Is touge (mountain-pass) driving or street drifting still a thing in Japan, and is it legal?

It survives in pockets, it is illegal, and the scene you will actually meet moved to circuits decades ago. A touge is simply a mountain pass, a public road like any other, and drifting one breaks the same laws as a car-park meet: article 68 of the Road Traffic Act (joint dangerous conduct, triggered by two or more cars running together) carries up to 2 years’ imprisonment or a ¥500,000 fine and 25 demerit points, and article 70 (duty of safe driving) up to 3 months or ¥50,000. Since 21 July 2026 deliberately sliding or lifting the tyres also counts as dangerous driving: up to 15 years if someone is injured, 1 year or more if someone dies. Every provision was checked on the official texts on 9 September 2026 for our guide to whether drifting is legal in Japan.

Is it still happening? In places: Ibaraki Prefectural Police published the results of a June 2023 night operation against drift and rolling groups on Mount Tsukuba’s passes. But the drift community treats the touge era of the 1970s and 80s as its origin story, not an instruction manual. Our history of touge and where drifting was born traces how Option magazine, the 1987 Pluspy video and the Ikaten contests from 1989 moved the sport onto circuits by the first professional event at Ebisu in October 2000; turning up wanting to “run a touge” reads the way asking about moonshine reads at a whiskey distillery.

Is it legal to watch? Watching is not an offence and photographing cars is not a crime, but two lines matter. Our Daikoku PA guide has the clearest example: Daikoku Futo in Yokohama is one of five designated anti-reckless-driving zones in Kanagawa, covering the parking area’s address plus 30 metres, and inside it cheering on or encouraging reckless driving after an officer has ordered you to stop carries a fine of up to ¥50,000. And a car park is private property: without the owner’s permission you are trespassing, and operators do call the police.

For a visitor who takes part, the consequences travel: 25 points revokes a clean licence for two years, a public safety commission can ban you from driving on an International Driving Permit for up to five years, and the car can be seized.

The legal touge still exists: Ebisu Circuit’s Touge course recreates the narrow mountain rhythm with run-off instead of a drop, and the real passes, driven legally, are some of the best touring roads on earth. They are public roads open to ordinary traffic at the posted limit, never to sliding; our guide to Akagi, Haruna, the Iroha-zaka and Hakone covers what a visitor may do on each.

Getting you onto that Touge course, driving it, riding it or watching from the paddock, is what we arrange: send us your dates for the Touge course at Ebisu.