tsum

As we expect you already know, character lunch boxes or “chara-ben,” short for “character bento,” are all the rage in Japan. And their creators are rarely shy about sharing their awesome work, so you can find hundreds of examples of how to make lunch time more adorable on social media networks like Instagram and Twitter.

One of the biggest themes for chara-ben right now is Disney’s Tsum Tsum, a line of stuffed toys that has been adapted into a smartphone game by Line. There were so many great photos, we had to compile our favorite Tsum Tsum chara-ben shots from Instagram for you to check out. But don’t forget to grab a snack, because you’re definitely going to get hungry!

▼ Some of the Tsum Tsum plushies available for sale

Tsum Tsum has proven to be quite the hit both in Japan and abroad, with over 10 million downloads and just the right blend of addictive gameplay and chance. So the question wasn’t if there would be Tsum Tsum character lunch boxes, but how awesome they would turn out. And the answer is: Pretty flippin’ awesome!

Our first chara-ben Instagrammer is ryoko7494, who says that she’s never played Tsum Tsum but decided to make a bento with the Tsum Tsum version of Olaf from Frozen. She has hundreds of other adorable character bento photos on Instagram, so we decided to share a couple of our favorites!

https://instagram.com/p/zyS0xchSCN/

https://instagram.com/p/3ZwQUehSAE/

https://instagram.com/p/7GqbJuhSOH/

The next Tsum Tsum chara-ben is from from ni_no_mi,  who isn’t quite so prolific when it comes to chara-ben photos. We still love this Micky and Minnie combination, though.

https://instagram.com/p/7lptZCLwlD/

Another busy chara-ben creator, _ichii, has produced a seemingly endless number of character lunch boxes. She even has multiple Tsum Tsum creations, like the one featuring Pooh and Piglet and another with Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Continuing our parade of adorable food, mihov3vo is another active producer of character bento. You can follow her bento-making adventures here.

This Tsum Tsum chara-ben was made by ronpi.f, who also posts photos of her handmade bread and other character creations. We particularly loved her Hello Kitty pasta!

And here are some character lunch boxes made by ayc505. She’s even got an actual Tsum Tsum lunch box! Now that is some serious dedication.

https://instagram.com/p/6YXgLvtRtM/

Our next Instagrammer is meg.miz.kano.0303, who hasn’t posted too many photos. But she definitely has some talent to share — we love these cute Tsum Tsum rice balls!

https://instagram.com/p/220vqkIv7W/

Here is a Tsum Tsum bento produced by tysm0124 on a rainy day — the perfect time to get creative, if you ask us!

https://instagram.com/p/3zows4Jn8J/

Our next chara-ben is from nemo0018, who has posted a number of her creations on Instagram. She hasn’t produced hundreds of character lunch boxes yet, but she’s definitely got a good start!

https://instagram.com/p/2As-k3kltA/

https://instagram.com/p/5GP0vWElnX/

Here is another Tsum Tsum chara-ben, this time from maaaa_1007, along with an omelet and rice version of Whinny the Pooh. It’s almost too realistic to eat!

https://instagram.com/p/40DEOGDWms/

https://instagram.com/p/7tkuvRjWjg/

Another active producer of character lunch boxes, 39biscuit has hundreds of photos of her work up on Instagram. In addition to the Tsum Tsum bento below, we also had to include her Snoopy bento. It’s just too bad she didn’t include an egg version of Woodstock!

https://instagram.com/p/6n5DRCmCUf/

https://instagram.com/p/6dios0GCc1/

When it comes to Disney bento boxes, yukariotsu might be the most active producer on Instagram. With hundreds of chara-ben photos posted, it’s no surprise she’s also made a couple of Tsum Tsum lunch boxes as well.

Up next, emistagram85 hasn’t posted hundreds of chara-ben photos like other Instagrammers have, but we can’t argue with her results here!

https://instagram.com/p/2VapmaJ6Fx/

This entry is from mayo_0608, who, again, isn’t a huge poster of chara-ben photos. But these rice balls are the stuff adorable legends are made of.

The next Instagrammer on our list is 05sachi09, who mostly posts photos of delicious-looking food, though not many character bento pictures. But that hasn’t stopped her form producing two awesome Tsum Tsum boxed lunches!

Our last pair of boxed lunch photos are from keinanana, a relatively active Instagram user who has posted a number of cute chara-ben photos. In addition to her Tsum Tsum creation, we also just had to share her Totoro lunch box as well. Disney and Ghibli? A match made in animation heaven!

https://instagram.com/p/7emEKpv_34/

https://instagram.com/p/2H5GZgP_wt/

If you’ve never played Tsum Tsum before, you can check out a gameplay video here. Essentially, it’s a fast-paced matching game with adorable, baby-like Disney characters — perfect for bored adults and children! The game is available for both Android and iOS devices. You can find plushies through Disney’s online store. For those of you living in Japan, the Japanese store can be accessed here.

Reference: Gamme
Top image: Instagram/mihov3vo