EDS Explained: How to Enter Ebisu's Drift Series in 2026

You have watched enough Ebisu footage to know the place by heart. The question you actually have is different: can a foreigner enter a real, judged Japanese drift competition — not a festival day, not an open practice session, but a series with qualifying, a points table and a champion at the end?

Yes. It is called EDS, and the door is open for four more days.

What EDS is

EDS stands for Ebisu Drift Series. It is run by Ebisu Circuit Co., Ltd. in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima — the circuit’s own championship, on its own land, three rounds a year.

That makes it a different animal from the two Ebisu days most overseas fans know about. It is not a matsuri (festival — an open, unjudged drift day you run at your own pace), which we cover in the Drift Matsuri first-timer’s guide. It is also not a sōkōkai (走行会 — a private track day where an organiser rents the circuit and sells seat time). EDS has judges, a qualifying format, a points table, trophies and series prize money.

And unlike almost every championship at home, it does not gate you behind a graded competition licence. The official English guidelines state the eligibility for every class in a single line: “Being a drift enthusiast who follows the rules.” That is the whole requirement.

Round 2 is the one in front of you

Round 1 has already run. Round 3 does not open for entries until October. Round 2 is live right now.

Each round uses a different piece of the West Course. Round 1 ran the figure-eight layout used by Formula Drift Japan today. Round 2 uses corners 1 and 2 — the former FDJ course. Round 3 moves to the West Drift Course. Note that the two class groups run on separate days, so book your travel around your own date, not the round.

If August is out of reach, the round still comes to you. Ebisu streams and posts its own rounds, and the Japanese drift channels travel up to Fukushima to cover them — this is the crew who broadcast Round 1 in May.

Watching is the consolation prize, though, not the plan. If you would rather be in the field than on the stream, the only date that matters is the one at the front of this guide.

Choosing your class

Three classes, and the split is about two things: how you are judged, and how much grip you are allowed.

One term to get straight first: TW is the UTQG treadwear rating printed on a tyre’s sidewall, and a higher number means a harder, lower-grip tyre. So EDS280 is the low-grip class and EDS200 permits softer, grippier rubber.

Tansō (単走) is a solo run — one car on track, judged on its own line, angle and commitment. Tsuisō (追走) is the chase run — a lead car and a chase car judged together, the format you see in the highlight reels.

For anyone flying in, Challenge is the sensible answer. It exists specifically for drivers with little competition experience or who only want solo judging, it costs ¥2,000 less per round, and it removes the one variable you cannot control on a strange course: another car’s door.

The format follows the class. Challenge runs two solo judged runs in the morning and two more in the afternoon, and your final placing is the combined score. The chase classes qualify on two solo runs, cut to a top 16, then settle the round in a battle bracket. Points run 25 for a win down through 21, 18, 16 and on to a single point for 16th. Series prize money is ¥50,000 / ¥20,000 / ¥10,000 for the top three in EDS200 and EDS280, and ¥30,000 / ¥20,000 / ¥10,000 in Challenge. The organisers note the judging method may change depending on how many entries come in.

You may double-enter across the two chase classes, and even run a different car in each — but you cannot change car partway through the competition.

How to enter

There are two other official routes, and both assume you are standing in Japan. One is a bank transfer paired with a faxed entry form to the circuit office (FAX 0243-24-2936), with the transfer name prefixed “Drift” — their own example is “Drift Ebisu Taro”. The other is genkin-kakitome (現金書留), a Japanese domestic postal service for mailing cash, posted with the form to the EDS office inside the circuit at 1 Sawamatsukura, Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima 964-0088.

Say it plainly: if you are applying from abroad, the online portal with a credit card is your only practical route. Convenience-store payment, domestic bank transfer and registered cash mail all need someone in Japan. That is the single biggest friction point in the whole process, and it is worth solving before Friday rather than during it.

The car and the kit

The official entry form is a competition document. It asks for driver name, gender, date of birth, country, age, blood type, support company, team name, vehicle type, model, colour, horsepower, and your rear tyre brand, size and treadwear. Have those answers ready.

The form also carries a pledge on safety equipment:

Worth reporting as an observed fact: the English entry form includes a Country field, and a Support company field with tick-boxes for Powervehicles, The Sideways Experience and Others. The paperwork is built expecting entrants from outside Japan and cars run through support operations. Whether any given operator will actually supply a car for an EDS round is a conversation between you and them — the official pages do not state it, so treat availability and price as unconfirmed. For the wider picture of who operates at the circuit, see our complete Ebisu guide.

What the official documents don’t say

Being honest about the gaps is more useful than guessing at them. The English guidelines and entry form say nothing about:

• whether a Japanese driving licence is required — not stated, TBC
• insurance arrangements for entrants from overseas — not stated, TBC
• any English-language drivers’ briefing on the day — not promised anywhere in the documents

Covered pits, incidentally, are a perk for annual entrants only, allocated by lottery if oversubscribed, with separate bookings for the chase classes and Challenge. On Round 2’s practice day, the pit area is prioritised for the EDS200 and EDS280 classes.

None of the unknowns above is a reason not to enter. They are a reason to ask before you pay, and to keep the round on your trip calendar rather than in your head.