Drift Events in Japan in December 2026: Every Date and Winter Rate

December 2026 has 17 confirmed drift events at seven Japanese circuits, and two dates decide the trip. Sunday 13 December stacks the D1 NEXT Middle West final at YZ Circuit East (Gifu) against D1 Lights Rd.11 at Mobara Twin Circuit (Chiba), LGR MEET at Bihoku Highland Circuit (Okayama) and organiser days at Nikko and Meihan; then the year closes with back-to-back days at Meihan Sportsland (Nara) and YZ on 29–30 December. Ebisu Circuit (Fukushima) runs no event in December but drops to its ¥5,500 winter day rate from 1 December. Every date and price below was checked on the official pages on 4 September 2026, and the live list is on our event calendar.

Against our November planner, December looks different: no matsuri, no D1 Grand Prix (the finale is 14–15 November, venue still T.B.A.), and no Ebisu competition — the circuit’s provisional 2026 event calendar ends with the Grip Matsuri on 28–29 November. What December has instead is the final round of each regional series, the organiser year-end days that close the Japanese season, and winter pricing. The general case for winter — tyre life, onsen, empty paddocks — is in our winter drifting guide; this page is only the December dates.

The one Sunday that matters: 13 December

Five drift days, four regions, one Sunday. You get one of them.

Near Nagoya — D1 NEXT Middle West Rd.5, YZ Circuit East (Gifu). The Middle West season finale, run by C.O.S. Tokai. Spectator admission is ¥1,500 (¥1,000 for YZ and Owara members, free for junior-high age and under), charged to everyone on site including competitors. Our YZ Circuit East guide covers how the track works on a normal day.

Chiba — D1 Lights Rd.11, Mobara Twin Circuit. The D1 Lights page lists Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 December; the main D1 schedule shows the Sunday. Mobara is the one drift circuit you reach from Tokyo by train. Its own December sheet was not published when we checked — only October was up — so the series page is the sole source and there is no spectator price yet.

Okayama — LGR MEET 2026, Bihoku Highland Circuit. An organiser day on both the A and B courses, listed on the circuit’s official booking calendar. Gate ¥500; the entry price is the organiser’s, not the circuit’s.

Tochigi and Nara. NAIGEL runs its Drift & Grip day at Nikko Circuit (¥13,000 drift, ¥14,000 grip, weekend rate) — an organiser date, since Nikko’s own site lists only August to October calendars. At Meihan Sportsland, SEIMI STYLE DRIFT is on the C course — on the circuit’s sheet but not on SEIMI’s own 2026 list, so provisional — with a Garage DAX drift day on D the same Sunday.

Every confirmed December 2026 drift date, by region

Two gaps in the table. Mobara and Nikko publish month by month and had nothing for December when we checked, so expect more Kanto days to appear in late November. And Ebisu has no December entry at all: its provisional 2026 event calendar stops at 28–29 November. Ebisu in December is a driving destination, not a spectating one.

Year-end days: 27–30 December, then the shutters

The last week of the year is when the season really closes, and two venues run it back to back.

• Sunday 27 December — Min-Dori Team Battle Rd.3, YZ. Three-car teams judged on the reverse in-course, corners 1–4. Entry is ¥13,000 (¥12,000 members), cash on the day, plus the ¥500 gate; entries go through a Google form. The organiser marks the date 予定 — planned — not fixed.
• Tuesday 29 December — SEIMI STYLE DRIFT year-end, Meihan. The one day SEIMI takes both the C and D courses. The circuit’s sheet and SEIMI’s own list agree on the date; SEIMI’s round page still reads 準備中, “in preparation”, so no price yet. A weekday, so no gate fee.
• Wednesday 30 December — Chibikko Gang year-end day at YZ, and BOAR on Meihan’s D course. The YZ day is the traditional last drift of the year there: ¥10,000 a head booked a week or more ahead, ¥12,000 inside a week, plus the ¥500 gate. Entry is a web form or fax, a bank transfer and a signed waiver — to the organiser, not YZ, and all in Japanese.

Then it stops. Meihan closes from 31 December to 3 January and reopens on 4 January. Bihoku closes on New Year’s Day only. Ebisu and YZ had published no year-end closure dates on 4 September, so a first-week-of-January plan at either is TBC until they do.

Now the part that does not fit in a table. Every year-end day above is announced by its organiser, in Japanese, on a page or X account that is never mirrored in English — and whether it runs on a frozen surface is decided that morning by the same people. From overseas you see the cancellation after your flight has landed.

What December costs at Ebisu — and where the winter discount has not started

Ebisu’s winter tariff begins on 1 December and replaces both drift passes with one price. Bihoku is the surprise: its discount is dated later than most English pages assume.

The Ebisu rate includes insurance and covers the Nishi course that D1 runs on — ¥10,000 in summer, ¥5,500 in December. Winter hours are 9:00–16:30, the circuit is closed on Wednesdays, and the price page is explicit that there are no refunds for weather. Which courses open on a given day comes from the monthly driving calendar, posted around the 23rd of the month before — so expect December’s around 23 November. Our Ebisu guide walks through the pass system.

Bihoku’s official price page brackets its cheaper rates as 冬季1月～2月料金 — winter, January to February. A December drift day there is the regular ¥5,000 on A or ¥6,500 on B, on winter hours of 9:00–16:00 weekdays and 8:30–16:00 weekends. YZ keeps 9:00–17:00 in winter, with one published change: the last weekday free-run slot becomes 7G.

Snow: a real possibility at Ebisu, a small one elsewhere

Ebisu is where December weather can take a day away. The Japan Meteorological Agency’s 1991–2020 normals for Fukushima city — the station below the circuit — give December a mean of 4.3°C, a mean minimum of 0.7°C and 24 cm of snowfall with a maximum depth of 10 cm; November’s figure is 1 cm. The circuit sits in the hills above that station, so treat those numbers as the floor.

Nara and Gifu are milder, and neither Meihan nor YZ publishes a snow policy — which is exactly why the year-end days there are decided on the day rather than in advance.

Two weekend patterns that work

Pattern A — the competition weekend, Nagoya and Kansai, 12–13 December. Arrive Friday 11, D1 NEXT final at YZ on Sunday 13 (or SEIMI at Meihan if you want to be in a car rather than at a fence), then stay the week: Chibikko Gang’s weekday round is Friday 18 at YZ, and Meihan has Gen STYLE on Saturday 19 and Link-so on Sunday 20. Nine days covers two weekends and four drift days without a long transfer.

Pattern B — the year-end week, 27–30 December. Min-Dori at YZ on Sunday 27, SEIMI’s C-and-D day at Meihan on Tuesday 29, and on Wednesday 30 a choice between the YZ year-end day and BOAR at Meihan. Book the YZ day by 23 December for the ¥10,000 rate. Then leave: from 31 December the circuits are closed or unconfirmed, and so is most of Japan.

Tokyo-based instead? Sunday 13 gives you D1 Lights at Mobara by train or NAIGEL’s day at Nikko by car, and Ebisu is a three-and-a-half-hour drive north for a ¥5,500 winter day — with no event to watch, but the Nishi course to drive.

Whichever you pick, fix the competition or year-end date first and let the Kanto grassroots sheets fill in around it when they publish. Our calendar shows the date each entry was last checked against its official page.