I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
Online stores for bento gear
Although fancy bento boxes and cute accessories from Japan aren’t at all necessary to pack a bento-style lunch, once you get into it you might develop a hankering for them. If you can’t find what you’re looking for at local stores using the worldwide Bento Store Locator map with user-generated store feedback, you might want to look into online sources. To this end, I’ve put together a list of online stores that stock a variety of bento gear.
The list below is not exhaustive, but please leave a comment with info to add reliable stores or update the shipping area on an existing store. Eventually I hope to incorporate these online store listings into the geographic Bento Store Locator (BSL) so that people can easily leave feedback on each store entry. Stores that seem particularly popular are underlined, but be sure to look around for the best price before you buy (I’ve seen some pretty steep mark-ups out there, especially on eBay!). This is not a particular endorsement of any of the following stores, although stores marked with an asterisk are affiliate links that support Lunch in a Box at no additional cost when you use them to shop. (Read on for the full list of online bento stores.)
Online Stores for Bento Gear
International Shipping:
- Bento Crazy: Boxes, accessories, cutters, molds, etc. Located in Japan, but international shipping. See also the store’s blog for product spotlights.
- I Love Obento: Bento boxes, bags, accessories, books, etc. Worldwide shipping
- J-List*: bento boxes, accessories, bento books & cookbooks, and assorted odd items from Japan. Click for their bento-related items on J-Box. (J-Box is their PG-rated site, J-List is their R-rated site.)
- Japan Centre: The Japan Centre online store in the U.K. has expanded their inventory of cheap Daiso goods, including a selection of bento gear for £1.49 and up (egg molds, bento boxes, sauce containers, picks, bento belts, food dividers, bags, chopsticks, disposable oshibori hand towels, onigiri rice molds, etc.). They ship non-perishable goods throughout Europe (see their delivery info page), so Europeans might want to check that out.
- Lunchboxes.com*: Thermal food jars, drink containers, insulated lunch bags & totes, and standard lunch boxes (good kids’ selection).
- Reusable Bags*: Laptop Lunchbox & sets, Sigg bento-style aluminum boxes, and To-Go Ware bamboo utensils. Use coupon code f70838 (case sensitive) for 20% off all orders until April 2009. Add code FREEACME (case sensitive) in the order comments section for a free Acme reusable bag on orders over US$25 (ACME Bags Workhorse Style 1501, Black Mesh).
- Shop Japanese-language auctions and online stores such as Rakuten and Yahoo! Japan with assistance from the services described on this page.
US Shipping:
- Asian Utensils: cooking tools and cookbooks
Amazon*: thermal lunch jars, bento boxes, insulated lunch bags, cooking and decorating equipment, and cookbooks. See the Lunch in a Box Amazon store for Biggie’s lunch-packing picks.
- Ichiban Kan online Japanese-style discount store: cheap bento gear and Japanese household goods; see my guide to their products for the lunch packer. Shipping to the continental U.S. only.
- Laptop Lunches: Americanized bento boxes (Laptop Lunchboxes) and accessories
- Lock & Lock (US sales through Heritage Mint and eLock&Lock)
- Lunchsense: Lock & Lock lunch kits in insulated lunch bags that fold out into placemats
- ShopKawaii: Store specializing in “cute”, with character bento boxes, utensils and lunch bags. Link is to the Housewares section.
- Snapware: plain bento-style food containers, including tempered glass containers that can double as microwave-safe bento boxes
- Sugarcharms: well-priced bento boxes, accessories and tools
eBay Stores with International Shipping
Canada:
- Southampton Creations*: bento accessories
Hong Kong:
- Bento Delicious*: bento boxes, accessories & tools
- Lee262Gadget*: children’s cartoon character bento boxes, accessories
Japan:
- Bentos and Beyond*: bento boxes, accessories and tools
- Nagomi, Inc*: bento boxes, accessories and tools
- Sakura Zakka Shop*: bento boxes, accessories & tools
- Store In Japan*: bento boxes, accessories and tools
- Tokyo Gift*: bento boxes, accessories and tools
USA:
- Bento Obento Shop*: bento boxes, accessories and tools from the creator of the BentoTV video bento blog
- Kawaii Kewpie Store*: some bento boxes, accessories and tools
- Kitty Corner*: better-quality bento boxes
- All bento-related items on eBay*
FURTHER READING:
- New Bento Store Locator (BSL) with Google Maps (user-generated listings with store feedback)
- Bento FAQ
- How to care for your bento gear
- Ichiban Kan discount store launches online store
- Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews
June 9th, 2008 | Categories: equipment, shopping | 
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June 9th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Very cool, thanks! I’ve been loving Ichibankan Online and how quick their shipping is and affordable. Very awesome.
June 9th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Thank you so much for the Bento Store locator. I was able to pick up one of the vacuum style lunch boxes at a store I found via your locator in Plano. In fact, today is my very first day with a bento lunch!
Joy!!!
June 9th, 2008 at 7:07 am
[…] Posted in Daily life at 8:07 am by LeisureGuy “Where can I get Bento boxes and related equipment?” Well, I’m glad you asked, because here’s a good comprehensive list. […]
June 9th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I took at a look at Bento Crazy and I am very happy to see that they have reasonable shipping prices. One big problem with some eBay sellers is that they overcharge on the shipping and they will tell it to your face that it’s how they make their profit!
Great list Biggie! Thanks for doing all this work!
June 9th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Agreeing with wendy here. I can’t believe I never stumbled upon the snapware products! they’re perfect! I had found all the other websites randomly, but this is pretty cool. Thanks a lot for all the work you put into this!
June 9th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Here are two more ebay store offering international shipping you may want to add to your list.
Hong Kong:
Lee262Gadget All items are official products (from Disney, Sanrio, X-San, etc.) and item cost and s&h are very cheap!
Japan:
SAKURA-ZAKKA-SHOP Even cheaper than lee262Gadget and a great selection of products to choose from! Great customer service, too.
June 9th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
The links are faulty because of the dots at the end. Take the ‘.’ off and the links will work just fine.
June 9th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Thanks for these lists! I’m going to have a look around town to see if I can find any supplies but if not I’ll for sure be coming back and ordering from one of them.
June 9th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Congrats on being mentioned in Newsweek this week! My bento-addicted daughter and I were actually cheering when we saw the article.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:31 am
@6 from laeb: Thanks for those two store additions, laeb — I checked them out and put them on the list. Good selection!
June 10th, 2008 at 3:46 am
@2 from Cathy H: Glad to hear the Locator helped you find a local bento store, Cathy! I’m thankful also to whoever entered the info for that Plano store. Welcome to the bento fold!
June 10th, 2008 at 3:55 am
@4 from Wendy: Well, I guess all sellers have to make a profit somehow, but hiding their markup in the shipping costs does seem sneaky. I do get irritated when sellers jack up the prices super-high on lower-quality dollar store goods, giving the impression that you’re buying high quality gear. Nine-dollar egg molds, anyone?
June 10th, 2008 at 3:57 am
@5 from Mimi: Snapware is good, but personally I prefer the security of the locking flaps on the Lock & Lock boxes.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:00 am
@9 from Snarffalita: I haven’t seen the hard copy of the Newsweek article yet, just the web version. I’m curious to see if they used any of the photos they asked me for, or if those fell on the editing room floor… Still, I can’t complain!
June 10th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Thanks bunches for the list of sites, Biggie. I, too, have stumbled onto most of the sites - sometimes with a good experience, sometimes…well, not so much.
Having purchased from the eBay store “Bento’s and Beyond” numerous times, I can say all my experiences with him/her have been wonderful! Even shipping from Japan, postal costs are reasonable, communication/e-mail responses are quick and items are well packed for mail.
Even though I’m in an area with several Asian stores and bento supply readily available, sometimes he/she has items that are simply not available in the States (or are extremely difficult to find).
I confidently recommend them as a good and fair bento supplier.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Hi Biggie,
I’m tagging you for my Five Facts Meme.
June 11th, 2008 at 4:19 am
Hi there! I have also ordered from: http://www.shopkawaii.com (housewares section). Ships in the US and has many character bento boxes and accessories. Great customer service! Thanks for putting this list together!!
June 13th, 2008 at 4:31 am
Thanks! I just placed an Ichiban Kan order before they sell out of everything!!
June 13th, 2008 at 11:05 am
@17 from stephanie: Thanks for the addition, stephanie. I’ve put it on the list.
June 17th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I have ordered some super cute and hard to find Decole brand bento boxes from http://www.japanesegiftmarket.com
June 24th, 2008 at 7:15 am
I’ve ordered some non-bento related stuff from From-Japan-With-Love. This seller is based in Japan and she is an established Japanese stationery seller on Etsy.com. She had just started developing another online store selling BENTO & accessories among other things. I think her shipping is reasonable and the customer service is superb! http://www.from-japan-with-love.com/stgo.html
August 9th, 2008 at 4:24 am
I’ve just found a great site that has a wonderful selection of Shinzi Katoh bento boxes! http://www.queenbabybean.com