Japanese freight container bento satisfies our hunger for unusual lunches

A lunchbox so popular its makers can’t keep up with demand.

Have you ever seen a freight train pass by and thought to yourself, “I wonder what’s inside those containers?”

Well, now you can satisfy that curiosity by prying open a freight container of your very own, thanks to a new bento from Kobe-based bento specialists Awajiya.

This unique lunchbox is styled to look exactly like a Japan Rail (JR) container, replicating details like colour, branding, and even ID numbers.

It’s in such high demand that it sells out immediately whenever it goes on sale — a fact we learned when we attempted to buy one online recently. After logging onto the site at 12:30 p.m., when new stock becomes available each day, they’d already sold out, and that’s what happened to us on several occasions, until, finally, through the luck of the bento gods, we were able to purchase one.

The “JR Freight Container Bento Kobe Sukiyaki Edition“, as it’s called, arrived a day after we ordered it, and it came in a beautiful box that also looked like a little freight container.

▼ However, at 13.5 centimetres (5 inches) by 9 centimetres by 9.5 centimetres, this was the tiniest freight container we’d ever seen!

The bento’s name gave us a hint as to what it contained before even opening it, but when we lifted the lid on the lunchbox, we saw it truly was beef sukiyaki, containing all the same ingredients you’d find in the classic simmered hotpot dish.

▼ There was tofu, carrot, shiitake mushroom, leeks, Chinese cabbage and konjac noodles.

Beneath the ingredients lay a bed of seasoned rice, which added even more flavour to the meal. Kobe is famous for its beef, and the thin strips here were soft and delicious, as was everything else in the container.

Of course, one of the best things about this bento is the fact that you can reuse the container it came in again and again.

▼ What you choose to store in the container is entirely up to you.

And if you buy more than one, you’ll be able to stack them on top of each other to create your very freight yard!

Though this bento isn’t a limited-time product, it’s an incredibly sought after one, and the company has recently apologised to customers for not being able to keep up with demand. They say interest has exceeded their expectations to such an extent that they’re likely to run out of containers by the end of January. However, they want customers to know that this will only be a temporary situation, as they’ve amped up production to make the boxed lunches easier to buy in future.

The JR Freight Container Bento retails for 1,420 yen (US$12.48), and is also available at the following locations: Awajiya stores within Kobe and Osaka, main stations in the Kansai region, and Ekibenya at Tokyo Station.

Given their huge popularity, we’re certainly glad we were able to get one of these little freight container bentos, and it’s now looking right at home next to our bento shaped like a samurai case.

Related: Awajiya
Photos ©SoraNews24
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