The Ultimate Guide to Japanese Bento Boxes and Ekiben

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For as long as I can remember, I have loved pretty little packages of food. I think all of us have a strange nostalgia for those &#;Lunchables,&#; which were such a prized possession in middle school. If you didn&#;t grow up with them, Lunchables were a small plastic boxes with little sections inside which perfectly fit the different elements of the &#;meal&#;. I was definitely one of those kids that hated when the different items on the plate would touch each other, so this was the ideal meal for me. Well, little did I know that years later I would find a fancy grown-up versions of this in Japan. And they were called Bento Boxes or Ekibens. I fell in love from the moment I saw them. Little curated boxes of deliciousness. Filled with treasures so perfectly shaped they look like works of art!

What are Bento Boxes or Ekiben?

&#;Bento&#; translates into the English word for &#;boxed-lunch.&#; These meals were designed to be eaten on the go. The invention of the bento box dates back to the Kamakura period ( to ). Back then, they were pretty simple and made mostly to carry rice.

It wasn&#;t until the late 16th century that the boxes evolved into a more luxurious design during the Edo period. Beautiful lacquered wooden boxes were made to display bite-sized food within. These fancy bento boxes were called the &#;Makunouchi.&#; This translates into &#;between acts&#; as the lacquered boxes were designed to be sold inside Kabuki theatres and eaten during the intermission.

Different boxed meals were designed to appeal to various social classes. The ones with more expensive, specialty ingredients were sold to the upper classes, where the lower classes ate bentos with simpler ingredients. There were even specialty boxes designed to highlight seasonal fruits and vegetables during different times of the year.

Ekiben comes from the words &#;eki,&#; which means railway station. These bento boxes were designed exclusively for travellers on the railway. Sometimes people needed to travel long distances into big cities for work, so this was an excellent solution for people who needed to eat their dinner on the train. But who didn&#;t have time to prepare a healthy meal themselves.

Today there are rarely &#;dining cars&#; on Japanese trains as people will more often than not opt to bring these boxed meals onto the train instead. If you missed out on buying one in the station by chance, they are usually for sale inside the train as well.

Elements of an Ekiben

There are hundreds of different varieties of ekibens. But in general, the make-up of an ekiben should include a carb, a protein, a veggie and a fruit or dessert. Each one of these elements is separated into a different part of the container. 

Another advantage to the Ekiben is that they sometimes feature ingredients from local prefectures. Even if you&#;re just stopping off at a station and then continuing on to a different final destination, you can hop off the train and grab an ekiben featuring a local delicacy.

While many simpler versions of the ekiben costs around $10, various gourmet boxes can cost almost $30! That might seem like a lot considering the kind of meal you can buy in Japan for $30, but I think the novelty of them is so special and worth the money. Ekiben&#;s are a quintessentially Japanese experience that you MUST have on your next Shinkansen journey.

Where to Buy Ekiben&#;s?

Japanese Convenience Store

One of the easiest and cheapest places to buy an Ekiben or bento box is at a Japanese convenience store. If you&#;ve read my post all about Japanese convenience stores, you&#;ll know they are one of the best places to eat in Japan (sounds weird, but it&#;s really true). The bento boxes available in the stores change throughout the day, some are more geared towards breakfast others more filling for dinner. My favourite Japanese convenience stores to look out for are 7-Eleven, Lawson and Family Mart. If you happen to be shopping inside a large supermarket, you&#;ll also be able to find these ekiben&#;s there.

Train Stations

But the best place to buy traditional Ekiben&#;s is inside the train station. Any station with long-distance trains is going to sell a myriad of different ekibens. Stations like Tokyo Station are so large that you&#;ll find dozens and dozens of shops selling nothing but ekibens. I remember my first time in Tokyo station, I was overwhelmed with all the different options in front of me. To help others in my situation, I went ahead and made a list of the best Ekiben&#;s you can buy inside Tokyo Station! And to make it even more straightforward, there really is one place to find it all! And that&#;s Ekibenya Matsuri.

Without a doubt, the most popular place to pick up your ekiben is Ekiben Matsuri. It&#;s located inside the station, past the ticketing gates, so you will need a ticket or entry card to get access to the shop. There are over 200 different ekiben sold at Ekibenya Matsuri! One of the best things about this shop is that the ekiben sold here are not just from Tokyo, but from all over Japan! Some exclusive ekiben you usually could only find in smaller cities across the country are shipped in here daily, so you can literally have a taste of the entire country in one spot.

Below are my favourite 11 ekibens you can find at Tokyo Ekiben Matsuri!

Tokyo Bento

The Tokyo Bento from Ekibenya Matsuri is a platter of the best of the best ingredients from Tokoyo. The main features are the tamagoyaki (rolled omelette) and a beautiful slice of salmon with a tiny soy sauce bottle to squeeze on top. There is a side of rice with pickled plums and a pile of fresh steamed vegetables. And for dessert you get a freshly made macha mochi!

Cost: 1,650 yen

Gyuniku Domannaka 

While a pre-cook and cold box of beef might be unpalatable to some, this is honestly of the best packages. We got one to try, and though we were apprehensive at first, once we tasted it, we were amazed at how delicious and moist the meat was. The Gyuniku Domannaka is from Yonezawa and is made with a secret marinated sauce, making it taste just impeccable!

Cost: 1,250 yen

Daruma Bento

The Daruma Ekiben from Gunma Prefecture is another one of those gimmicky boxes which are impossible to pass up. The bright red container is shaped into the form of a Daruma Doll. Darumas are good luck dolls in Japan, and the slit in the mouth of the box can be used after the meal is done to help store your coins. The food inside the package is pretty healthy. As Gunma prefecture is located up in the mountains this meal has no fish and highlights the rich food found at altitude. The bento features shiitake mushrooms, burdock root, bamboo shoots, and root vegetables.

Cost: 1,080 yen

Hipparidako Meshi

This Ekiben&#;s name translates to &#;octopus in high demand,&#; and that is pretty much what you&#;ll find inside. From Hyogo Prefecture near the Kobe Harborland and waterfront, this beautifully crafted clay pot features a myriad of fresh seafood. Inside you&#;ll find braised octopus, along with shiitake mushroom, bamboo, conger eel, shredded egg, vegetable and vinegar rice. It&#;s almost as if someone was fishing off the mainland and this is a selection of the catch of the day!

Cost: 1,080 yen

Oshizushi

One of the oldest bento recipes you can find here is from ! It is a very simple box featuring thinly sliced horse mackerel atop pressed sushi rice covered in vinegar sauce. This is called &#;oshizushi&#; style and is one of the oldest styles of sushi making. The dish comes from Ofuna Station near Kamakura.

Cost: 1,280 yen

Shinkansen Bento

If you&#;re travelling with children or are a child at heart, then you really MUST buy the Shinkansen Bento. The bullet train-shaped container is something you can keep as a souvenir or even use for future homemade bentos. Inside you&#;ll find food best suited for a simple palette (aka for the kids). You&#;ll find fried chicken, shrimp, pork sausages, meat dumplings, potatoes and, of course, rice!

Cost: 1,300 yen

Three Flavour Beef Bento

If you love beef, then you must try the Three Flavour Beef Bento. Inside this box are three types of flavours: &#;Beef Soboro Sansho Flavor&#;, &#;Spicy Beef&#;, and &#;Beef Miso Pickled Grill&#;. Plus, you get a soft boiled egg on the side along with some delicious rice.  The beef comes from Nipponbashi, near Osaka. Some of this meat is flavoured with Sansho which is a specialty of this region. Sansho berries have a strong, peppery, citrus flavour that has been compared to lemon, yuzu and grapefruit!

Cost: 1,200 yen

Seasonal Box

If you ever see a seasonal box, I would implore you to give it a try! It&#;s such a unique way to taste the literal flavours of the season in Japan. We visited during the Fall so our tasting box included Autumnal flavours such as chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms, mackerel, trout, smoked duck, and sweet potatoes. It was absolutely delicious and looked like a miniature painting!

Cost: varies by the seasonal items

Tuna & Salmon Roe

If you want a taste of the sea, you need to try the tuna and salmon roe bento. This is one of the brightest meals on offer with that hot pink of the tuna and flaming orange of the salmon roe. The entire meal is placed atop shredded omelet and vinegared rice. You also get some pickled ginger and wasabi on the side to cut the fat of the tuna. Everyone is always so surprised at how fresh and tasty this fish is considering its from a box!

Cost: 1,300 yen

Vegetable Bento

I really wanted to add a Vegan/Vegetarian item on here to make sure that all those travellers know that there is indeed something for you too! The Vegetable Bento is a colourful mixture of steamed and pickled vegetables paired with two rice types and even a vegan omelette!

Cost: 900 yen

Pork Cutlet Bento

An item that is often overlooked is the Pork Cutlet Bento. Pork cutlets are one of the things that Japan just does right. Somehow they always manage to capture the juiciness of the pork while the outside is crisped to perfection! The cutlet is served alongside white rice with potato salad and some pickled radishes.

Cost: 1,080 yen

I hope this list helps narrow down your choices when you get to the train station. But if you have the time, go inside and see for yourself all the hundreds of different curated boxes they have inside. There is always something new and exciting to try! Let me know in the comments if you have ever tried an Ekiben before or what your favourite box from this list is!

Happy Travels, Adventurers!

If lunchboxes that you eat on a train don&#;t sound unique or exciting, then you haven&#;t had an ekiben while traveling 300 kph on the Shinkansen.

Ekiben &#; the combination of the Japanese words eki (train station) and bento (lunchbox) &#; have been around in Japan since before plastic was invented. The origins are debated, but as soon as the first train stations popped up, bento were sold to hungry commuters.

Jump to:

Back in the day, train staff would carry ekiben along the platform and sell them through train windows, but as the trains got faster, this became a surefire way to lose an arm. Nevertheless, a few places, such as Maibara Station and Orio Station, have revitalized the old tradition (minus the train windows) &#; the guy at Orio Station even sings. However, you&#;re now more likely to find stationary ekiben, which brings us to answer the following question&#;

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Where can I buy ekiben?

Wherever there&#;s a Shinkansen, there&#;s an ekiben. But you can also find your packed train lunch in locations that have long-distance trains, such as Sapporo Station or Hakone-Yumoto Station. But focussing on Tokyo, the main places that&#;ll satisfy your needs are Shinjuku Station, Ueno Station, Omiya Station, Shinagawa Station, and the most famous of all, Tokyo Station.

Ekiben at Tokyo Station

The holy grail of ekiben can be found inside the ticket barriers of Tokyo Station, and the undisputed king of stores is Ekibenya Matsuri on the first floor. On a busy morning, the shop can get pretty cramped and the staff slightly prickly, but it&#;s worth the pushing and shoving for the options they have (if you are a meat or fish eater that is). There are many types &#; including sandwiches, self-heating bento, meat, and seafood &#; but they are most known for their wide selection of regional bento (more on that below). Their prices start from a reasonable ¥700 but expect to pay around ¥1,000 to ¥1,800 for one that&#;ll fill you up.

Around the corner, and in front of the Shinkansen ticket entrance, is Ekibenya Odori, their sister store. They are most known for character-shaped bento &#; come here if you feel like something a little more exciting. There are also many more bento and ekiben shops dotted around the station; you can find counters in the Ecute and Gransta malls. These are a safe bet if you want more breathing room.

Tip: You can go through the ticket gate at Tokyo Station and visit these stores even if you have nowhere else to go. Just tap your IC card in and out or buy a platform ticket. Both cost ¥150 for two hours in the station.

Ekiben outside of Tokyo Station

You&#;ll find similar stores in the other main stations in Tokyo, such as Ekibenya Top on the second floor of Shinjuku Station (behind the ticket barriers). If you can&#;t make up your mind, you can also find detached shops in the middle of some platforms for last-minute or impulsive bento purchases. Some trains offer a service where you can buy bento onboard, but options are limited.

Aside from the stations, trains, and platforms, &#;normal&#; bento stores are prevalent around Tokyo, usually offering cheap, ready-made meals to workers on their lunch breaks. Companies who make and ship the ekiben also occasionally have brick-and-mortar stores with delivery options, such as Oginoya, which has locations in Ginza and Yurakucho. Ekiben maker Miyoshino also does nationwide shipping (they sell the buttocks bento featured below).

Plus, if worst comes to worst, there&#;s always the conbini.

What types of ekiben are there?

It&#;s sometimes hard to get your head around the types of ekiben on offer. While diehard bento fans may run straight to the limited-edition section, you may find yourself wanting to know all your options.

Regional ekiben

One of the major pulls of ekiben, and one of the reasons why they are so popular in Japan, is the ability to taste different types of cuisine from different prefectures. Japanese towns and cities tend to have a food product or dish they are known for, e.g. Aomori has delicious apples, Miyagi has beef tongue, and Utsunomiya has gyoza. Ekiben allow you to savor your recent trip with the last bite of the local flavor.

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Luckily, you don&#;t have to travel all over Japan to try the various options. You can go to the aforementioned Ekibenya Matsuri in Tokyo Station or wait for an ekiben tournament event.

Makunouchi ekiben

For a little bit of everything and a whole &#;lotta rice, try one of the first types of ekiben ever sold: the makunouchi bento. This is one of the most widespread types of ekiben (and bento). It traditionally consists of white rice shaped into mounds and topped with sesame seeds and umeboshi, plus side dishes such as pickles, some fish, and a bit of meat. This is great if you are looking for a more balanced meal.

Character ekiben

Character bento are great for taking pictures &#; we should know; take a look at our viral Instagram reel. From cute Kirby bento to butt detectives, you&#;ll find something amusing. They can be hard to find, or often sold out in some places, so make sure to arrive early. We personally enjoy the daruma-inspired bento from Takasaki in Gunma.

Sometimes the food can be shaped creatively, but generally, the inside isn&#;t as exciting as the packaging, and that&#;s probably because they are made for a certain clientele, which brings us on to our next type of bento&#;

Children&#;s ekiben

You may want a children&#;s bento all for yourself, and nothing is stopping you; there are no ekiben police to snatch it from your hands. But you need to know that the Shinkansen-shaped bento will not be bigger on the inside. You can expect portions to be small with tiny Wiener sausages, an egg, a handful of rice, and maybe a teeny hamburger patty or fried shrimp. And they aren&#;t cheap (around ¥1,300), so it&#;s a pretty expensive snack.

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Vegetarian ekiben

The lack of vegetarian options in Japan comes as a shock to many, and unfortunately, the issue also spreads to ekiben. While searching Tokyo Station for meat-free ekiben, this writer would be pointed toward the seafood section. Ekibenya Matsuri used to have a vegetarian bento a few years ago but have since discontinued it and now have zero options.

There are some alternatives &#; such as a salad, inari sushi (the ones that don&#;t use fish dashi stock), takeout at the veggie restaurants nearby (see T&#;s Tantan), sandwiches, or just defaulting to the convenience store again.

When hunting, make sure to check the side of the ekiben or ask the staff. We have more advice on being a vegetarian and vegan in Tokyo in our handy article.

Self-heating ekiben

The one downside to eating ekiben is that most are served at room temperature, and that&#;s fine if you&#;re having a sandwich, but lukewarm meat and rice aren&#;t the best. Thankfully, an invention born in the 80s lets some bento be heated up with just a pull of a string. You&#;ll find many of these around the station, and they are easily noticeable. The ingenuity does come at a cost though, and they tend to be pricier than your average lunchbox.

Ekiben FAQ

What if I have allergies?

In big stations and popular ekiben stores, such as Ekibenya Matsuri and Odori, there will be an English and Japanese allergen guide on the side of the bento box that tells you what is inside. If you want to double-check, make sure to tell the staff your allergy: &#;Gyunyu (milk) arerugi ga arimasu.&#; (&#;I have a milk allergy.&#;). You can also replace gyunyu with the word nattsu (nuts), niku (meat), sakana (fish), or tamago (eggs).

What about halal ekiben?

Halal ekiben are not common, but you can order bento online from different providers, including WaO-Bento Kajiya, and have them delivered.

What do you drink with your ekiben?

It&#;s not uncommon to see beer being sold alongside ekiben, and it&#;s perfectly acceptable to buy and drink alcohol on the train. Don&#;t be too shocked if you see a businessman chugging a chūhai at 9 a.m onboard.

What is the difference between ekiben, soraben, and bento?

The short of it: ekiben you eat on a train, soraben (sky lunchboxes) you eat on a plane, and bento you eat anywhere you damn well like. There isn&#;t a true physical difference. Ekiben and soraben are slightly fancier and tend to come with opaque lids and chopsticks, while bento come in all shapes and sizes.

If you buy a bento from 7-Eleven and then eat it on the train, does it become an ekiben?

This is too philosophical a question for us to answer.

Find out more interesting things you can eat in Tokyo, or why not try a special themed cafe or restaurant?

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