and the best way to enjoy the blossoms is an outdoor picnic with friends.

春といえばピクニックですね！

Picnics become super popular this time of year,

春の楽しいピクニックには

and along with picnics comes the ubiquitous Japanese lunch: the bento.

日本の "お弁当" が欠かせません

[Life in Japan Theme Song]

サラ 弁当箱で遊んでるの？

Oh Sarah, are you digging into your bento?

- いいね - ミートボール食べた？

Yes? Oh my goodness.. You ate all your meatballs already?

何食べてる？ 海苔とご飯？

What do you guys do? Do you do the nori ... with the rice?

チキンを挟むの？

And you put some chicken in it too or just like that?

こんな感じ

Uh, just like this.

本格的な弁当です！

Now these guys have real bentos here.

今日のお弁当は？タカコ？

What kind of bento did you bring today, Takako?

サーモン！

Today is salmon bento

それ自作？

"Shake" bento — salmon

コンビニのみたい！

Looks delicious!

"お弁当" は日本ならではの ランチボックスです

Wow!

- ご飯美味しい？ - うん

Wow for real

いいね

Wow — that's good.

ルースが作ってくれた ステーキ弁当です

Everyone's different

ヨシさんを見て

She loves onigiri

写真家とモデルたちです

It looks like it's from a convenience store

完了？

Did you make that? Yes.

お弁当を食べたら 春を満喫しましょう！

You made that?! Wow!

お弁当と花見は 最高の組み合わせです

It looks like a convenience store.

電話貸して

You put nori here

- 写真撮る - 順番だよ

You put the onigiri (rice ball) here

うん！

If you do this

新しいステッキ？

You open it.

すごいね

It's nice, isn't it?

- 釣りをしてるの？ - 銅像かな？

It's like a convenience store.

釣られちゃったかな？！

So the nori is crispy.

元気？

Really, a bento is just the Japanese word for any prepared or packaged lunch that you take with you (or buy along the way).

ミサさんに日本風お弁当を 教えてもらう事にしました

Hey Dude! Is lunch good? Yeah.

3人の女の子のお母さん お弁当のプロです！

Good.

ミサさんの家に来ました

Here's what Ruth made me — it's steak and rice. Oh, it's going to be so good!

可愛いお弁当の作り方を 教えてくれます

Wait wait, look at Yoshi.

彼女はマッサージの プロでもあります！

Everyone's so cute!

すごい！

The photographer's side and those being "photographered"

リフレッシュサロン・ミサ

"Photographered?"

可愛いお弁当を作るために

Once you've enjoyed a good bento, then you can fully enjoy the beautiful spring blossoms of Japan.

可愛いグッズも準備しました！

Bentos and Blossoms are a match made in heaven — well, really Japan.

これらはカット済みです

Can I have your phone?

アンパンマンのソーセージ

What, I want your phone. OK take turns, OK?

すごいわ！

Yea!

砂糖

Whoa Dude! Did you find a cool stick to use?

楽しい！

Awesome.

お母さんは皆同じ

What are you doing? Are you fishing? Are you a statue?

味付きの塩

Ah, look, are you fishing? Did you catch.... Aw look, you caught a cute little girl. Look, aww!

いいレンジ！

Hi, how are you?!

オムレツ

After seeing the beautiful homemade Japanese bentos, we thought we'd ask Misa san to show us how she does it.

少しずつがポイント 丸めて 継ぎ足して

With three girls of her own, she knows all about making obentos.

それを繰り返すの

Today we've come to our friends' house, Misa san!

玉子焼き器も欲しいわ

She's going to teach us how to make kawaii (cute) obentos

ハンドルもいいね

Plus, I just found out that she has a massage salon,

子供達は…

So excited!

皆はゲームしてます

Fresh Salon, by Misa san.

♪次の世界に行こう！♪

Today we're making kawaii obentos and my friend went grocery shopping

早く食べたい！

And bought some super cute, prepackaged little things.

すぐ調理できるような

These are already pre-cut.

大きさにして冷凍してるの

Look at these ampanman little sausages.

- 温めてるね - そうよ

Oh my goodness!

お弁当箱 忘れちゃったわ

Fun!

色んな大きさや 形の箱があるの

Egg

無限よ

white soy sauce

速い！

What are you making now?

おにぎりの正しい作り方

Japanese fried eggs

日本のお母さん流！

What was that?

小さな三角形

Sweet sake

最高に可愛い

Ah, sugar.

お弁当です

This is so fun!

可愛いでしょ？

There's no time in the morning!

中身は鮭よ

That's true

手伝って

No time to beat

枝豆に入れるの

My type of mom.

豆を刺します

fast is better

家でも出来るわね

Which one?

めっちゃ可愛い！

This one

- ご馳走ね！ - 本当！

Anpanman Oh my

コーンだよ！

Edamame

そうだよね！

Do you always put them in?

すごいわ！

Sarah loves them.

食べていい？

Seasoned salt.

完成！

Nice

- 食べていい？ - 待って！

Omelet

玉子がまだ！

I'm not that good...

何回か見て 練習しないと

Maybe you should watch YouTube...

（※このお弁当で どこに出掛けようか？）

You do a little bit, roll it, push it out and put the rest of your egg in

- 余った豆食べていい？ - どうぞ

And then you keep rolling it.

ジョシュア 見て！

Very interesting. I need to buy this type of skillet.

お弁当が完成しました！

It's got a cool handle with it, too.

- すごいね！ - 最高！

Well done.

豆とコーン 鶏肉、玉子とご飯

The peanut gallery over there...

- ソーセージ - 何？

Meanwhile over here, there's some games going on.

- ポテトも - 大好き！

(Singing) Let's go to the next world, yeah!

サラの好物は？

It's looking good.

- 緑の豆！ - 枝豆だね

How much stuff that I want to eat!

どう？

Cut them into the useful portions...

美味しい？いいね！

Freeze them, then cook it together.

もう食べた！

So she has it all cut and ready to go.

完食

She freezes it in the right proportions.

セナちゃんがピザを作ってる

one by one

ピザマスター

They're heating up in there, aren't they? Yes they are.

- お腹すいた - これからご馳走だよ！

And now, the bento box?

私はピザハットで働いていました

I forgot our bento boxes.

- うそ！ピザの配達だっけ？ - そう

So they have all sizes and styles and colors and dividers

（※何年も前に）

It's just endless

そのナッツで どうやって遊ぶの？

Sena, soon you will be in 6th grade, right?

投げて 向こうの部屋に 入る前に取るの

The same as Anna and Rebecca.

入る前にね

Onigiris for children are difficult because they're small.

私もやりたい！

This one portion can be used for one big onigiri

- いい？ - ダメ

So fast!

お弁当を食べてます！ 美味しい？

About like that.

ピザも完成しました！

I just learned how to make onigiris the professional way.

見て！

By a Japanese mom.

全部食べれそう？

The professional way.

- ここ食べるの - OK

And now from here...

ビザを食べます

It's that little triangle.

チキンとポテトもあります！

Oh cute!

- 本物のポテトだよ！ - もちろん

If you do it like this...

ゲーム大会です！

and like this...

すごい

It's easy to eat.

誰が投げるの？

Now this is the part that helps make it super cute

誰が投げるの？サラ？

Is how they put it all in the bento box.

サラの番

Isn't that cute?!

セナ・ジャンプ！

That's got salmon inside of it.

サラも！ジャンプ！

Which one should we use?

ジョシュア 見えないわ

Help

This

Put them in the edamame.

Now stick that thing!

Anna's first go at it

Wow

One more

Now you can make bentos at home.

One more

Aw, so cute!

Because it won't fit in a small one,

I'll put the chicken in here.

That's quite the lunch. It is.

I knew there was corn - ha ha!

I knew it!

Wow! Look at that!

Can I eat it now?!

It's the finished...

Oh wait!

Oh egg! Wait, we're not done.

I'm going to watch this over and over so I can make it.

And now, where can it go?

How can we?

We need a bigger bento box!

Can I eat these two now? Sure.

Joshua, look!

Look at that complete bento box!

That is awesome. Amazing.

There's the beans, there's some corn, chicken, some eggs and rice.

Sausage... What are these?

Potato Oh, I really want it!

How many times have you made a bento lunch?

Oh Sarah, what's one of your favorite things?

Green beans. Edamame beans, right?

How is it?

Yummy? Oh good.

Yum! Oh, you finished it!

done.

Ah, Sena is making pizza.

Pizza master.

I'm really hungry. Well good, we're going to eat.

Sena, what's your favorite kind of pizza?

Probably margarita.

Nate also Yes, I also like it.

And now Anna's making the pizza.

I worked at Pizza Hut.

What?! Oh, you delivered pizza. Uh huh.

Many years ago.

OK, let's see. You got your nut and what are you doing?

Throw it and now I need to try to get it before it goes inside here.

Oh, before it goes in there you save it!

Can I try it? Can I try?

Can I try? No.

Now they're eating the bentos — how are they? Tasty?

Oh, the pizzas are coming out — yummy!!

Look at this!

You're going to eat the whole thing?

No, only this little part. Oh, OK

Oh, now we get to have some pizza,

We get to eat some chicken and French fries and ooo, yummy stuff!

These are real French fries. They sure are real French fries.

And it's a Wii party time — oh my!

Oh boy!

Whose throwing?

Whose throwing? Sarah?

Sarah's throwing.

Oooooohhhhhh!

Sena jumps!

Jump Sarah, jump!

Joshua, we can't see you!

Picture!