During any visit to Japan, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself on one of its elegant long-distance trains - and when you do, don’t just watch the scenery glide by. Make it a full Japanese experience with an ekiben.
Part meal, part map and part memory in motion, the word combines 'eki' - railway station - and 'bento' (boxed meal). Yet an ekiben is more than food for train travel; it’s a regional ambassador, carrying the flavors, craftsmanship and pride of the place it represents.
Types of Ekiben
Convenience store bentos are generalists, familiar because the same line-up is stocked across Japan.
Ekiben, on the other hand, wear their hometowns like happi festival coats: trout sushi pressed in bamboo leaves from Toyama; grilled beef tongue in self-heating boxes from Sendai; that bright red Daruma Bento ekiben from Gunma prefecture.
Major rail hubs showcase Japan's best train bentos: regional ekiben from that particular area as well as those from further afield.
Kyoto Cuisine: From Mountain Basin to Bento Box
Kyoto’s take on the bento box is inseparable from Kyo-ryori, or Kyoto cuisine.
Developing in a basin hemmed by mountains yet blessed with good water and soil, Kyo-ryori has vegetables, pickles and tofu as its main vocabulary. Seafood that could survive the journey from Lake Biwa and Wakasa Bay became its punctuation.
Five plot lines make up the Kyo-ryori story: imperial court cuisine (yushoku), temple food (shojin ryori), honzen (samurai banquet style), kaiseki (tea-ceremony style) and river fish cuisine (local innovation).
Powered by Kyoto's soft water, dashi - the stock drawn from kombu and other ingredients - became the invisible thread connecting them all.
The city's ekiben sum up the Kyo-ryori food story. Dishes are lightly seasoned to enhance - not hide - the natural flavor of ingredients. A single bento box might hold simmered shiitake mushrooms, yuba beancurd skin and dashimaki omelet to complement the steamed rice, a bento staple.
Kyo-ryori ekiben deliver Kyoto cuisine in a form refined yet accessible, luxurious but humble.
Where to Buy Ekiben at Kyoto Station
More than a transit hub, Kyoto Station is a glass-and-steel mountain of movement where travelers, commuters and gourmets meet. The sheer variety of ekiben here can overwhelm even locals.
Here's a station guide to three places selling ekiben outside the fare gates so you can explore boxed meals from around Japan without having to buy a train ticket.
JR Kyoto Isetan (B2 Food Floor)
Hours: 10:00-20:00
Closed irregularly.
Connected directly to Kyoto Station, this department store’s B2 basement is a paradise of bentos and other delicacies.
Long-established Kyoto restaurants and caterers display their creations in immaculate rows. This is where you’ll find Torimatsu’s barazushi and Saikiya’s elegant bentos as well as boxed meals with eel, tonkatsu or wagyu beef as the centerpiece.
A supermarket sits conveniently near the bento counters, perfect if you’d also like to pick up some fruit or cheese.
However, navigating the floor with large suitcases can be tricky, so if you’re traveling with a lot of luggage, consider leaving it with a companion closer to the train platforms - or simply buy your ekiben from another store.
Tabi Bento Ekiben Nigiwai Kyoto (North-South Concourse, 2F)
Hours: 7:00-21:30
Located between the JR West Exit (2F) and the shinkansen fare gates, this specialty ekiben shop is hard to miss - it sits right along the concourse.
The shop brings together inventive bentos from across Japan such as Hipparidako Meshi, which comes in a ceramic pot shaped like an octopus trap, Echizen Kanimeshi - rice flavored with crab miso in a crab-shaped container - and self-heating beef tongue boxes from Miyagi.
There's also a local line-up; the aptly named Kyoto Bento is one of the top sellers.
Kyomeika - Meisai-doko Miyako (Kyoto Porta, 2F)
Hours: 8:30-21:00 (bento counters may close earlier, at 20:00)
More than 30 stores are represented at this shop near the JR West Exit. Apart from bentos, there's also a range of confectionery and local specialties - sweets, pickles, sake and craft souvenirs.
It’s where you’ll find Kyoto yakiniku chain Hiro's popular wagyu bentos, Nishiki Market Nomura's yuba boxed meals, Saikiya's mackerel sushi and dashimaki omelets as well as Nishiri’s photogenic Kyoto pickles sushi.
A Guide to Kyoto Ekiben
When it comes to eating on a train, in particular the bullet train, there are few travel experiences as quintessentially Japanese as an ekiben. Here are four Kyoto-style bentos - each a compact expression of local history, flavor and craft.
Barazushi: Countryside Kyoto in an Urban Lunch Box
At first glance, Torimatsu’s barazushi looks like it was designed for Instagram - vinegared rice topped with a colorful scattering of flaked mackerel, shiitake, dried gourd strips, ribbons of omelet, and pink and white slices of fish cake.
But this edible mosaic is actually a centuries-old dish from Kyotango, a rural area in the northern-most reaches of Kyoto prefecture.
In the old days, barazushi was a celebratory food, made in big wooden tubs for weddings and festivals. Each family had its own recipe, an heirloom passed down from one generation to the next.
If you can't travel up to Kyotango to try the dish, look for the version created by Torimatsu, a Kyotango restaurant surrounded by mountains and rice fields.
Its barazushi, which has garnered attention for its refined balance of flavors and textures, is available at a dedicated counter in the B2 food basement of JR Kyoto Isetan. If you're rushing for a bullet train, try the Koto Miyabi bento shop within the shinkansen ticketed area.
It’s the kind of boxed meal that reminds you that Kyoto isn’t just the city; it’s coast and countryside too. Barazushi shows how the food of the people can ride gracefully into the city’s largest train station, carrying with it both nostalgia and color.
Kyoto Bento: The Jewel-Box Sampler
Awajiya, founded in 1903 in Hyogo prefecture, is a pioneer of creative ekiben. The bento maker is probably best known for its Hipparidako Meshi - rice, octopus and seasonal vegetables in a ceramic container evoking an old-fashioned octopus trap.
But in 2024, the company turned its attention to Kyoto with the launch of the Kyoto Bento, a round, jewel-like box of Kyo-ryori.
Inside the circle, seasoned rice topped with shredded egg and flaked sea bream anchors the meal. Ornamenting it are small dishes including rolled omelet, yuba, simmered beef and smoked duck. Matcha warabi-mochi - a nod to Kyoto's history as a producer of fine tea and sweets - wraps up the sampling journey.
Every compartment demonstrates Kyoto’s restraint - seasoning light enough to let the ingredients speak, colors chosen for harmony. Even the container evokes Kyoto aesthetics: elegant, balanced, understated.
The Kyoto Bento is available at Tabi Bento Ekiben Nigiwai Kyoto, located on the concourse on the second floor of Kyoto Station.
Pickles Sushi: A Vegetable Bento with a Kyoto Accent
Pickles are to Kyoto what rain is to its moss gardens: essential. Kobo Nishiri, the fermented food branch of leading pickle maker Nishiri, transforms this everyday food into an elegant bento.
Inside the box are jewel-like pieces of sushi, each topped with a different pickle - purple shibazuke, cucumber slices and glossy eggplant to name just a few. The sushi rice cushions the pickles’ gentle acidity, creating a light, refreshing meal.
It may surprise visitors to Japan but it’s not easy to find vegetarian or vegan ekiben, not even in Kyoto. This pickle bento, though, checks both boxes. Even for meat-eaters, it’s a crisp and cleansing change of pace - just right for a summer train journey or a palate reset between richer meals.
Behind these colorful morsels lies a story almost as old as the city itself. In Kyoto, the outer districts known as Rakugai have long supported the capital’s diet with vegetables grown in fertile soils fed by mountain springs.
Even today, unique varieties such as Shogoin daikon, mibuna and Kamo eggplant are cultivated around the city. Out of this abundance grew a preservation art: salting vegetables to extend their shelf life.
Some of the most famous of these pickles are senmaizuke, suguki and shibazuke, each with its own tale. Senmaizuke - thinly sliced Shogoin kabu pickled in kelp and vinegar - dates back to the Edo period, when a retired Imperial Palace chef began slicing and pickling the massive turnips, which can weigh up to 5 kg. Its flavor is mild; its texture almost silken.
Suguki, once cultivated only by the shrine families of Kamigamo Jinja, ferments naturally in salt, producing a distinct lactic tang and gentle sourness.
Shibazuke, the purple jewel of Ohara village, is born from the area’s dramatic temperature swings between night and day, which make it possible to grow high-quality red shiso, or perilla. When eggplant is fermented with it, the pickle takes on a regal magenta hue.
What began as preservation became art and that art now fits neatly into a bento box small enough to eat on a train.
The Kyoto Pickles Sushi box can be found at Kyomeika - Meisai-doko Miyako, located on the second-floor concourse of Kyoto Station. The Kobo Nishiri counter also stocks a wide range of food souvenirs - the fish pickled in Saikyo white miso, in particular, packs a ton of flavor.
Mackerel Sushi and Dashimaki Bento: Classics in Conversation
Established in 1933 and with its main store near the Daitokuji temple complex, caterer Daitokuji Saikiya is known for bentos that translate Kyoto’s culinary practices into portable form.
The mackerel sushi and dashimaki combination offers the refinement of Kyoto seasoning in the omelet as well as food history in the form of sabazushi, a Kyoto specialty.
The dashimaki is light and fluffy, almost drinkable. The mackerel sushi brings the ocean’s depth without overwhelming odors. Alternating bites is like hearing two instruments in harmony - sea and land, salt and stock, boldness and restraint.
Sabazushi - mackerel sushi - is said to have originated in Kyoto during the Edo period. In those days, fish arrived in the city from Wakasa Bay in present-day Fukui Prefecture.
It took about three days for fishermen and merchants to travel the 80 km route to Kyoto, known later as Saba Kaido - the Mackerel Highway. Without refrigeration, the fish would spoil unless preserved, so they were salted or grilled before the trip.
By the time they reached the capital, the mackerel had absorbed the salt. Kyoto cooks then paired this semi-cured fish with vinegared rice, creating sabazushi - a dish born of ingenuity and distance.
Traditionally, sabazushi was served on festival days such as the Aoi Matsuri and the Gion Matsuri in summer.
To open this bento is to unbox a tale of innovation born from limitation - how an inland city learned to bring the sea to its table.
Saikiya's bentos are available at dedicated counters in Kyomeika - Meisai-doko Miyako, located near the JR West Exit, as well as at JR Kyoto Isetan B2.
Dining on History
Popular ekiben from across Japan are available at Kyoto Station but with a little effort, you'll find boxed meals with some of the best local delicacies that the city has to offer.
A single bento features centuries of culinary stories, uniting the train platform with the court, the temples and the kitchens of the townspeople. All of it is packed handily in a box ready for a train journey - this is a food story always on the move.
Photos and text by Janice Tay