A highly anticipated weekend of hand-formed Japanese rice balls at Bombera in Oakland has been called off after the pop-up's featured guest was held at an airport for nearly 30 hours and sent back to Tokyo. The Dimond District restaurant had planned a two-night collaboration with Tokyo's Hogure Onigiri stand, but the event's star, Eiji Hashimoto, never made it to the Bay Area.
Bombera announced that its two-night event with Hogure Onigiri was postponed until further notice because Hashimoto, referred to warmly by the restaurant as its honored guest Eiji, was detained by immigration officials, according to San Francisco Chronicle writer Aidin Vaziri. Momoca, who was set to appear alongside Hashimoto at Bombera on Friday and Saturday evenings, said in a statement that Hashimoto was disappointed and devastated, but safe, according to the same report.
Per Momoca, Hashimoto was held at the airport for nearly 30 hours before being returned to Tokyo. The Chronicle's report does not include independent government or airport confirmation of the detention, the location involved, or the legal basis behind it, and those details remain unconfirmed.
Who Is Eiji Hashimoto?
Hogure Onigiri stand is a traveling team from Tokyo known for making onigiri, the classic Japanese rice balls, using rice cooked in traditional clay pots. The operation has no permanent storefront. A profile from nanamica describes Hashimoto as the person behind the onigiri, noting that he doesn't have a shop but instead travels to Toyosu Fish Market, rice farms in the countryside, the backstage dressing rooms at Tokyo Dome concert hall, and even Saudi Arabia to ply his craft.
Hashimoto relies on a specific rice variety called Sagabiyori, grown in Saga prefecture, the nanamica profile notes. He also makes frequent trips to Toyosu Market, visiting a few times a month to stock up on ingredients for his onigiri, according to the same account. Followers of his work can track his travels through his Instagram account, @eiji_0108, which has amassed thousands of followers documenting his itinerant onigiri-making.
Bombera's Plans for the Collaboration
Ahead of the scrapped pop-up, Bombera had prepared a Japanese whiskey cocktail named Eiji in honor of its guest, per Momoca. The dedicated drink underscored how much the Oakland restaurant had built around Hashimoto's visit before it fell apart.
Bombera opened in 2021 in Oakland's Dimond District and is led by chef-owner Dominica Rice Cisneros. The restaurant was named the Bay Area's best Mexican restaurant by the Chronicle, and in a 2024 review, Chronicle writer Cesar Hernandez praised Bombera's Mexican cooking for expanding the cuisine while honoring its regional traditions.
The onigiri pop-up was postponed following the detention of its featured guest, according to the article, with no new date announced. It remains unclear whether the collaboration between Bombera and Hogure Onigiri stand will be rescheduled.
