High School Seniors in Japan Share the Last Lunch Bentos Their Parents Made Them

A bunch of teenagers about to graduate high school in Japan have been sharing photos of the last lunch bentos their parents made for them, and it’s absolutely adorable. I am a person who cries very easily, and I must warn my fellow easy-criers that they might need a tissue, because some of these lunch boxes made me cry almost as much as the latest episode of This Is Us.

According to Sora News 24, it’s graduation season in Japan right now, and a lot of students are about to leave high school forever. All of a sudden a lot of the normal, daily parts of their lives will change. There will probably be no more school uniforms, no more walking to school with all the same friends, and no more lunch boxes made by their parents.

A lot of graduating high schoolers and their parents have been commemorating “last bento day” on Twitter by posting photos of the last school lunches their parents made them.

This girl says her mom has been making these cute, tasty bentos every day, and they always made her really happy.

“This was the last bento of my high school life,” this girl wrote. “Thank you for making delicious lunches for me for three years.”

Some of these bento clearly took a lot of time and skill to put together! When I look at these pictures, I definitely feel like I need to up my lunch game. But it’s also really sweet to see that all that effort is appreciated.

This girl got her last bento from her mom, and she filled the boxes with candy as a little surprise when she gave them back, with a note to say thank you to her mom for making so many delicious bentos for her.

This student posted to thank his mom for making delicious bentos for him for three years, and she even added some Pocky as a special treat because she knew this was the last one. He seems to be feeling a little chagrined because he didn’t think of sending it back with a thank you inside like some of the other kids were doing.

This guy says his mom woke up early to make bentos for him every single day. This last one came with an orange, and a little note from his mom that says it makes her a little sad to think that she won’t make them for him anymore.

“But if you ever want one again, I’ll still make it for you!” she says. (This one really got me. This is a two-tissue bento.)

This girl posted a photo of her last high school bento from her dad, and said it was the first time there’d ever been a note in her lunch for her. She says she cried when she got it. She was definitely not the only person shedding tears over these lunches.

This poor kid actually missed it! She says she ate her lunch not realizing it was her “last bento day.”

“Can you really not eat mom’s bento after you go to college?” she asked. “Time passes too quickly!”

Time really does pass quickly, but I’m sure her mom will make her another one.