Bento.

Honjo Mutsuo

In the shinkansen from Tokyo to Hakata. At this point, I was still enjoying this bento I got right outside the station ― I don’t know if you agree, but those 駅弁 are getting more expensive while the quality seems to be dropping. Little did I know: a terrible storm near Hiroshima was about to delay my trip by 5 hours! Had never experienced this before so it was a bit of an adventure, but I got where I needed to go in the end….という意味で、想い出の一葉.

From 本庄陸男「お菜のない弁当」

身体検査がはじまった。帽子の裏をひっぺがしたりした揚句、とうとう弁当箱の蓋を取れ――と来た。お菜の何にもはいっていない弁当がいくつもあった。流石の憲兵もしまいには人間並の眼色をただよわして云ったものだ。
「この弁当じゃあ全く遣り切れんなア――」

• ひっぺがす　　　　　　　　to (aggressively) rip/tear off

• 揚句　　　あげく　　　　　after, finally

• 蓋　　　　ふた　　　　　　lid

• お菜　　　おかず／おさい　side dishes (everything except the rice)

• 流石　　　さすが…も　　　even

• 憲兵　　　けんぺい　　　　military police

• 眼色　　　めいろ　　　　　facial expression

• 云う　　　いう　　　　　　to say

• 遣り切る　やりきる　　　　to bring to completion, (here:) to get through the day

Translation:

Then, the physical inspections began. After ripping off the lining inside our hats and the sort, they eventually made us lift up the lids of our bento boxes. There were quite a few bentos with nothing but rice in them. Finally, even the military police officer’s face showed a hint of humanity as he said:
”These bentos are not enough to get you through the day….”