A peanut butter sandwich, some carrot sticks, a bag of chips, and maybe some cookies. The standard fare of an American elementary-school aged child whose mom makes him bring his own lunch to school. This meal gets the job done but, needless to say, neither thrills nor delights the senses.

In Japan, moms believe that lunch should do both. Japanese school children bring bento boxes from home. Instead of having the Disney princesses and super heroes on the outside, these boxes have them on the inside–in the form of the lunch itself. Bento boxes are small, and come with several compartments for storing different kinds of food, but there’s room inside for plenty of creativity. Bento box art has even created a special market, with restaurant supplies and cooking accessories being sold just for the purpose of designing your next lunch.

These tools are used to slice, shape, and arrange the food to represent a pattern, a face, or even a favorite toy. For instance, you may arrange your salad on a bed of rice to resemble a pastoral scene or make a sushi roll that resembles Hello Kitty. In fact, seaweed, usually used in Japanese cooking to wrap a sushi roll, is one of the most useful materials in a bento box, especially when the artist is trying to represent a face. It is about the only healthy food with a black coloring that is easy to manipulate, and is an essential ingredient when putting the finishing touches on an eyeball.

A balanced aesthetic is highly prized in bento boxes, along with variety in the colors and a stylish manner of presentation. These creations may look almost too good to eat, and schools and workplaces have been known to conduct competitions to see who can bring the most beautiful lunch. Although packed with healthy foods and delicious tastes, with bento boxes, appearances matter the most.