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🍱 CULTURE · Japanese culture · 2026-09-01

Ekiben: Japan's train station bento boxes that travelers plan whole trips around

Same news, rewritten for 6 Japanese school grades — pick your level below. Furigana + translation included.
167 chars · ~3 min · 20 kanji
🍱 CULTURE 駅 えき
Same sentence · 6 levels

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日本にほんの 駅えきでは 「えきべん」と いう おべんとうを 売うって います。

駅えきで 買かって、電車でんしゃの 中なかで 食たべる おべんとうです。

その 土地とちの 有名ゆうめいな 魚さかなや 肉にくを 使つかった ものが 多おおいです。

まどの 外そとの けしきを 見みながら 食たべると、おいしいです。

えきべんは 昔むかしから あり、数かずが 多おおいです。

えきべんを 食たべる ために 旅たびに 出でる 人ひとも います。

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Translation

At train stations in Japan, lunch boxes called "ekiben" are sold.

They are boxes you buy at the station and eat on the train.

Many ekiben use famous fish and meat from that region.

Eating while watching the scenery outside the window is delicious.

Ekiben have existed since long ago, and there are many kinds.

Some people even set out on trips just to eat ekiben.

What is an ekiben in Japan?

Board almost any long-distance train in Japan and you will see passengers opening beautifully packed lunch boxes bought on the platform. These are ekiben — literally "station bento" — and they are one of Japan's most loved travel traditions. The custom is said to date back to the Meiji era, when the first simple rice balls were sold to railway passengers, which gives ekiben a history of well over a hundred years.

What makes ekiben special is that they are local by design. Each region fills its boxes with its own famous ingredients — seafood from coastal towns, beef from mountain valleys, seasonal vegetables and rice grown nearby — so the box itself becomes a portable taste of that particular place. Across the country there are said to be around two thousand different kinds, and a dedicated shop at Tokyo Station gathers close to two hundred of them under one roof.

The classic way to enjoy an ekiben is on a moving train, watching mountains and rivers slide past the window between bites. For many people the bento is not an accessory to the journey but a reason for it: fans plan entire routes around which boxes they want to try.

This article comes in six versions, one for each school grade from 1 to 6, each with furigana and full Vietnamese and English translations.

How many kinds of ekiben are there in Japan?

There are said to be around two thousand different kinds of ekiben across Japan, since nearly every region creates boxes from its own famous ingredients. A well-known shop inside Tokyo Station sells close to two hundred kinds gathered from all over the country, and some fans plan train trips specifically around the ekiben they want to eat.

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