駅弁を手がかりにみる食文化の越境

Abstract

This paper addresses the border crossing of food culture through ekiben. From the perspective of border crossing, the history of ekiben can be divided into three stages. The first stage comprised the movement of long-distance railway travelers to places where ekiben was made (people movement). The second stage encompassed the movement of both ekiben and customers (mainly food movement) due to ekiben tournaments in department stores and permanent sales at major railway stations. In the third stage, ekiben moves toward consumers (only food movement), which is made possible through online sales. International expansion has allowed ekiben even greater border crossing. In line with the Japanese government’s efforts to promote Japanese food globally, aggressive initiatives toward ekiben’s global expansion are observed, such as easy-to-understand package descriptions for overseas visitors, sales demonstrations, and store openings. Such expansion is accompanied by cross-border culture issues that must be addressed, such as the creation of menus inspired by local foods, the use of local ingredients, and removes the Kakegami (wrapping paper).