Asahi TV, a Japanese television network, is scheduled to broadcast a two-hour program this month introducing Taiwan’s railway culture and the railway boxed lunch — known in Japan as bento — to Japanese, the Tourism Bureau said last week.
The program’s production crew arrived yesterday and began shooting for the program in Taipei. Three program hosts will arrive later this week.
The Tourism Bureau said the program is scheduled to be aired on Aug. 20 in Japan to audiences in the Kansai Metropolitan area of Japan’s main island of Honshu.
The TV program is being partly sponsored by the bureau.
It will introduce the miner’s bento (礦工便當) from the Pingsi line (平溪線) in Taipei County, the Checheng bento (車埕便當) from the Jiji line (集集線) in Nantou County and the Fenchihu bento (奮起湖便當) from the Alishan Forest Railway in Chiayi County — all of which are made by private lunch box makers along these lines.
PACKAGING
While these three bentos contain more or less the same ingredients, such as marinated eggs, pickled turnip, chopped vegetables and pork chops, each is quite different in the style of packaging.
The miner’s bento, for example, is wrapped in cotton cloth, similar to what miners did in the past when they carried their lunchboxes to work.
The Checheng bento, on the other hand, is placed in a small wooden bucket.
TRA BENTOS
Meanwhile, the program will also introduce bentos made by the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA), which bring in approximately NT$400 million annually for the nation’s largest railway service operator.
The TRA’s pork chop bentos gained publicity recently as they were chosen by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to serve Japanese delegates attending his inauguration ceremony in May.
In addition, the TRA allows vendors to sell bentos on the platforms in Fulong (福隆), Ruifang (瑞芳) and Guanshan (關山) train stations.
ALSO INCLUDED
Aside from boxed lunches, the program will include traditional Taiwanese desserts that tourists can find when they go on railway tours, including lemon aiyu jelly and mango shaved ice.
Several tourist attractions will also be presented to Japanese audiences, such as Sun Moon Lake and Dongpu Hot Springs (東埔溫泉) in Nantou County.
The bureau said that because of the limited time the production crew has, it will not be able to include scenic spots from the East Coast.
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