Can I get to Ebisu Circuit from Tokyo without a car?

Yes, and it takes about two and a half hours from Tokyo to the gate. Ride the Tohoku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Koriyama (1 h 16 min to 1 h 40 min), change to a JR Tohoku Line local for the 22-minute hop to Nihonmatsu Station, and buy it as one ticket: about 1 h 54 min and from ¥8,360 with a non-reserved seat. From Nihonmatsu the circuit is about 20 minutes by taxi, or 28 minutes on Fukushima Kotsu bus line 16-1 from the Nihonmatsu-eki-iriguchi stop (a 3-minute walk from the station) to Safari Park-mae, ¥500 each way, four runs a day. Every time and fare was read off the official pages on 4 September 2026 for our step-by-step guide to getting to Ebisu from Tokyo.

The last 20 minutes decide the day, so settle them before you buy the train ticket:

• The bus only works at weekends. Weekend and holiday departures are 7:48, 10:10, 13:43 and 16:28; the 7:48 reaches Safari Park-mae at 8:16, before the gate opens at 8:30. On weekdays the first bus arrives at 11:51, nearly three hours after running starts at 9:00: a Tuesday by bus is half a day at best.
• Read the return column. Weekend buses back leave at 8:36, 11:06, 14:31 and 17:16; only the 17:16 fits a drift day ending at 16:00. Carry ¥500 in coins per ride.
• The taxi is a Japanese phone call. Ebisu publishes no fare, both local firms (Showa Taxi and Maruya Kotsu) book by phone in Japanese, and no official page says a cab waits at the gate. Arrange the return before you go up the hill.
• Matsuri weekends add a shuttle. For the May 2026 round Ebisu ran a ¥500 Showa Taxi shuttle from the station, three runs each way, posted a week ahead; as of 4 September nothing was posted for the 14–15 November Autumn Matsuri.
• No rental cars at Nihonmatsu. If you want a car for the last leg, collect it at Koriyama; the circuit is about 50 minutes from there.

Two more traps from our full Ebisu Circuit guide: the whole complex is closed on Wednesdays, and set your satnav to Tohoku Safari Park, because the circuit sits inside the park’s grounds. Fuel up and buy food in Nihonmatsu, the last town before the hill.

If that Japanese phone call is the part you cannot do, we can plan the day around your train, arrange the ride from Nihonmatsu Station and back, and go up the hill with you: Ebisu with us, the day planned and the last 20 minutes handled.