With nearly nine pounds of premium Japanese beef, there’s no room for any vegetables here.

When most people think of Japan’s bento, the first things that come to mind are the affordably priced boxed lunches sold at convenience stores, or the unassuming familial tastiness of bento made by a loving mother or wife. But bento can go high-end too, with gourmet ingredients and prices far beyond the 600 yen (US$5.35) that inexpensive store-bought bento usually cost.

For example, take a look at this meaty offering, filled with cuts of premium wagyu beef from Tottori Prefecture, which was recently rated as the highest-quality beef in all of Japan by the Wagyu Registry Association.

No room for vegetable side dishes here. Every compartment of the bento box is stuffed with beef, sitting atop a ration of Tottori-grown Kinu Musume rice.

Looks mouth-watering, doesn’t it? And it should, because this ultimate meat-lover’s bento will set you back 292,929 yen (US$2,615). That’s inclusive of 21,698 yen (US$194) worth of sales tax, meaning that the levy on this bento is enough for a whole month of ordinarily priced bento lunches.

On the plus side, you do get a gargantuan glut of beef, roughly four kilograms (8.8 pounds) of it, so this is clearly designed for sharing. The gigantic 60-centimeter (23.6-inch) box is also made out of actual wood instead of plastic, so it might be reusable, provided you don’t mind the fact that plenty of beef juices have probably soaked into the wood (and I’m guessing you don’t, if you’re the kind of person willing to drop nearly 300,000 yen on a single shipment of beef).

The regional theme continues with the seasonings, which include a dipping sauce flavored with Tottori-grown pears and wasabi raised in the prefecture.

As for the exact cuts of beef, they roughly correspond to their respective locations on the cow silhouette made by the bento compartments. So in addition to prime rib, tenderloin, sirloin tip, brisket, and the chuck tender, you’ll also get a few cuts that probably seem pretty exotic to Western palates, such as the tongue and temple.

Still, at this price you’ll probably want to at least try a bite of everything. The Tottori Wagyu Complete Cow bento can be purchased online here from bento delivery service Gochikuru, with orders being accepted between now and March 31. Fulfilling orders takes two weeks, but that should give your beef-craving friends plenty of time to complete their battle royale competition to decide who gets to eat with you.

Source: IT Media, Gochikuru
Images: Gochikuru

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he really misses the Kiki Steak restaurant in Yamaguchi Prefecture.