Drift Trip to Japan in November 2026: Every Big Date, Planned

Most of the drift-trip enquiries we get for autumn arrive in August and September, and they all ask the same question in different words: which dates actually matter? This is the answer for November 2026 — every competition and matsuri date that was confirmed on an official page as of 4 September 2026, laid out by region so you can drop it onto a route. The full list, including grassroots days as they get published, lives in our event calendar.

One thing to understand about a Japanese drift calendar: the big series fix their dates a year out, but the small organiser days — the ones where you see locals running door to door for ¥10,000 — are published two to four weeks ahead. In early September, Mobara had not released its November sheet and Nikko had not published its November calendar. So the competition dates below are firm; around them, expect the grassroots days to fill in through October.

The day everything happens at once: Sunday 1 November

Three events, three regions, one Sunday. You cannot do two of them.

Near Nagoya — D1 NEXT Middle West Rd.4, YZ Circuit East (Gifu). D1 NEXT is D1’s regional pro-am ladder, and the Middle West series is run by C.O.S. Tokai at YZ. Spectator admission is ¥1,500 (¥1,000 for YZ and Owara members, free for junior-high age and under), charged to everyone on site, competitors included. It is a full day of judged runs on a track where you can stand close enough to hear the clutch kicks. Rd.5 of the same series comes back to YZ on 13 December if your dates slip.

North of Tokyo — FDJ3 Rd.6, Tsukuruma Circuit Nasu (Tochigi). The series final of Formula Drift Japan’s grassroots tier, and an unusual competition date at a small circuit that otherwise runs turn-up-and-drive sport running. Spectator pricing had not been published for this round when we checked; the circuit is about two hours north of Tokyo by car.

Fukushima — Ebisu Drift Series Rd.3, Nishi course. EDS200 and EDS280 classes run on the 1st with a practice day on 31 October; the Challenge class, which needs no competition licence, follows on Tuesday 3 November with practice on the 2nd. The driver entry window is 4–16 October and the field is capped at 70 cars. As a spectator you simply turn up — but note that EDS is a Nishi-course event, not the whole-mountain free-for-all a matsuri is.

Add to that the Kansai All-Star Drift Day at Meihan on the same Sunday — an organiser day rather than a competition, but the kind of day Meihan is famous for — and you have the four corners of Japanese drifting all lit on one date. Choose by where you already are.

The matsuri weekend: 14–15 November

The Ebisu Autumn Drift Matsuri runs Saturday 14 to Sunday 15 November with every course open — Higashi, Nishi, School, Kita, Touge, Kuru Kuru and Slide Park. For drivers the date that matters is earlier: the advance application window is 11 to 23 October, opening at 00:00 JST on the Sunday. Miss it and you can still drive, but you pay the on-the-day rate and cannot book a pit. A regular driving licence is enough; no competition licence is needed.

Spectators need nothing in advance. The official page publishes a ¥2,500 spectator fee for the spring and summer rounds and flags that autumn admission may change, so read it again in October. If you have never been, our first-timer’s guide to the matsuri covers what actually happens on the mountain and how the English paperwork reads.

The same weekend is the D1 Grand Prix finale, Rd.9 & 10 — dates fixed at 14–15 November with the 13th as practice, but the venue, the event name and the tickets all still read T.B.A. on the official round page. The 2025 finale was at Odaiba in Tokyo. Nothing official says Odaiba for 2026, so a Tokyo hotel booked “for the D1 final” is a guess until D1 says otherwise. If the finale lands near Tokyo you face a genuine choice between it and the matsuri; if it lands elsewhere, the matsuri is the obvious weekend.

Around Tokyo through the month

• Sunday 8 November — D1 NEXT Central Rd.5, Mobara Twin Circuit (Chiba), on the reverse layout. Mobara is the one drift circuit you can reach from Tokyo by train, which makes this the easiest competition to add to a Tokyo stay. Confirmed from the series schedule; Mobara’s own November sheet was not yet published when we checked.
• Tuesday 10 November — Kanto All-Star Drift GP repechage round, Nikko Circuit (Tochigi). Run by FLUKE as a weekday eight-heat track day with the lucky-loser round bolted on — the regional qualifiers themselves finished on 14 August, and the final is planned for late January 2027 at a venue not yet announced. A weekday, which usually means a quieter paddock and easier conversations.
• Saturday 21 November — Nikko Drift Victory 2026 Rd.3, the season finale at Nikko, capped at 60 cars, and on the same day D1 NEXT Fuji Rd.2 at Fuji Speedway Drift Park — the newest drift venue in Japan and the closest one to Tokyo, under the mountain. Entry for competitors opens about a month out; spectator details for the Fuji round were not published in early September.

West and south

• Sunday 29 November — Japan Drift Champions Rd.3, Bihoku Highland Circuit (Okayama). JDC is a three-round series that runs entirely at Bihoku, so this is the championship decider, on the B course. Spectators pay ¥500. Driver entry runs from 29 September to 11:00 on 17 November.
• Sunday 29 November — WAKO’S Kyushu Drift League, Autopolis Lakeside course (Oita). U30 and team classes, all day. If you are already building a Kyushu leg, this is the drift date at the end of it.
• Friday 23 – Sunday 25 October — D1 Grand Prix Rd.7 & 8, Autopolis. Just before the month starts, and the last confirmed-venue D1 weekend of the year: Friday is official practice, the competition runs Saturday and Sunday. Ticket details still read T.B.A. on the round page.

Building a route around it

Two patterns work. Tokyo-based, one week: arrive by Saturday 7, D1 NEXT at Mobara on Sunday 8, grassroots days at Nikko or Minami Chiba midweek as they publish, then either the Ebisu matsuri or the D1 finale on the 14th–15th depending on where the finale lands. Nagoya–Kansai, one week: D1 NEXT at YZ on Sunday 1 November, Meihan organiser days midweek, Suzuka Twin or Motorland Mikawa if you want seat time, and the Bihoku JDC final on the 29th only if you are staying the month.

Whichever you pick, the order of operations is the same: fix the competition weekend first, then let the grassroots days fall in around it as organisers publish them in October. Our calendar is updated as they appear, and each entry shows the date it was last checked against the official page.

What changes on 1 December

November is the last month of the normal season. Ebisu moves to its winter tariff on 1 December (cheaper passes, shorter days), and several grassroots organisers run their year-end days in late November and December before the tracks quieten. If you are choosing between late November and early December, late November gives you more running and more people in the paddock.