>"parent-child" bowl 親子丼 vs. "strangers" bowl 他人丼

What is oyakodon (親子丼)? This donburi dish comes with chicken and eggs. A family assembled in a bowl.

親 (parent) + 子 (child) + 丼 (bowl) = oyakodon

What is in tanindon (他人丼)? This donburi comes with meat (beef, pork...) and eggs, that is to say, strangers gathered in a bowl.

他 (other, third) + 人 (person) + 丼 (bowl) = tanindon

Don't like parents or strangers? You want to go simply eggy? Then 卵丼 it is.

卵 (egg) + 丼 (bowl) = tamagodon

Don't like bowls? Omuraisu, then - not tonight, though, brat.

>self-heating train lunch box, ekiben, 加熱式駅弁

Self-heating cans existed during World War II. Quicklime added to water produces heat. Apparently its history goes further back, to the turn of the century pioneers.

In our time, flameless chemical ration heaters appreciated by soldiers on the field are mostly ignored by pampered civilians living in office and home microwave cocoons. We don't need this portable source of heat in the kitchen.

A company which is trying to apply this ancient technology to our modern lives, OnTech (Ontro), seems to be concentrating their efforts on beverage. Coffee, mostly, and it seems to me their effort is slightly misguided.

Think of a place where you'd need this convenience the most. Long hikes (not camping, necessarily - it is fun to fire up that little butane stove), long train rides. it's not too hard to carry a little hot thermos, and I don't mind cold drinks in any case.

It is still pretty neat to ponder, however, a self-heating lunch box.

In Japan (and China - 自熱式, self-heating style), there are actually enough people on the trains for this convenience to be viable. And here they are, the self-heating meals, mistaken for a brand new technology, "latest invention" according to this WSJ.com video caption.

加熱式駅弁 (kanetsushiki ekiben) added heat style train station lunch box
過熱式駅弁 (kanetsushiki ekiben) superheating style train station lunch box

>a kuppa soup, クッパ, 국밥

Kuppa is a huge East Asian tradition.
Decidedly more generous than a mere cuppa,
as common as pizza and paella,
enjoyed in Japan by way of Korea,
this versatile dish has so far
eluded detection by savvy foodistas.

If you like a hearty bowl of soup/stew, see for yourself. Try googling kuppa (クッパ). You will find virtually nothing in English, but numerous entries are written for クッパ, and the dish (料理) appears ahead of the Nintendo game character (ゲームキャラクター) Koopa, also written as クッパ.

It is sometimes called クッパスープ, "kuppa soup", and there are hundreds of recipes online. (クッパのレシピ, クッパの作り方, etc.). 국밥 sounds like "cook bop" ("cook Bob"?), and might explain gukbap's relative obscurity, as opposed to, say, bibimbop♪(비빔밥, ビビンパ, bibinpa, bibimbap).

The dish means "soup rice", so naturally rice is used in the stew instead of noodles. Beef (소머리국밥 and karubi kuppa, カルビクッパ) seems to be the meat of choice, but depending on regional origin, you may see pork (돼지국밥, デジクッパ) sausage (순대국밥, スンデクッパ) bean sprouts (콩나물국밥, 豆もやしクッパ) or tofu (두부국밥, 豆腐クッパ) featured as the main ingredient. Pictured right is a seaweed kuppa. (미역국밥, ワカメクッパ)

You may be able to order this dish at 焼肉 (yakiniku, "grilled meat", 불고기, bulgogi) BBQ restaurants, but your best bet, of course, is to find a restaurant that specializes in this dish. The broth is key.