Do you like traveling?
I like traveling. When I travel in Japan, one of the pleasures is meal. If you take a train, many station have their own special lunch box. They are called ekiben (駅弁), literally station lunch.
They say today is the anniversary of ekiben. On July 16, 1885 when the Japan Railway Tohoku main line was opened, the first ekiben was sold at the Utsunomiya (宇都宮) station, in Tochigi (栃木) prefecture. There were two rice balls called nigirimeshi (握り飯) and pickles called takuan (たくあん) wrapped by the peel of bamboo. They cost 5 sen (五銭).
Even today, rice balls are very popular lunch items when we go hiking. Rice balls are usually called onigiri (おにぎり). Inside the rice you can put various ingredients such as pickled plum, roasted cod roe, salted salmon, salted kelp and so on as you like. They are usually wrapped with nori (海苔), laver.
You can eat them with your hands.
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