NY Times blog post on bento box aesthetics in Japan

There’s an interesting post on the New York Times Room For Debate blog today (link [1]).

The main question they asked of some designer and artist types:

What does the care devoted to the visual details in a packed lunch suggest about the culture? Why is such value placed on aesthetics in everyday life in Japan?

I have some thoughts about this, but I thought I’d open it up to debate first. What do you think about that question, and what about the responses?