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Time-slipping travel at a roadside retro spot in northern east Japan【Kita Kanto Brothers】

Casey Baseel Oct 23, 2025
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The Kita Kanto Brothers make an unexpected detour in Gunma Prefecture.

Welcome back to Kita Kanto Brothers, where our Japanese-language reporters Masanuki Sunakoma and Takamichi Furusawa journey across northern east Japan to visit the region’s best hidden, quirky, and off-the-beaten-path sightseeing spots. And to be clear, we’re talking about the northern (“kita”) prefectures of Japan’s eastern Kanto area, not the prefectures that make up the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan.

As has become tradition, the Kita Kanto Brothers began their expedition by meeting in a random north Kanto field.

After mulling over their options, they decided to head to the town of Ashikaga in Tochigi Prefecture. Ashikaga has a number of sites of interest, such as the oldest school in Japan and Ashikaga Flower Park, which boasts some of the most beautiful wisteria in the county.

As has also become tradition, their mode of transport would be neither train nor car. Instead, the Kita Kanto Brothers filled their minds with loving thoughts of north Kanto, leapt into the air…

…and warped.

Except, hold on, this wasn’t Ashikaga! As a matter of fact, it wasn’t even Tochigi. Instead, Masanuki and Takamichi had somehow ended up in Ota, Gunma Prefecture.

Confused as to what could have interfered with their Kita Kanto powers, the brothers looked around, and quickly found the reason for their unintended arrival here.

“Vending machines,” “Coffee,” “Snacks,” and “Video games” said the tiers of the sign for someplace called Orange Hat. Since those are some of the finest things in life, Masanuki and Takamichi came to the conclusion that the greater will of north Kanto must have pulled them to this location, even though they’d been trying to warp somewhere else, so that they wouldn’t miss it.

Placing their trust in this fate, they decided to head on in and check the place out…

…and felt like they’d traveled not only to Ota, but also several decades back in time. The architecture, interior, and overall atmosphere were like something from Japan’s Showa era, which ended in 1989.

Nowhere were the old-school vibes stronger than at the row of food vending machines, which contained multiple models that haven’t been commonly encountered in Japan for decades. Not wanting to pass up this rare opportunity, Masanuki sauntered up to the vending machine for hot soba and udon noodles and fed in 380 yen (US$2.55) in coins in order to then feed himself some noodles.

▼ The buttons for the two options, tempura soba (天ぷらそば) and tempura udon (天ぷらうどん)

After a short wait, the LED timer indicated that Masanuki’s food was ready, so he opened up the door at the bottom of the machine…

…and got his tempura udon!

They weren’t anything fancy, but the broth had an enticing color to it, promising rich flavor, and the kakiage cluster of sliced vegetable tempura looked tasty too.

Masanuki dug in, and found the broth did indeed have a very satisfying touch of sweetness to it, and was nice and thick with a pleasing texture. The unique surroundings also seemed to add their own special seasoning, sort of like when we recently ate Japan’s most expensive Cup Noodle in a not-so-everyday location. And with Orange Hat open 24 hours a day, you can stop in for a bite whenever the mood strikes.

As Masanuki ate, Takamichi dropped a coin into one of the video mahjong games, and when it eventually hit him with a game over screen, he hit up the vending machines too to get a drink.

Coca-Cola itself is common in Japanese vending machines, but finding one that sells it in glass bottles is a rare treat. What’s more, it was priced at just 150 yen, which is quite a bit less than what modern vending machines charge for plastic bottles of it now, with rapid inflation continuing in Japan.

The machine even has an integrated bottle opener, where you can pop the cap off and it’ll be directly dropped back into the machine so that you don’t have to carry it around with you.

▼ Orange Hat

Having enjoyed this refreshing pause, it was time for the Kita Kanto Brothers to get back on the proverbial road/warp path to Ashikaga. Except when Masanuki warped out at Ashikaga Station…

…Takamichi was nowhere to be seen.

▼ “…Takamichi…?”

▼ “Takamichi?”

▼ “Takamichi!”

▼ “TAAAKAAAMIIICHIII!!!”

What happened to Takamichi? Will he and Masanuki reunite? Those answers will have to wait for the next installment of the Kita Kanto Brothers, unless Takamichi really is gone for good and we have to change the name of this series to just Kita Kanto Bro.

Location information
Orange Hat (Okinogo branch) / オレンジハット（沖之郷店）
Address: Gunma-ken, Ota-shi, Okinogo-cho 448-4
群馬県太田市沖之郷町448-4
Open 24 hours

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[ Read in Japanese ]