Many regular bento makers like to collect different bento boxes. I am no exception myself; I haven't quite counted up my collection yet, but I know I own way more than I should! I try to justify it by telling myself it's all for research, for articles and books and such....and to a certain extent it is. If I were not writing about bentos regularly, I may only have a few boxes for everyday use for The Guy and myself. The Guy actually prefers one plain, black box over any others and would be perfectly happy with using that every day.

It's fun to collect bento boxes, but it isn't necessary to have more than just one, practical box that you like. So, this week I'd like to put the spotlight on two such minimalist, one-box bento bloggers.

First up is Tegan, who has just started to blog about her bentos at Bento Adobencha. She is using the two-tier, highly compartmentalized Hello Kitty bento I used for Complete Bento no. 80. Judging from the variety of what's she's put in there so far, she's well on her way to being a top bentoist! Check out her progress on her blog and Flickr stream.

Tegan may choose to acquire more bento boxes eventually, or follow the path of another bento blogger. Toyama-san is a salaryman from Aichi prefecture (where the city of Nagoya is). He has been quietly posting the bentos made by "my Kaoru" at Kyou no Obento (Today's Obento) since July 2004. In the sidebar, he writes that he originally meant to just post the bentos for a year, but he's managed to continue posting them up to this day. So far there are an astonishing 1,392 bentos posted! All by 15 of those are made by Kaoru-san; the 15 are made by Toyama-san himself. The blog has a beautiful consistency. All the bentos are packed in the same light blue plastic bento box, and photographed from the same angle.

Each post has the photo and a list of the contents, and that's it. Taken singly they could be considered boring, but I think it's a remarkable expression of love and appreciation for "my Kaoru". As a chronicle of one Japanese person's bento life for the last 7 years, you could argue that the blog even has a social-historical significance. I've been following his blog even before JustBento was a glimmer in my eye. You could say that it was one of the many inspirations for my starting a bento blog. Looking over the entries as I write this, it reminds me again of the beauty of everyday bentos, - and that I should just chronicle more of my own bentos to keep a record of them!

See more great bento ideas from around the bento blog community!

(As always, if you want your idea to catch my eye, the best way is to join the Just Bento or Just Bento Bento Gear groups on Flickr and post them there. Don’t forget to post a link to your blog in the description if you have one.)