Kusaki Drive-In is a popular sightseeing and rest stop located along National Route 122 in Midori City, Gunma Prefecture. Situated roughly halfway between Kiryū and Nikkō and beside Kusaki Lake, it is surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery and is a convenient place to enjoy local food, shopping, and sightseeing in one stop.
The drive-in is also closely connected with the nearby Roadside Station Tomihiro Museum. The Midori City Tomihiro Museum, which displays works by poet and artist Tomihiro Hoshino, is only about a five-minute walk away.
With Kusaki Dam, lakeside walking paths, local cuisine, and cultural attractions nearby, the area is popular with individual travelers as well as groups and sightseeing bus tours.
Kusaki Drive-In is a comprehensive travel facility with a restaurant, local specialty shop, and convenience store. It is also registered as a travel and roadside station, providing road information and tourist information for visitors traveling through the area.
The signature product of Kusaki Drive-In is “Jōshū Gunma Kusaki Lake Yomogi Manju.” These Japanese-style steamed sweets are made and sold directly at the facility, with sales reaching as many as 2,000 pieces in a single day.
The filling is made with Hokkaido-grown azuki beans, while the soft, chewy dough contains plenty of carefully selected yomogi (Japanese mugwort). No artificial coloring or preservatives are used, allowing the natural aroma and flavor of the ingredients to come through.
Visitors can enjoy the manju freshly made at the shop, and samples are also available. The combination of its chewy texture and fragrant mugwort makes it a memorable local treat.
The specialty shop offers a wide selection of local products, including maitake mushrooms, pickles, regional sweets, traditional crafts, tea, and teapots.
Souvenirs featuring Gunma and Tochigi regional products are also available, along with original items such as National Route Sticker R122 and Kusaki Lake stickers.
The restaurant offers a wide selection of dishes, including homemade udon, soba, and ramen, as well as rice bowls and set meals.
Regional specialties include okirikomi, a traditional Gunma-style noodle dish, sauce katsudon, kamameshi set meals served with rice cooked in a small pot, hōtō set meals, and soba-suiton set meals.
For udon, visitors can choose between Jōshū udon and yomogi udon, flavored with Japanese mugwort. Group reservations are also available.
Enjoying local dishes while looking out toward the lakeside scenery makes the restaurant a convenient place for lunch during sightseeing or a relaxing break on a road trip.
Near the entrance is a small shrine known as Epidemic-Expelling Shrine. According to local belief, striking a log at the shrine helps visitors avoid poverty and illness.
Next to it stands the Shōfuku Shichifukujin Hotei Daibutsu, a large statue of Hotei, one of Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods. Local tradition says that rubbing the statue’s belly can bring greater financial fortune.
These unusual good-luck spots can be visited casually while stopping for a meal or shopping.
A large Reclining Buddha is located in the garden behind the facility. It was installed in 1999 as an accessible alternative to the much more remote Stone Reclining Buddha of Tōnosawa, a Gunma Prefectural Historic Site.
The original Reclining Buddha is located on the slopes of Mount Kesamaru and requires approximately an hour of hiking from the Tōnosawa trailhead. The stone figure measures approximately 3.7 meters long and 1.3 meters wide.
Several traditions surround its origins, including a theory associating it with Kōbō Daishi (Kūkai) and another suggesting that it was created to commemorate people connected with the Ashio Copper Mine.
The Reclining Buddha at Kusaki Drive-In lies peacefully with Kusaki Lake in the background, offering visitors an easy opportunity for quiet reflection.
Completed in 1976, Kusaki Dam is a gravity-type concrete dam constructed for flood control on the Watarase River and water supply for the Tokyo metropolitan area.
The dam is approximately 140 meters high and 405 meters long, making its scale particularly impressive.
From the observation area, visitors can enjoy panoramic views of Kusaki Lake with the mountains of the Ashio region rising in the background. Periodic inspection water releases from the dam can create a powerful spectacle and attract visitors who come to watch.
A photo frame is also installed below the dam, providing a popular spot for commemorative photographs.
The lake and its surroundings offer opportunities for canoeing, boating, and fishing. The waters are home to fish such as yamame trout and smelt, while the natural environment around the lake provides a pleasant setting for outdoor activities.
Japanese maple and Yashio azaleas are planted around the grounds, adding seasonal color to the landscape.
The Midori City Tomihiro Museum stands beside Kusaki Lake and displays works by poet and artist Tomihiro Hoshino.
Through delicate watercolor illustrations combined with poetry, Hoshino’s works express themes of the preciousness of life and compassion, touching the hearts of visitors from Japan and abroad.
The present museum building opened in 2005. Its innovative square exterior was inspired by a soap bubble, while the interior contains 33 cylindrical exhibition rooms of different sizes.
The unusual arrangement, with no conventional corridors or structural columns and a series of rounded exhibition spaces, is considered distinctive even by international architectural standards. The building received an Architectural Institute of Japan Prize.
In addition to the exhibition rooms, the museum has a museum shop, video room, information area, café, and themed spaces such as the “Sky Room” and “Sea Room.”
At the lakeside café, visitors can enjoy coffee and homemade bread while spending a peaceful moment overlooking Kusaki Lake.
The front garden and surrounding walking areas are planted with seasonal flowers and greenery, allowing visitors to continue enjoying the atmosphere of Hoshino’s works outdoors.
Kusaki Drive-In and the Tomihiro Museum operate together as Roadside Station Tomihiro Museum.
The combined facility provides tourist information and contributes to regional tourism and community development, serving as a place where local residents and visitors can meet and interact.
By train and bus: Approximately 10 minutes by bus from Gōdo Station on the Watarase Keikoku Railway.
By car: Approximately 50 minutes from the Isesaki Interchange on the Kita-Kantō Expressway.
Approximately 80 minutes from the Sano-Fujioka Interchange on the Tōhoku Expressway.
Approximately 45 minutes from the Kiyotaki Interchange on the Nikkō-Utsunomiya Road.
The Kusaki Lake area centered around Kusaki Drive-In brings together local cuisine, nature, art, and unique cultural attractions.
Visitors can sample the famous yomogi manju, admire the impressive scenery of Kusaki Dam, enjoy the peaceful landscape of the lake, and explore the artistic world of the Tomihiro Museum.
With its changing scenery throughout the seasons, the lakeside area offers a relaxing and varied stop for travelers exploring the mountains between Gunma and Nikkō.