Ekiben-ya Matsuri

"Open for: All dayPrice range: $$Part of the ritual of riding a shinkansen (bullet train) is enjoying a bento and green tea (or sake if you like), while taking in the view. Located inside of Tokyo Station, Ekibenya Matsuri offers about 170 regional ekiben (“eki” for station and “ben” short for bento box) brought in from throughout Japan, an excellent chance to enjoy a range of regional Japanese flavors. The colorful selection includes rice topped with sashimi, wagyu beef, or yakitori grilled chicken skewers, and there is even a gyutan beef tongue bento that contains a warming device activated by a pull-string, allowing you to enjoy a hot meal on your journey. Know before you go: The shop opens at 5:30 a.m. for anyone catching an early train." - Yukari Sakamoto

"Ekibenya Matsuri in Tokyo Station specializes in ekiben (eki for station and ben for bento), hyper-regional bento from throughout Japan." - Yukari Sakamoto

"It’s always a festival (in Japanese, a matsuri) of feasts between tracks 6 and 7 at Tokyo Station. Here, at Ekibenya Matsuri, travelers bustle around choosing from nearly 200 different kinds of ekiben, portable meals meant for the Shinkansen bullet train and other local trains that set off from the cosmopolitan city’s central train station. A portmanteau of eki (Japanese for “station”) and ben (from the Japanese bento, meaning “boxed meal”), each ekiben holds bite-size holistic representations of Japan’s food culture, portioned out in compartments of beautifully designed bento boxes that resemble wrapped and string-tied gift boxes. At each train stop in Japan Railways’ vast network, vendors sell ekiben containing the specialties of that particular region. In Hyogo prefecture, this might mean the hipparidako meshi ekiben: A rice, octopus, eel, and vegetables dish served in a miniature takotsubo, modeled on the traditional earthen pot designed to catch octopus in the area. At Shizuoka station, travelers might line up for the tai meshi, a locally popular dish of sea bream and rice. But circling the displays at Ekibenya Matsuri, one can find most of these region-specific novelties, stacked against one another in a single frenetic train station shop. The popularity of Ekibenya Matsuri, which sells over 10,000 ekiben daily, covers the cost of sourcing ekiben from all the prefectures of Japan. Indulge your inner child with an ekiben shaped like a train. Or, take advantage of seasonal ekiben, made only with location-specific seasonal produce. Then there’s the high-tech self-heating ekiben, packaged in a box that heats up when a string is pulled. Or, you might keep it traditional, with the Daruma bento, packaged in a box that looks like Daruma, a doll meant to represent Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. The box has a slit at the mouth, and can be used as a coin bank, making it a lucky keepsake. The average price of a box at Ekibenya Matsuri is about $10, and travelers will typically purchase several boxes for themselves and as gifts. Ask for a warmed bottle of miso soup when you pay, or grab a bottled matcha tea, or even single-serve bottles of wine, which they also sell. Travel through Japan’s culinary foodways with ekiben that look like boxes of jewels, as you traverse its beautiful landscape on your rail journey. Know Before You Go The store is located in the GRANSTA shopping area on the first floor of Tokyo Station, near the Yaesu Central Exit. It's open every day from 5:30 am to 11:00 pm." - Fred Cherrygarden, Rohini Chaki