Bento tend to be somewhere in the range of ¥500 to ¥1,000 (US$5–10), so the cost really adds up if you’re buying one a day. We sent our reporter out with ¥500 and a mission: go get lunch, and bring back change.

Our correspondent set out to find the absolutely dirt-cheapest, rock-bottom bento, with the condition that neither of those earthy materials actually be present in the boxed lunch.

He found what he was looking for in Tokyo’s Taito Ward, near the Namidabashi intersection.