May 6, 2025
OYAMA – About 6 kilometers north of JR Oyama Station in Tochigi Prefecture, located in the middle of a fork in the road, sits a restaurant with soda labels on its signboard.
Inside the restaurant, called Drive-in Fuso, several groups of people, including families and men in work uniforms, were sitting at tables waiting for their food.
The restaurant’s exterior, little changed since it opened about 60 years ago. PHOTO: THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
The owner, Hiroko Suzuki, could be heard from the kitchen saying: “Sorry for the wait, the tanmen will be ready soon. It’s delicious. I’m putting my whole heart into it.”
One customer informed me, “She doesn’t have anyone to help her.”
The restaurant’s three menu items. PHOTO: THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
The restaurant serves three dishes: tanmen (ramen with stir-fried vegetables and pork on top), katsudon pork cutlet rice bowl and yakiniku grilled meat set.
There used to be more items on the menu, but the owner narrowed them down a few years ago to make it easier to run the shop by herself.
The tanmen, which is served with about 1 kilogram of vegetables, and the katsudon cost ¥770 each, while the yakiniku set costs ¥990. The dishes are inexpensive yet come with a lot of food.
Suzuki’s husband, Shoji, opened the restaurant in 1965, around the time more people in Japan began buying cars, and it became very popular. The look of the interior, with its tatami mat sections, has remained unchanged since the restaurant opened. Five chefs used to prepare the meals, and the restaurant would take reservations for banquets in the evenings.
Suzuki’s grandchild, who works at a hotel restaurant, comes to help on weekends. PHOTO: THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
Suzuki married her husband when she was 18. She would bring their young child to the restaurant and help out, even working in the kitchen. She also got a large vehicle license so that she could drive a minibus to pick up and drop off banquet customers. Shoji passed away in 2022, but she continues to run the restaurant.
When torrential rains hit the Kanto and Tohoku regions in 2015, the restaurant was flooded, destroying everything from the tables to the refrigerator.
Suzuki said her children, relatives and regular customers helped her out. She was able to reopen the restaurant after about two months, as customers donated chairs and tatami mats.
“The only way I can repay them is to serve delicious food with all my heart,” she said.
After reopening, Suzuki wrote a song, which she sings when she is in a good mood.
Drive-in Fuso
Address: 1828 Iizuka, Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture
Access: Get off at the Fuso Center bus stop from JR Oyama Station and walk for about 12 minutes. It is a 15-minute drive from the station.
Memo: Closed Mondays. Open from around 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. May close early or open late.