Would you pay 2,500 yen for a simple lunch on a battered tin tray? Of course not. For that kind of money, you could get a three-course luncheon served on fine china. But believe it or not, 2,500 yen is the cost of the lunch my kid eats at school every day. It's no wonder so many local governments have turned to minkan itaku (outsourcing) to cut school lunch costs.

My 8-year-old gets a freshly prepared hot lunch every day at the Japanese public elementary school he attends. Unlike his old school in the United States, where buying lunch was optional, he has to eat the kyushoku (school lunch). I don't view this as a problem because I hate packing lunches, and the meal at school is tasty and well-balanced. He gets rice-based meals three times a week, with bread or noodles served on the other days. Fish is on the menu at least once a week, and many of the fresh vegetables served daily are organically grown. Each child also gets a bottle of fresh milk every day.

Our school has a large, well-equipped kitchen staffed by a nutritionist and five kitchen workers. They prepare just about everything from scratch, starting work early in the morning to prepare the noon meal for about 375 students and teachers.