Lunch ON! - Season 12 / Year 2024

We visit a farm run by a couple and their three sons in Chiba Prefecture that produces a vegetable called "okahijiki." Come lunchtime, the whole family sits down together for a tasty okahijiki meal!

We head to a well-known theme park in Osaka Prefecture to explore the cafeterias serving a staff of 10 thousand. We chat with staff members handling diverse roles to delve into the delightful lunches they enjoy.

A special episode on Toyama Prefecture. Photographer Abe Satoru captures the lunches of glass shrimp fishers. Also, meet a temple bell artisan, and lastly, take a ride on the Kurobe Gorge Railway.

The craftspeople at a golf club factory in Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture, produce quality golf clubs for players across the world. At lunchtime, almost all the employees have tasty meals at the cafeteria.

In this special episode devoted to the lunches found in the prefecture of Gunma, we visit a daruma doll factory, a national park and an old-school theme park that the children just love!

Itsuki, a third-grade boy, loves his swimming school coaches. He wrote to us wishing to join them for lunch. His wish came true; he had lunch with them after a special tour of their room.

This episode features two new recruits at places known for delicious food: a trainee at a renowned Chinese restaurant in Tokyo and a chef at a hotel buffet!

We tag along with a soba shop delivery person to ask if we can do a lunch story on the people who order in for lunch in the busy Higashi-Ginza district of Tokyo.

Take a trip to Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, home to one of the world's leading piano factories, where skilled artisans carefully craft each instrument through specialized processes.

In Shizuoka Prefecture, a unique workplace serves spicy curry as staff meals three times a day. This practice started for the Indian employees at the Japanese subsidiary of an IT company headquartered in India, but it has since become a favorite among the Japanese workers as well. Curious about the taste? Watch and find out! In the Lunch ON! Overseas segment, we have correspondents from Mozambique and Benin in Africa, and the Republic of Fiji, give us a taste of the lunches they enjoy.

Falconers are people who breed and train hawks for hunting. The ancient art of falconry is now being applied to combat pest birds such as crows and pigeons. Receiving requests from farms, factories, golf courses, etc., falconers regularly release hawks to drive away these pests. Tune in to check out the work of falconers and what they do for lunch. In a different segment, we follow the delivery bike of a soba noodle shop in Kamata, Tokyo, to meet the working people who order in for lunch!

In Okayama Prefecture, seaweed is harvested from winter to early spring. We visit a couple who farm seaweed and enjoy okonomiyaki savory pancakes and fun stories at a local eatery.

In Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, we explore a salt production plant damaged by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake in January 2024. We then visit a bakery in Tokyo loved by musician Sakamoto Ryuichi.

A confectionery in Omihachiman, Shiga Prefecture, has a history that goes back some 150 years. The premises of its headquarters feature an incredible garden and forest maintained by an in-house team of gardeners. We check out what lunches they have to keep their stamina up! In another segment, we visit a factory that manufactures hearses to meet the demands of today. Tune in to discover the techniques involved in making hearses and find out what the professionals do for lunch!

We visit Sado, Niigata Prefecture, to meet a renowned taiko drum performance group that plays concerts worldwide. The 67 performers and staff members live together at a training facility, immersing themselves in their practice. Their meals, prepared by three dedicated women, are infused with the unique flavors of Sado, including local wild plants. Additionally, we pay tribute to the late comedian Sakata Toshio, who enjoyed a special rice omelet at a local café he frequented.

We hop on a dredging ship that removes sediment from the seabed to allow large ships to navigate in the Port of Nagoya. The crew's biggest joy is the delicious meals prepared by the onboard cooks!

An auto repair shop in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture serves a rice bowl once a week. Ms. Kuroda, who helped run the company for years with her late husband, started making these meals at the age of 70.

We begin the Ehime Prefecture Special at a mikan orange farm where a young man is diligently growing mikan and avocados on land inherited from his grandparents. He and his grandparents don't work together, but they share delicious lunch daily. In another segment, we visit Matsuyama to check out their tram system and the lunches that make it all possible. Lastly, we feature a man who devotes his life to the exciting sport of bull wrestling, and take a look at the tasty lunch that keeps him going.

This episode features a selection of lunches enjoyed by people working in various railway jobs that we've covered so far. We'll see how workers responsible for railway signals enjoy dandan noodles prepared by younger team members. Also in this episode are: the lunch of a new attendant at Echizen Railway in Fukui Prefecture, Wakayama Electric Railway's famous "cat stationmaster," a maintenance crew in Hiroshima, and the rare Doctor Yellow bullet train that brings joy to all who see it!

We visit the Echizen Matsushima Aquarium, where, for some reason, many staff members eat instant noodles for lunch. Join us as we explore the work they do and the reason behind the instant noodles.