with a little bottle of local green tea. The
container is a box in the form of a Daruma without eyes, so you can paint
on eye when you make a special wish after finishing your delicious meal
and then hang the box on the wall or use it as a piggy bank. It will always
be your precious memory of a trip in Japan.
This delicious lunchbox is also sold at the highway rest areas around Takasaki Town. Nowadays it comes in red plastic, but for the memory of 10 Years of Japanese Railways there was a special green box and in memory of the Nagano Olympics the box was white.
When the tradition started, the boxes costed about 250 Yen and where made of gray or pink Seto pottery, as you can see in my examples at the end. The pink Daruma resembling a tumbler doll is especially appealing.
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だるま弁当 Takasaki Daruma Bentoo
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| ごはんの上にしいたけ、トリ肉、こんにゃく、山菜、たけのこ、クリ、花豆などの具が盛り付けられている。だるま型の容器は食べ終わったら貯金箱として利用できる。 | |
Anohter HP with Information about Takasaki Ekiben
高崎駅弁当についてのHP:
http://www.takaben.co.jp/darumabento.htm
Here is the green type mentioned above. You can also look at the white
one on this HP.
緑の箱や白い箱はこちらのHPで見られます。
（高崎弁当の会社から次ぎの説明文がきました。 ｢ピンクのものが初代だるま弁当で、昭和33年〜35年使用。
その後、昭和35年〜48年まで白い瀬戸焼のだるま弁当。 この後。現在の赤い器のだるま弁当です。
その他、プラスチックの容器で 緑の物が「長野新幹線開通記念」で期間限定発売。
白い物が「長野オリンピック開催記念」で期間限定発売です｣)
http://homepage1.nifty.com/1976/daruma/daruma.htm
Even Kittycat earns her ways as lunchbox in Takasaki. It comes with a
little pink sack to carry easily. This Bentoo was first sold in Heisei
12, on November the 15th.
高崎名物だるま弁当という駅弁がありますが、その別バージョンで、ハローキティのだるま弁当というのが、平成１２年の１１月１５日に発売されました。専用の袋つきです。
http://homepage1.nifty.com/k-kitagawa/ktdaruma.html
Another Lunchbox comes in the form of a little Snowman, Yukidaruma.
We met him already in the Snowman story, but here is the picture again.
Click on the belly to get a closer look at the contents.
雪だるま弁当:雪だるま型の容器の頭に鶏そぼろご飯､胴には鶏肉や山菜が｡920円。
（ 株）だるま 愛知県名古屋市中村区亀島2-1-1
052-452-2101
Talking about food, there are three more items I want to mention.
First there is a sort of Natto (fermented soybeans) with the name DARUMA
NATTO. If you do not know what Natto is, do not even try to eat
it. It is only for Advanced Japanese Visitors. (And we love it, but we
also eat German Handkaes!)
Second some sweets in the form of a Daruma tumbler doll, called Daruma
Ame.
I found two stores which advertise them on the internet.
仙台のだるま飴 Daruma sweets from Sendai
砂糖水飴を使用し縁起の良いだるまさんの形をした飴菓子の商品。
http://www.asakonet.co.jp/atmall/shop/021/fr_shop_021.html
Daruma sweets from the store Nagatoya in Aizu Wakamatsu
Third we have Daruma Rice Crackers, だるませんべい。
群馬の名物「祈願だるま」を形どった手焼きせんべい。糖分・塩分控えめですので、お子さまからお年寄りまでご賞味いただけます。
甘党、辛党どちら様でもご満足いただけるお煎餅です。
http://www8.gunmanet.ne.jp/g-ippin/01/05.htm
Finally let us have a look at my lunchboxes from Takasaki.
最後に私の弁当箱を見てください。
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If you know about any other food specialities with Daruma, please let
me know.
ほかに、だるまに関連した食べ物をご存知でしたら教えてください。
gokuraku@po.harenet.ne.jp
