Cavalock and The Lunchbox Chase

During every single one of my trips to Japan, I would always head to Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku and gawk at the Bento lunch boxes on sale. You got your classic Japanese designs as well as everybody's favorite Hello Kitty ones too. I always thought it would be cool to bring a sleek black one to work and well, enjoy a hot home-cooked meal kinda like the ones you get at Ootoya at Orchard Central. But do I buy one? Nope, cos it's too expensive and I know no one's gonna use it. I mean, why buy something expensive and then not use it, rite?

So how did this arrive in the office a couple of months ago?

Well, a month before that I took part in an online contest organized by a Japanese website. The site's in English and all I gotta do is send in food pix about Tokyo! And I got a ton of those from my trips to the city. Did a short write-up about my food experience there and uploaded a bunch of food pix from my last trip.

Next thing I know, they told me I was one of three winners. Each of us could choose a lunch box from a pretty long list. I picked this black and rather manly-looking one.

It comes with a big black pouch to put your lunch box in. On the web page, it says it's mirco-wavable but when it arrived, there's note that said otherwise (in Japanese).

Comes in two layers as in an upper and lower compartment, with a elastic band too! I guess you would place the rice below.

As you peel the lid off the top compartment, you'll see a small tray for those little appetizers I think.

They even slipped in a free pack of tissues!

So there you go, after all these years I finally got my Japanese lunch box for free. Now I just have to learn how to prepare a meal to go in it.