I am active on LJ's bento community and was happy to find this book. It is GREAT if you are into bento. There isn't much out there in English for bento (I have several Japanese bento cookbooks), and this has very clear, easy to understand instructions for all kinds of Japanese recipes, and includes a whole bento section on how to pack a box and suggestions of what to include. Step by step instructions for making a train bento, and garden bento, also instructions for making several decorative foods to go in bento.
It's organized really well, with recipes and illustrations, then a page of text that tells about the recipe or food item - history, culture, stuff like that. For example, I finally learned about those traditional bento of scrambled egg, ground meat and sliced snow peas over rice. They're called Soboro, and there are some examples of making pretty bento with that. The recipes look easy enough that my 12-year-old said she wanted to try some.
All in all, I wish I'd found this book a year ago when I started being interested in bento, but it's not just for newbies. I am seeing recipes in here that I really want to try, including some cute bento ideas that I haven't seen or thought of. Lots and lots of recipes, it's a thicker book than I expected.
If you are a big Manga fan, you might expect the book to be read back to front/right to left, Manga-style, but it's not. It's American manga, which is fine with me. Very easy to read. Much more helpful and "how to" than the (very cute) "Face Food" book.