Drift Trip to Japan in April: What Opens and What It Costs (2027)

April 2027 is when the drift season opens across Japan. Okuibuki Motor Park (Shiga) reopens its ski-resort car parks in early April with a ¥15,000 weekday individual run, and Ebisu Circuit (Fukushima) moves from its winter price to ¥8,500 for a full drift day on 1 April. No D1 Grand Prix round is set for April, and every date and price here was checked on the official pages on 28 Oct 2026.

Our March planner covers the last cheap winter month. April costs more, but it adds a whole venue and, in 2026, the first national rounds. Fixed dates go on our event calendar as each circuit publishes them.

Which venues open in April 2027, and what do they cost?

Here is where each venue stood on 28 October 2026.

Ebisu’s change is the one to budget for. The winter tariff of ¥5,500 runs from 1 December to 31 March. On 1 April the same drift area (Course 4) costs ¥8,500 a day or ¥5,000 a half day, and Course 5, which adds the West course, costs ¥10,000 or ¥6,500. Prices are per driver, insurance included, and the page says there are no refunds for weather or a broken car. Drivers enter free; a friend who only watches pays ¥1,700.

Bihoku stays at its normal free-run prices, the same as in March. Meihan runs on organiser days: a club or shop hires the course and sells the places. Its April 2026 sheet marked drift (“do” on the sheet) on 11 days: 3, 5, 8, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 25, 26 and 29 April. Six of those fell at a weekend. The page does not print the year, so we checked it against the weekdays: 1 April is shown as a Wednesday, which matches 2026. Our Meihan guide explains how organiser days work.

What does Okuibuki’s reopening mean for an April trip?

Okuibuki Motor Park is not a circuit. It is four asphalt car parks at Gransnow Okuibuki, a ski resort in Maibara, northern Shiga. In winter they are under snow, so the official page gives the season as early April to late November, 8:00 to 17:00. April is the first month you can drive there.

There are two ways in, with very different prices.

Hire prices are per day, tax included, and have applied since 1 January 2026. The individual run is a weekday option only. It is taken from three days before the date, only if nobody has hired the car park that day, and it closes at ten people. A helmet is compulsory. Our Okuibuki guide has the access and the full rules.

Where does an April booking at Okuibuki get stuck?

At the booking itself. Since the 2026 season, reservations are web-only. The whole April-to-November season goes on sale at once, at 00:00 JST on 1 March, through the resort’s reservation portal, and that portal page is in Japanese (checked 28 Oct 2026). Midnight in Japan is 15:00 the day before in London. If you want the cheaper weekday individual run instead, you cannot plan it from home months ahead. It only opens three days out, and only if no group has hired the lot.

Is there a D1 or Formula Drift Japan round in April 2027?

Not a confirmed one. D1 published its provisional 2027 D1 Grand Prix calendar on 3 October 2026, and the championship starts on 29–30 May 2027 at a venue still T.B.A. The same page lists the exhibition RD.0 D1 Festival with no date or venue, and says the other categories will follow. As of 28 October 2026, D1 Lights and Formula Drift Japan had not published 2027 calendars. Our D1 Grand Prix 2027 schedule tracks the confirmed rounds.

In 2026, April was busy:

That is a pattern, not a promise. Treat any April 2027 date on a third-party site as a guess until the series pages show it.

How do Golden Week and the spring matsuri affect April plans?

Golden Week is the common name for the run of national holidays at the turn of April and May. The Cabinet Office lists the 2027 dates: Showa Day on Thursday 29 April, then Constitution Day, Greenery Day and Children’s Day on Monday 3 to Wednesday 5 May. With the weekend before, that is five days off in a row from Saturday 1 May.

Holidays change the price at two venues. Bihoku’s A course hire is ¥32,000 on a weekday but ¥110,000 on a Sunday or holiday. At Okuibuki, Lot 4 goes from ¥140,000 on a weekday to ¥300,000. Free-run at Bihoku is still ¥5,000 on the A course. Staff of a hire group enter free on weekdays but pay ¥500 each at weekends and on holidays.

Ebisu’s Drift Matsuri (the circuit’s day-and-night open drift festival) matters to April too. In 2026 the Spring Matsuri ran on 9–10 May, and its advance entry window opened at 00:00 on 12 April and closed on 24 April. No 2027 matsuri page existed on 28 October 2026. In 2026 the page went up on 1 February, so check in early 2027. Our Drift Matsuri dates guide has the entry rules.

April is the month to drive more than one venue. Lock Okuibuki on 1 March, then let Ebisu’s late-March calendar set the rest of the week.