Old New American Style sits along National Route 16, also known as Base Side Street, in Fussa, Japan. (Joshua L. DeMotts/Stars and Stripes)
The decor at Old New American Style cafe in Fussa, Japan, includes memorabilia from Betty Boop, Barbie and Disney. (Joshua L. DeMotts/Stars and Stripes)
Sweet, warm and buttery describes the newest eatery on Route 16, or Base Side Street in Fussa, Japan, to a T.
Old New American Style — a cafe inside a 1975 Airstream travel trailer — occupies a spot on National Route 16, which parallels the length of Yokota Air Base, nearly halfway between the Terminal and Fussa gates.
With its iconic aerodynamic shape, polished aluminum exterior and mid-20th-century billboards, Old New American Style embodies American road trip culture. But once you pass through the Barbie-land portal — or travel trailer door — your senses are instantly flooded with the warm, sweet aroma of hot gourmet doughnuts and the color pink.
Taking inspiration from American icons Betty Boop and Barbie, Tomoko Ishikawa’s cafe is themed like Barbie’s bedroom.
Barbie, Betty Boop and old-style Disney memorabilia are displayed everywhere, and nearly everything is pink. Pink neon signs, pink walls, pink stool seats, pink and white checkered floor, and even the white tables, chairs, and countertops reflect and complement all the pink.
Tomoko Ishikawa modeled her cafe, Old New American Style near Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, on Barbie’s bedroom. (Joshua L. DeMotts/Stars and Stripes)
Coupled with the smell of fresh, gourmet doughnuts, Old New American Style is truly an immersive, sensory experience that will pique your imagination and make you smile.
“I’ve loved cute things since I was a child,” Ishikawa told me May 15 by Messenger. “American cuteness like Barbie is wonderful, just like Japanese ‘kawaii’ culture.”
Old New American Style’s menu features American breakfast staples such as made-to-order pancakes, bacon and eggs and doughnuts. But if you’re not feeling breakfast, she also serves hot dogs, fried chicken, French fries, onion rings and fried garlic shrimp. Ishikawa plans to add hamburgers to the menu this summer.
Old New American Style in Fussa, Japan, operates from inside a 1975 Airstream travel trailer imported from the United States. (Joshua L. DeMotts/Stars and Stripes)
Ishikawa makes the doughnuts in a separate kitchen just behind the Airstream using haruyokoi flour from Hokkaido and Shirakami Kodema yeast, a naturally occurring strain discovered in the Shirakami-Sanchi mountain range and World Heritage site here in Japan.
If you merely want something to drink, Old New American Style has that covered as well with a selection of milkshakes, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, homemade lemonade, lemonade soda, root beer float, melon cream soda, cola float, juices, sodas and beer.
“I’ve always wanted to create a place where all kinds of people could gather,” said Ishikawa. “That’s what led to this store. I wanted to create a place where everyone can be happy and smile.”
Old New American Style
Location: 2049-8 Fussa, Tokyo, 197-0011
Hours: Open weekdays, except Mondays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends.
Prices: Drinks range from $2.75 to $ 7, and food is $4.50 to $14.
Dress: Casual
Directions: A short walk from Yokota Air Base’s main gate, but the shop has three parking spaces available.
Information: Instagram.com/oldnewamericanstyle
