Busy Lunchtime in Tokyo

Tokyo's lunchtime is so busy.  It seems many companies do not allow to move employee's lunchtime from the time slot of noon to 13:00, and as a result, so many people just concentrate on noon to 13:00 for their lunch particularly in business districts.

Hence, many restaurants get very clouded during lunchtime.

Line for lunch

Busy inside

People are usually asked to share a table and can't refuse the offer during the lunchtime rush.

Under the situation, it becomes difficult to enjoy a conversation with friends, and people tend to concentrate on eating.

And once finishing eating, people need to leave the restaurant right away for the people waiting in the line.

It should not become an enjoyable time, but is the time to just fill their stomachs.

I frequently chose to just buy some fastfood at a convenient shop and ate it in the park.  This was much better way to have my precious lunchtime, rather than being frustrated at restaurants.

Unfortunately, however, even buying something usually requires people to wait in the line during the lunchtime rush.

So, maybe the best way is to bring a bento box from home.

Bento

But not many people do so as I assume having a lunch together is a sort of social time to share some business information or to build business network, which are important in Japan and would be difficult to be done with bento type of lunchtime.

Yeah, many Japanese business people, particularly male, are "doing" lunch.

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