A tiny meal-prep masterpiece, the bento box emoji is your go-to for “I packed lunch and it’s cute.” On Apple/iOS, it shows a glossy red rectangular box with four snug compartments: fluffy white rice stamped with a little red umeboshi dot, golden tempura shrimp, bright green veggies, and pink-and-white fish cake vibes—all from a tidy three-quarter, top-down angle. The colors pop like lacquerware, and the clean dividers scream organization goals. It’s basically portion control with main-character energy.
Online, people drop 🍱 to announce lunch runs, humblebrag meal-prep wins, or channel “BentoTok” aesthetic. It can read flirty or wholesome—anime-coded “I made you a bento” energy—while also doing double duty for irony: “my emotions, compartmentalized like this box.” Pair it with 🍣🍙🍤 when you’re manifesting a Japanese food night, or with ✨ for a Pinterest-core lunch flex. It’s also a cheeky stand-in for calling something a literal snack—organized, photogenic, and ready to serve.
Definition
Bento is a Japanese meal that is convenient to package and eat. Similar in concept to a television (T.V.) dinner found in the United States. However, with no reliance on a microwave. Bento is often served in a box-shaped container (hence the name bento box). A simple bento box contains rice, a meat, and vegetables. Inexpensive bento in the United States often comes with white rice, sesame seeds and teriyaki flavored chicken.
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Emoji History The emoji code/ image log of changes.
This emoji was part of the proprietary / non-standardized emoji set first introduced by Japanese carriers like Softbank. These emojis became part of the Apple iPhone starting in iOS 2.2 as an unlockable feature on handsets sold in English speaking countries.
In iOS 5 / OSX 10.7, the underlying code that the Apple OS generates for this emoji was changed.
A box of bento. Wikipedia: A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container. An elegant square display of sushi and all the sauces. iEmoji old name: Sushi
Proposed Unicode Information & Notes
Unicode Category
Foods
Unicode Subcategory
Food Symbols
Names & Annotations
BENTO BOX Old name: LUNCHBOX Temporary Notes: obento
Symbol Information
U+1F371 proposed
Proposal Identifier
e-96F
Character Mapping/Crosswalk Notes
DoCoMo
[弁当]
KDDI
#438 弁当 U+EABD SJIS-F391 JIS-7971
Softbank
#185 #old346 お弁当 「o弁当」 U+E34C SJIS-F9EC
Emoji Character Encoding Data
Emoji Code Version
iOS 4 Code
UTF-8 Unicode Character(s)
UTF-8 Character Count
1
Character(s) In Input
AppleColorEmoji Font (available in OSX/iOS)
Decimal HTML Entity

Hexadecimal HTML Entity

Hex Code Point(s)
e34c
Formal Unicode Notation
U+E34C
Decimal Code Point(s)
58188
UTF-8 Hex (C Syntax)
0xEE 0x8D 0x8C
UTF-8 Hex Bytes
EE 8D 8C
UTF-8 Octal Bytes
356 215 214
UTF-16 Hex (C Syntax)
0xE34C
UTF-16 Hex
e34c
UTF-16 Dec
58188
UTF-32 Hex (C Syntax)
0x0000E34C
UTF-32 Hex
E34C
UTF-32 Dec
58188
Python Src
u"\uE34C"
PHP Src
"\xee\x8d\x8c"
C/C++/Java Src
"\uE34C"
Emoji Code Version
iOS 5 - Current
UTF-8 Unicode Character(s)
🍱
UTF-8 Character Count
1
Character(s) In Input
AppleColorEmoji Font (available in OSX/iOS)
🍱
Decimal HTML Entity
🍱
Hexadecimal HTML Entity
🍱
Hex Code Point(s)
1f371
Formal Unicode Notation
U+1F371
Decimal Code Point(s)
127857
UTF-8 Hex (C Syntax)
0xF0 0x9F 0x8D 0xB1
UTF-8 Hex Bytes
F0 9F 8D B1
UTF-8 Octal Bytes
360 237 215 261
UTF-16 Hex (C Syntax)
0xD83C 0xDF71
UTF-16 Hex
d83cdf71
UTF-16 Dec
55356 57201
UTF-32 Hex (C Syntax)
0x0001F371
UTF-32 Hex
01F371
UTF-32 Dec
127857
Python Src
u"\U0001F371"
PHP Src
"\xf0\x9f\x8d\xb1"
C/C++/Java Src
"\uD83C\uDF71"
Emoji Character Encoding Data (equivalent or similiar)
