JR East opens voting for its 15th Ekiben Aji no Jin station-bento contest
JR East's station-bento popularity contest returns for a 15th year with 50 entries from its own network and nine outside prefectures, adding a stamp-collecting app and a band tie-in to drive voting traffic through the concessions that dot Japan's busiest railway.
JR East said it will hold the 15th edition of "Ekiben Aji no Jin" (station-bento "Battle of Tastes"), its annual contest promoting regional bento boxes sold at its stations, with voting open from October 1 to November 30 and results announced in December, according to a release.
The lineup runs to 50 entries: bento from JR East's own network — one metropolitan area and 15 prefectures — plus a further nine prefectures outside its territory, the company said. Voting runs across four channels: a campaign website, following and reposting on X, in-store purchases at participating stations, and, new this year, stamp collection through JR East's "Ekitag" mobile app from October 16.
Seven awards will be handed out, including a grand champion (which the company calls "Ekiben Taishogun"), a runner-up, and separate prizes for taste, plating, wrapper design and JRE MALL sales, alongside a special "Ekiben-ya Matsuri" award, JR East said. This year's contest is tied to a collaboration with the five-member band Reisan, fronted by the comedian Saya of the duo Laland, with member-branded stamps, artist-picked bento recommendations, and prizes including signed artwork and collaboration goods for voters.
For a company that runs both the trains and much of the retail bolted onto their stations, a bento vote is a low-cost way to pull passengers toward its own shops and JRE MALL storefront twice — once to vote, once to buy the winner. Folding in a mobile stamp app and a band tie-in is less about the bento than about widening who bothers to take part at all.