At this store managed by licensed hunters, you can not only purchase meat to go but also try venison, boar, and more at the on-site restaurant.

Recently, we were traveling through Kimitsu, Chiba, and found an exceedingly unique place to grab some grub. Smack in the middle of the forest and mountains of the Boso Peninsula, past the Katakura Dam, and diagonally across the street from the Fureai Park Kimitsu rest area is a roadside grocery store and restaurant run by licensed hunters called Ryoshi Kobo Drive-In (“Hunter Works Drive-In,” according to its official Instagram). Now that’s something that you don’t hear about every day in Japan.

Unlike typical rest areas that are brimming with quick bites to eat and regional souvenirs galore, this shop has a wild game meat corner for perusing and purchasing. That may sound slightly shocking, but all of the wild game that is hunted and sold here has been identified as either posing a safety hazard or being pest-like to the local environment–a societal issue that has gained considerable attention throughout Japan over the last year.

As one way to ensure that nothing is sacrificed in vain, the store also features an all-you-can-eat wild game buffet for 3,000 yen (US$18.98) for adults or 1,500 yen for children.

We were super curious to see what kinds of dishes would be offered, so we paid the fee and grabbed some trays. To our pleasant surprise, the buffet didn’t just include the meat on its own but incorporated it into a full-fledged menu of various cuisines.

Not only is it unusual to find some of these meats on regular restaurant menus, but even if you did, they would likely be fairly pricey with small portion sizes. This buffet seemed like a great deal to sample some harder-to-find cuts in big portions.

In particular, we were surprised to find things like pizza…

…croquettes…

…and even oden hotpot as part of the spread, all of which made use of wild game.

We took a small helping of pretty much everything and sat down to eat.

The chef was clearly skilled at preparing the dishes because the meat wasn’t tough or sinewy as we were half-expecting. In fact, we got the feeling that even picky children wouldn’t put up a fuss about eating most of the dishes. Everything was truly delicious, especially the venison churrasco pictured below.

While we were more or less expecting venison and wild boar to be on the menu, something on the label for the curry caught our eye.

It was Kerala curry made with bear!

Just as 2025’s Kanji of the Year demonstrated, bears seem to everywhere these days–even on our plates. The meat used in this curry had been minced, and paired with the acidity of the tomatoes in the sauce, it altogether had a very “bistro-like” feel to it.

The Ryoshi Kobo store and restaurant was a shopping and dining experience unlike any we’ve had before. We’re not likely to find anything similar to it ever again–unless you count the culinary experiments we sometimes try in the SoraNews24 office kitchen.

Store information
Hunter Works Drive-In / 猟師工房ドライブイン
Address: Chiba-ken, Kimitsu-shi, Sasa 1765-9
千葉県君津市笹 1765-9
Open: Wild game shop from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (winter hours 10 a.m.-5 p.m.), wild game buffet from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (last order at 2 p.m.)
Closed: Wednesdays
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