NEXCO East Japan is renovating the Tohoku Expressway's Hanyu Parking Area (hereafter referred to as Hanyu PA) in the outbound lane into a new Edo-themed facility called "Onihei Edodokoro."

The entire area will express the worldview of Ikenami Shotaro's historical novel "Onihei Hankacho." Hanyu PA (Hanyu City, Saitama Prefecture) was chosen because, during the Edo period, the "Kurihashi Barrier" on the Nikko Kaido was established in what is now Kuki City, Saitama Prefecture, near the area. This was considered the "gateway to Edo" from Nikko and the Tohoku region.

Under the supervision of a folklorist, Hanyu PA will recreate the Edo townscape from 1745, when Onihei, also known as Hasegawa Heizo Nobutame, was born, to the Bunka-Bunsei period, when townspeople culture flourished. Restaurants offering Edo flavors will be opening on the expressway for the first time, including Tamahide, a long-established gamecock restaurant in Ningyocho, Tokyo, which was the model for Gotetsu, a restaurant featured in Onihei Hankacho, and Funabashi-ya, the original kuzumochi (kudzu rice cake) shop founded in 1819 in Kameido, Tokyo. Scheduled to open in December.

In June 2010, NEXCO East Japan opened a themed area based on Saint-Exupéry's novel The Little Prince at Yorii PA (inbound) on the Kan'etsu Expressway. The area will include a shop selling Little Prince merchandise and a restaurant serving Provençal cuisine from the south of France, a place closely associated with Saint-Exupéry.