JR East Shinkansen railway bento boxes are extremely popular — selling out in under half an hour

▲ JR East E7 Series Shinkansen bento, limited to 50 per day. (Photo / fromfun Taiwan RailwaysFacebook)

Reported by Huang Shiyuan / Taipei

As the Taiwan Railways Administration’s first-ever Railway Bento Festival officially kicked off on the 17th at Taipei World Trade Center Hall 1, this event invited Japan’s JR East, Seibu Railway, and Keikyu Corporation to participate. Among them, JR East’s beef sukiyaki bento and E7 Series Shinkansen bento, each limited to 50 units, were snapped up in less than half an hour.

The Creative Travel Agency, which assisted JR East in exhibiting and selling the bento boxes, stated that for food safety reasons, all bento boxes are freshly made each morning. Additionally, some ingredients and bento boxes are flown in from Japan, which limits the quantity available—hence the daily limit of 50. As for the taste, after JR East approved the flavor through tasting tests, the bento boxes were prepared with the help of Japanese restaurants in Taiwan. Although not all ingredients are sourced from Japan, the flavors are authentically represented.

▲ On the first morning of the food exhibition, Taiwan Railways’ Taipei Restaurant sold around 600 to 700 bento boxes. (Photo / by Huang Shiyuan)

Seibu Railway’s unagi donburi and Keikyu Corporation’s tuna N<、花寿司便当，也是一、二小时就卖光，西武铁道表示，一天提供的便当数为150个，分别是早上准备20个、11点提供80个及3点提供50个。至于京滨急行电铁的鲔鱼N<、花寿司便当，原本是规划提供60个、50个，但是11点左右就卖光，下午会再追加约一半的数量。

As for Taiwan Railways’ own bento boxes, the Taipei Restaurant specially set up a kitchen at the exhibition venue to prepare bento boxes on-site, aiming to meet as much of the public's demand as possible. Just in the morning, orders for bento boxes from exhibitors reached over 400, and adding the number purchased by visitors, the total reached around 600 to 700. The Taichung Restaurant’s vegetable and persimmon miso tuna bento and the Kaohsiung Restaurant’s Alishan bento are each available in quantities of 140.