Ekiben-ya Matsuri

A wonderful stop for anyone travelling by train from Tokyo. The shop offers an impressive variety of beautifully presented bentos, each one carefully packed with the kind of attention to detail Japan is known for. The selection ranges from classic sashimj fish sets to charming themed boxes. Everything fits perfectly, nothing shifts in transit, and you can open your meal on the Shinkansen without creating a mess. A small reminder that in Japan, even a takeaway meal is treated with respect. Highly recommended before any long train ride ~

Lots of options for ekiben, but it's always packed, and it's sometimes hard to tell which ekiben are good. I ended up liking the traditional type of ekiben the most, but the self-heating ones are cool to experience at least once. Foreigner-friendly, and they accept credit cards. Eating ekiben on the shinkansen is definitely a must.

Ekiben. As a tourist about to take the Shinkansen, it was definitely something that my wife and I had to get and eat onboard our Shinkansen ride from Tokyo to Hakodate. So, we bought a couple of Ekibens from this wildly popular shop at the JR Tokyo Station complex - almost jostling with the throng of fellow train travellers. For me, I bought a Tokyo Bento; and my wife bought a "cutesy" Shinkansen Bento - which we ate onboard the Shinkansen. Both Ekibens were very satisfying and delicious. So, I would recommend this dining experience should you ever be on a Shinkansen in Japan.

I felt like a kid in a candy shop as there was a HUGE selection of ekiben from all over Japan right at my fingertips. The difficult part for you will be choosing an ekiben to accompany you on your Shinkansen trip. A cool aspect I also like was the packaging on the ekibens which highlights the creativity and playfulness in making them stand out among others. I went with the Ibaraki tonton bento which was tasty, delicious and filling with the highlight being the tonkatsu and the hamburg steak. Do note that the ekibens are refrigerated so you will be eating them cold. A useful tip is there is a nearby food court which has freshly made ekiben but lacks the diversity of this place.

So many ekiben (bento box) choices! It was very crowded, though, and hard to walk. It was pretty easy to figure out what was inside of the bentos because of the pictures. Ended up buying several lunch boxes for the bullet train. Plenty of checkout lines that move quickly. One of the boxes I got was self heating. Overall the food was pretty tasty and very well packaged.

Ekibenya Matsuri at Gransta Tokyo truly lives up to its reputation as a must-visit spot for ekiben enthusiasts. I tried two beautifully crafted bentos, and both were a feast for the eyes and taste buds. The crab bento, served in a charming crab-shaped container, was packed with sweet, delicate crab meat layered over well-seasoned rice. The freshness and umami flavor of the crab were exceptional, and the pickled garnish added a nice balance. The second bento offered a variety of flavors and textures: a fluffy tamagoyaki, tender chicken pieces, savory beef, fresh greens, and crisp tempura. Each compartment was thoughtfully prepared and seasoned to perfection. The presentation was impeccable, and the attention to detail made the experience feel special. While the prices are slightly on the higher side, the quality and taste justify the cost. Highly recommended for anyone passing through Tokyo Station—it’s not just a meal, it’s an experience!

This shop only allow takeaway. They have a lots of different selections of Train Bento. They categorised in different sections- seafood, pork, chicken, special. We bought 3 different to try: assorted yakitori, fried chicken with tomato rice, special stew beef bento. Bento tastes very good, service at the counter is fast. Recommend to try if you are in Tokyo Station!

Amazing store to grab ekiben for your train ride. It's on the JR Shinkansen platform and has more than 40 varieties of ekiben. They are organized in sections for popular, seafood, meat, self heating, and those from different Japan locals. It can get super crowded but they have 5-6 cashier lines.

This is the "thing to do" when going on a long train ride from Tokyo station. Since there aren't any food offerings on the train itself, be prepared! First off, we wondered about the typical "hot food" like the katsu when watching YouTubers devour it. Was it warm? Crispy? No one said. So here's the answer: it is not warm nor crispy. It tastes like leftover katsu that didn't get any extra attention in the air fryer or toaster. Sad. My bf, who was so excited about this whole bento on the train thing, got the oyster bento and unagi roll and he said it was "alright". There is a ton of selection to choose from and some specific bentos even have some warming device that you activate to warm up your food. Apparently, some boxes are seasonal and others are so popular they run out. Ekibenya Matsuri is located in the JR section of Tokyo station. We were in the Shinkansen section and had a difficult time figuring out how to get out of there and into JR where we didn't have tickets. Anyway, the station employees seemed to understand what we were doing and let us go back and forth without a ticket. Honestly, it's a novelty that you can do once to say you've done it.

Hearing of the discontinue service of the famous ekiben or the Shinkansen bento with majority of the riders are now bringing their own on board with understanding as I do have an allergy so not wanting to risk going hungry on the 2 1/2 hour ride Ekibenya Matsuri sits right at the base of Shinkansen entrance conveniently teasing my brains with their display of items along with prices so that there's nothing to be left unknown. Yes I did get the 500 series Hello Kitty Shinkansen lunch box and under each menu item lists what ingredients that may cause some allergies using icons are an efficient way to scan and quickly decide which one to choose and as soon as I made my choice and ordered it was already packed so it was a matter of a single second as the staff handed my bento so that I'm able to take it to my destination. Not your bougie course of meal but something to keep your hanger cravings away Ekibenya Matsuri and their staff was a great decision and I now have a cute Hello Kitty Shinkansen box. どうもありがとうございます！

So many ekiben (bento box) choices! It was very crowded, though, and hard to walk. It was pretty easy to figure out what was inside of the bentos because of the pictures. Ended up buying several lunch boxes for the bullet train. Plenty of checkout lines that move quickly. One of the boxes I got was self heating. Overall the food was pretty tasty and very well packaged.

Near the ekibenya ordori. A huge variety of ebiken that we sadly didn't have time to look thru. Since we had a big breakfast, we were not hungry enough to get more than one. Came to get the very cool octopus jar ebiken. Very cheap though my dad said there wasn't a whole lot of octopus and mainly rice. Would come back to try other ebiken!

"I'm not gonna run away, I never go back on my word! That's my nindo: my ninja way." - Naruto TL;TR: The Unagi lunch I chose was closer to 3-stars which would be ok, but just average. I'm bumping up to 4-stars because deep down I know Eric-san picked the wrong for a bullet train ride from Tōkyō to Kyōtō. Okay, I admit I'm not a TL;TR dude lol, so will add... ¥1780 ($12.74) Unagi Ekiben; ¥160 ($1.15) Hojicha. Ekibenya Matsuri at Tokyo Station is best described as a to-go spot with a huge selection of Ekiben and Japanese drinks. It's crazy busy, so make sure to plan your arrival in advance to the Train Station, if you want to experience this popular Japanese lunch ritual. Unagi Ekiben (Train Bento) and 焙茶 Hōjicha (Roasted Japanese Tea) my choice for 新幹線 Bullet Ride from Tōkyō to Kyōtō. Ekibenya Matsuri is easy to find as it's the busiest shop nearest the Shinkansen gate. Once you enter it's cramped & self-serve. So many choices is probably the most difficult decision. I planned on Tonkatsu, but when I saw the Unagi box that craving hit! Hundreds of drinks, from Beer to Sake, from Teas to Sodas are available for purchase. Once in hand just pay at the registers. It's loud in here so be prepared to listen when it's your turn to pay. I only rate my Unagi Ekiben as average simply because not much Eel in the box. The marination was good, but just wasn't on point to me. I think next time I'll go with my instincts and choose Pork, Beef, or Sushi for a long train ride. I'm curious on those self heated Ekiben you see all over Instagram too. In the end, I'll give Ekibenya Matsuri another shot to meet my expectations. Maybe I expected too much for a lunch box, but I think I just picked the wrong on this ride. I'll stick to Unagi in the restaurants. Ja ne... Please follow my adventures on IG: @eric_travel_guru

A larger bento store within Tokyo Station. Much easier to browse all the available kinds of ekiben. It does get crowded. Look out for deals!

This is an epic ekiben store that can't be missed if you are going on a shinkansen journey from Tokyo. The store is crowded throughout the day but the selection is quite stocked up most of the day. There's so many ekiben to choose from and all kinds of protein options. There are even some cool ones where it has a self heating contraption so you can have a hot meal on the train. I got an ekiben in a replica JR shipping container that had sliced beef with rice. The container itself was a souvenir itself. This store can be difficult to find. I was unsuccessful a few years ago so this time around I had to ask for directions. I ended up paying to go through the gate just to access this ekiben store.

This place is crazy packed full of customers 90% of the time. So if you don't like to be bumped and pushed it's probably not the place for you. Food isn't cheap here but definitely not expensive. If you like hot food especially if you're going to ride the bullet train then get the box that has a yellow string with a red sticker stuck to the box. Most of the cold foods are pretty good here as well.

Great little shop in Tokyo Station, highly recommend if need a bento for Shinkansen trip. Just give yourself enough time as it is a little shop and it is very crowded. I got a crab and rice bento which was delicious. Only a couple complaints. As I mentioned very small shop so hard to navigate. Some of the descriptions are seriously lacking, standard lunch box gives no information as to what is inside so those I avoided.

Need a quick, affordable, and delicious bite on your shinkansen ride? You've got to go to Ekibenya to experience this - tons of options for whatever Japanese food you're craving, from sushi to fried rice, gyu-don, and more. They even have a 30-food item bento and other combinations if it's difficult to decide. The food itself may be a little bit smaller than American portions, but typically chock-full of rice, and between 800 to 2000 yen per meal. My recommendation is the gyu-don (beef over rice) - the marinade is sweet and savory, and it usually fills me up. Protip: they do take credit card, it gets crowded during peak meal times (like hard to move crowded...), and don't forget to grab a beer, since you can drink on the shinkansen (unlike many trains from where I am from). Note that most bento come with a hand wipe and chopsticks. Also, in case you do miss the one in the station, they do have limited bento options both on the platform and on the train (shinkansen).

Situated right across the Shinkansen (bullet train) area, this is an absolute must for any traveler. For the couple of days I spent in Kyoto, I would stop here every morning around 7:30 am to grab a couple of boxes for the day (it was too hard to pick just one, so I usually grabbed 2 or 3). They make for the perfect meal while traveling on the Shinkansen. I read some online articles about this place and decided to try the Tokyo Bento box, the Shinkansen bentos, and the Octopus Jar. All of them were great. The Tokyo Bento had the most food (I think the Shinkansen bentos might be for kids), which was very delicious, but be mindful as I found a couple of fish bones in my fish. I mostly got the Shinkansen Bentos because I wanted to keep the boxes, so I didn't mind the fact there was less food, as I picked up a curry sandwich bento as well. The Octopus Jar was perhaps the most interesting, I'm not a HUGE fan of octopus, but it was still good, and you get to keep the jar (which is very nice).

This place is a MUST for anyone who's traveling to other places in Japan by Shinkansen. The variety of ekiben in Matsuri is overwhelming to take in at first and deciding which ekiben to buy is even harder. I absolutely loved every moment when I was in this hectic and busy ekiben store. For those of you who don't know what an ekiben is, "eki" means train station in Japanese, while "ben" stands for bento box. It's a stable for everyone who's traveling on the shinkansen, so make sure you grab one (or 2 or 3 :)...) before you get onboard! Ekibenya Matsuri has a huge variety of ekiben, 170 of them! I roamed around the store trying to pick out the ones I wanted, but the selections were just so vast that I couldn't make up my mind and wanted all of them! They have a picture for what the bento boxes look like when you open them, so they help with the decision making. I know I wanted a raw fish/seafood ekiben, but I also wanted a fall seasonal one to really get into the mood of traveling in Japan during the fall season. I couldn't decide at the end and got 3 ekibens (don't mind me! haha). I got a chirashi bento, crab and scallop bento, and a fall limited edition bento at the end. The total came out to be ~3,000 yen, which is around $27 for 3. Great deal! My friends all decided on their ekibens after about 15-30 minutes of hard decision making. When we got onto the Shinkansen, we know it was time to crack open our ekibens. All of our ekibens were delicious and the fish and seafood were tasty. My friend got one of their self-heating bento and that was pretty cool! She pulled on the string and in matter of seconds, the box started to steam up and got really hot! My favorite ekiben which the presentation and taste really blew my mind was the fall edition bento. See for yourself in my pictures. The maple leaf touch and the colors in the bento were beautiful and I was amazed by how every single item from the larger items to the tiniest item were wonderfully cooked and seasoned. Best bento box I've ever had in my life! What an experience to enjoy this beautiful and tasty bento box while traveling in a train that was going 180 mph from Tokyo to Kyoto!

This place is a must-go if you're about to hop onto a shinkansen (bullet train) and need something to feast on during the ride. Keep in mind that this place is outside of the shinkansen ticketing gate, so give yourself plenty of time to browse before going through the gates--it's not always possible to leave once you go inside the ticketing gate. There are a few smaller (significantly smaller) bento shops inside, but don't get your hopes up. The selections are minimal and nowhere as fancy as the ones you will find at Ekibenya. Don't forget to ask for a warmed bottle of miso soup to go with your bento box at check out (they are only kept behind the cash registers, so many tourists aren't aware that they even exist). They are indeed extra (¥), but a nice compliment. I purchased the salmon/fish egg bento box, and my husband got the uni/fish egg bento box. The salmon one was definitely worth the price tag, but the uni... not so much. Uni was dry and maybe even pickled to some extent to preserve the 'freshness' and taste. Do yourself a favor and don't get the uni.

I was super excited to visit this place and knew that I needed the octopus bento jar in my life. The location is hard to find - it's in the JR station but before you go brought the gates for the Shinkansen. Thankfully the guy at the gates let me leave again to go back to get my bento! The selection is huge. I didn't see much English signage so it's a matter of looking at the pictures and guessing. I got three bento: octopus jar, hot beef and another one with a selection. All up it cost about ¥3000 (£18) so good value for lunch. You can also buy beer, wine, soft drinks. This place gets crazy busy so allow time for browsing and waiting in line to pay. But it's worth it! The octopus jar was delicious. A lovely ceramic pot with rice, veggies and pieces of octopus on top. The chopsticks it came with were cute too as they were retractable ones I hadn't seen before. Graeme's hot bento was great - you pull out the yellow string and wait 5 minutes and it heats up your food. I don't know how. Wait until everyone is seated to do it though as we had to pick it up to move it to let someone into their seat and it was super hot! Everyone on the Shinkansen has bento boxes so make sure you get one otherwise you'll feel left out. They didn't seem to be selling bento on the train so I was super glad we came here. Note; the sign for the shop isn't in English so thanks to Yelp for the photos otherwise I'd never have found it!

You must purchase the bento here and I mean it's a MUST. Quality and presentation is great. Some bentos are quite pricy. One hint it's to purchase the top 1-2 seller which has signs indicating it. I have brought 4 bentos from cheap to expensive. All of them are great.

Grab yourself a delicious bento box and enjoy it on the Shinkansen. These bento are high quality and fresh and there are 100s of choices from sushi to self heating donburi! They accept credit card and cash and most bentos seem to be around 1200 yen.

This specialty store focuses on the Japanese culture item called "Ekiben" which means train (Eki) boxed lunch (bento). They have all sorts of high end 1,000 - 2,000 yen bentos and some of them heat themselves. I got the beef tongue steak bento with the self heater. All you do with the self heater is pull the string out and wait six minutes. A heating tab reheats and bam, you have a hot lunch on the bullet train. They have tons of options from beef to seafood to vegetarian. If you don't feel like rice they have sandwiches and other options. This shop also has drinks, water to small portable wine. So before you go on your bullet train trip hit up an Ekiben!

Convenient spot to pick up some bento boxes before a long Shinkansen ride. This is one of the very few places that are opened early in the station.