Ekiben: Making a Comeback - Japan Railway Journal

[Music] icky ben are boxed meals that are made to be eaten on the train iki is the japanese wordpress station well ben comes from the japanese word bento no train journey is complete without a charming ichiben [Music] this is an ikeyvan store located inside tokyo station they sell over 160 different kinds of ikeban from all over japan and on weekends and holidays they can sell up to ten thousand egg events a day wow after asking a few customers it seems like they are coming to buy the equivalent to eat at home i think it's possibly because fewer and fewer people are traveling during the pandemic what is foreign winners of the 2021 jr east ikeben grand prix we're on display for a limited time in the center of the store attracting the attention of the customers [Music] now in its 10th year the ikeban grand prix is open to all regions serviced by jr east fans vote on the taste presentation and wrapping design first and second place prices are awarded as well as prices in different categories the 2021 winner which is sold at kofu station on the jr2 main line in yamanashi prefecture is the why no mishi ikiben wine no mishi means a meal paired with wine yamanashi prefecture which sits in the heart of japan's winemaking region is the country's largest producer of wine [Music] small cans of wine can be bought at stations in the prefecture to enjoy on your train journey the ikiben features all food made using produce from yamanashi prefecture including teriyaki chicken marinated salmon and dried fruit it was developed by an equivalent company that's been in business for over 100 years together with jr east [Music] japan's first railway opened in 1870 running between shimbasi in tokyo and yokohama many theories exist about where and when japan's first ikiben was sold but many people believe it was at utsunomiya station in tochigi prefecture in 1885. at the time ikiben was a simple serving of two rice bowls with pickled radish wrapped in bamboo skin the rice ball set is still popular today [Music] as long distance train travel became common ikiben featuring local specialties started popping up all over the country [Music] there are over 2 000 different kinds of icky vent on sale in the past ikiben were often sold by vendors standing on the platform [Music] but with the change to high-speed rail and windows that don't open ikiben's sales shifted from standing vendors to kiosks and stores [Music] ikiben continued to grow along with the railway developing into a unique food culture in japan until the shinkansen came into service traveling by trains took a very long time and therefore there was a huge demand for ekiben and also eating ekiben on the train was and probably still is a main part in the joy of train travel yeah it's a total highlight isn't it yes that's right however the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically affected train ridership especially for leisure and business travels and therefore the demand for equipment also dropped as well yeah that's right actually the store where i interviewed at a tokyo station they used to sell around 15 000 icky bin a day on weekends and holidays pre-pandemic but now they're only selling about two-thirds of what they used to sell i see that will give them a very great impact i think yes yeah the equipment industry is going through a tough challenge right now but they're coming up with clever ideas to make a comeback one long established company founded in 1908 in yokohama city in kanagawa prefecture mainly sells its ikiben inside train stations and adjacent station buildings their famous chumai dumpling bento is so popular they sell around twenty seven thousand per day [Music] terrible to offset declining sales caused by the pandemic the company decided to open additional stores in the city away from stations in places where people can stop by car since september 2020 the company has opened 30 new stores along arterial routes in tokyo and kanagawa prefecture [Music] then in addition to expand sales channels the company has begun selling a series of frozen ichiban as a result of these efforts their sales return to 70 percent of pre-pandemic numbers in january this year [Music] on the platform for 100 years this famous ikiben is kashiwa mishi it consists of rice cooked and chicken broth seasoned with a secret mix of herbs and spices topped with ground chicken egg and seaweed [Music] one million are sold annually but to preserve the taste and flavor they were only sold at oreo station at stores in the prefecture however when the pandemic hit sales declined [Music] to survive the company decided to develop and sell frozen kashiwa meshi online in addition to increasing sales the company had another reason to develop frozen kashiwa meshi [Music] honey [Music] the biggest challenge in developing the frozen ikiben was making it taste the same as the one sold at the station after a lot of trial and error they found freezing the rice immediately after cooking was the best way to preserve the flavor [Music] after many experiments the frozen kashiwa mishi was ready saw the rice top it with ground chicken and egg and the iggy ben is good to go [Music] starting on november 1st 2021 the company sold over 1 500 three meal sets online in three months mr satake has received a lot of positive feedback from customers the frozen ikiben was developed to help the company survive during the pandemic mr satake remains dedicated to preserving that special taste of home [Music] with the pandemic creating problems for the ikiben industry some local companies came together to promote and sell ikiben kamisua station is located in suwa city about two hours by limited express train from shinjuku in tokyo nearby lake suva is a popular tourist spot [Music] in winter hot spring water beneath the frozen lake causes pressurized ice formations to form above the lake this natural phenomenon is called omivatari or god's crossing [Music] lake suez omigatari features on the wrapping paper of the suaven hoijane ikiben first sold at kamisuba station in 2020 [Music] in the local dialect hoijane means see you later the hope is that people eat in the ichiban on the train home will want to come back again it's the first locally made ikeben to be sold at kamisuva station since the old ikiben store closed in 2001. miss kikuchi chizue the owner of a guest house came up with the idea of reviving the iggy ben at kamisuba station [Music] supporting miss kikuchi's idea is mr uishi the president of a ramen store franchise and miss miyasaka the owner of a restaurant by the station [Music] my the three came up with a new achievement menu filled with delicious regional food the bento includes fried smelt fried dumplings and grilled pork with miso the fried dumplings are made with pickled nozzalana a local favorite from mr oyshe's ramen shop miss miyazaka recommends the simmered fried tofu on bashira maki it's inspired by the onbashira festival [Music] during the shinto ritual a large fruit tree over 150 years old and 17 meters tall known as the ombashira is cooked down and transported to the shrine this sliding tree attracts many spectators [Applause] the new ikiben developed by the three companies was first sold at a convenience store in kamisuba station in january 2020 however the pandemic had also just begun which made sales of the ikiben challenging [Music] foreign the difficult situation several good things happened one was the increased interest from local residents among locals was the winner of jre's 2020 icky band gropery an outstanding achievement by a local company considering it was their first time creating an icky bin oh is so if the people are not coming to buy the ikiben the igben companies are now finding ways to bring the equivalent to the people right yes i think that's a natural move the main target of egyptian companies are passengers who travel long distances either by shinkansen or the express trains and i do believe that once the pandemic ends the demand for the these trains will return back to the pre-pandemic level and so will the sales of the echiban however since the equivalent can be sold anywhere i do believe that more equivalent companies will think of selling their products outside stations ah yeah the development of the ikiben at kamisuwa station which we saw in the vtr i think is an excellent example to see the locals are coming together to work together and they expanded their market that way which led to local recognition yes i'm glad to see the successful revitalization of the local communities along the railway in such a way next let's check out a japanese ikeban company that is working hard to expand overseas in november 2021 a japanese icky event store opened at gar de lyon in paris france [Applause] the store's name is ikiben torimeshi bento the torimeshi bento is a renowned ikiben in japan made with chicken and a popular brand of rice from akshita prefecture at this store they make and sell six types of ikeben including the totimeshi bento with the rising popularity of japanese food bento has become a trend in france and the ikemen store has attracted a lot of attention the first three days saw all 600 prepared meals sold out [Music] is run by an equivalent company in akita prefecture that's been in business for over 120 years the company's special torimeshi ikeben has been sold for 70 years it features chicken seasoned with a sweet soy sauce and rice from akita prefecture each ikiben is carefully packed by hand [Music] mr yagihashi shuichi the company's eighth president made the decision to expand overseas [Music] foreign mr yagihashi wanted to open a store at gadolin a leading terminal station however to open a store inside the station he had to win a competition held by the french national railway in order to raise its profile first the company opened a store on the street in paris in july 2019 however it was not easy to recreate the authentic taste of the touring meshi in france the water in france is different from japan so they had to get creative when cooking the rice [Music] in addition import restrictions made it hard to get all the ingredients used in the original recipe so they had to experiment to recreate the authentic taste using ingredients that could be sourced locally unexpectedly the pandemic actually helped boost the company's sales with more people staying home takeout food became increasingly popular and sales more than doubled compared to before the pandemic [Music] with these achievements mr yagihashi won the competition and was able to open an iggy band store in galilee [Music] the store is only open for six months until may however mr yagihashi plans to continue to promote iggy ben with the aim of making the store permanent it would be great if ickeben became popular in europe too now i'm for myself i'm a little bit biased i would love it if they opened up a store in germany too oh i agree with you definitely nice back in the spring of 2016 a subsidiary of jr east became the first company to sell ekiben overseas at the gardud leon or the lyon station in paris for a limited period of three months and now with the ekiben from akita prefecture i think that this kind of achievement will help japanese ekiben become popular outside japan as well yeah i personally love how colorful and how many variations of food you can enjoy in just one icky bin so i'd like more people abroad to have a chance to try them yes i hope so too railway topics the cars for the nishi kyushu shinkansen which is scheduled to start service in the fall of 2022 were transported by ship from yamaguchi prefecture to a train depot in nagasaki prefecture the first chipman left the factory in yamaguchi prefecture on january 6th the following day a boat tour was held to see the train cars being transported by ship around 200 participants started taking photos the moment the ship with its rare cargo of shinkansen came into view three days from departure the vehicles arrived at the port in nagasaki prefecture and were unloaded a commemorative ceremony was held by locals to welcome the new vehicle [Music] j.r kyushu will start running tests and training staff in preparation for their exciting debut on january 9th wakasa railway in tottori prefecture held a special train tour that featured lokasaki and cuisine the local tourism association planned the tour to promote wakasa railway and the area along the line they served eight types of sacking including some produced by local breweries [Music] a special bento made using local produce was also prepared for the event [Music] yukimoto [Music] foreign [Music] the participants enjoyed watching the scenery from the train as they tasted the local sake and cuisine every year kuru bay gorge railway and toyama prefecture famous for their trolley train holds a diesel locomotive driving event during the winter months when it's not in operation [Music] participants first check their alcohol level then a staff member explains how to drive after they take the locomotive for a spin stick swim the experience takes place on a 150 meter section of track at the station [Music] making two round trips participants can enjoy driving in the snow [Music] [Music] [Music] this event will be held mainly on weekends until march 21st [Music] oh [Music] you

Channel: NHK WORLD-JAPAN

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Id: CXNXdUZAbUY

Length: 28min 5sec (1685 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 04 2022