Drift tracks in Japan — the directory
Every circuit where you can actually drift in Japan — the famous ones (Ebisu, Meihan, Nikko) and the ones nobody writes about in English — plus the circuits that look like drift venues and are not. Each card answers the first question, whether you can drive there, in one line; tap through for fees, access, rules and upcoming events, checked against the official site with the date shown. 15 of the 28 venues sell running to individuals in some form. Want to drive one rather than read about it? We arrange drift days by region.
Is it legal? On a closed circuit or private land, yes: it is ordinary motorsport. On a public road it is not, and article 68 of the Road Traffic Act carries up to 2 years' imprisonment or a ¥500,000 fine, with a visitor's International Driving Permit revocable for up to 5 years (the law, in full). What does a day cost? Watching starts at ¥500, and the running fee for a full drift day is ¥5,000 at Bihoku Highland or ¥8,500 at Ebisu — but tyres are what move the total, at ¥47,600 for four new VALINO GREEVA (every price, read September 2026). What do you need to drive? An International Driving Permit issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention, obtained in your own country before you fly (which permit applies to you); organiser-run drift days ask for that and not for a circuit licence (how to enter one as a foreigner).
See all of them on the map 》 pins, flags and the next date at each circuit
FREE-RUN = the circuit sells drift running to individuals · LICENCE = free-run once you hold that circuit’s own licence · COACHED = you drive the venue’s car with an instructor · ORGANISER DAYS = you enter through a shop or club’s event · HIRE = whole-course hire only · SPECTATE = pro-series venue, go to watch.
Tohoku
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FREE-RUN
Buy a day pass and drift. Official English entry documents, three matsuri a year, and rental drift cars from independent operators on site. Closed Wednesdays.
Day pass ¥8,500 / ¥10,000 · winter ¥5,500
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✓ · English ✓
Kanto
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FREE-RUN (DRIFT DAYS)
No reservation for sport running: check the calendar shows a drift day rather than a grip day, sit the first-timer briefing, run. Fees are published only in the regulations document.
TBC — the fee table is in a separate regulations document
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English ✗
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LICENCE · ORGANISER DAYS
Sport runs need the circuit’s own licence: a 30-minute briefing, a photo and a hanko stamp, all in Japanese. Most drift days are organiser events; overseas crews have run here.
Licence ¥10,000 new / ¥5,000 renewal
Foreigners ✓ · Rental TBC · English ✗
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COACHED INTRO · MEMBER FREE-RUN
Where most “Tokyo drift experiences” actually happen: a coached intro hour, then school rental, then member free-run in your own car. The circuit and its booking are Japanese-only.
Drift Experience EX ¥45,000–50,000 · member slots ¥6,000–8,000
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✓ · English ✗
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ORGANISER DAYS
No free-run: drift only on the circuit’s published track days and organiser events. The easiest proper drift venue to reach from Tokyo without a car, but it rents no drift cars.
Track day ¥15,000 booked / half day ¥8,500 same-day
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✗ · English TBC
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HIRE ONLY
Japan’s closest thing to a legal touge: a 6 km one-way mountain road — but hire-only, so drift days are shop events and never open running.
Course hire from ¥50,000 (3-hour square) to ¥440,000 (full 6 km)
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English ✗
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SPECTATE
Not a circuit: a temporary course for the D1 Grand Prix finale, the only D1GP round you can reach from central Tokyo by train. Nothing to drive outside the event.
Per-round ticket from the series
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
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NO DRIFT
Not a drift venue: the official categories are grip, two-wheel, gymkhana and kart only. Listed so you don’t waste the trip.
Grip tickets ¥2,000–3,500 per 15 min
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English TBC
Chubu
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FREE-RUN (MIXED SLOTS)
Free-run in 50-minute slots, with drift allowed only in the mixed slots (2G, 4G, 6G–8G). Email booking in Japanese and no rental cars, but the circuit confirmed to us that a visitor needs no Japanese licence or IDP. Closed Tuesdays.
50-min slot ¥4,000 booked / ¥4,500 same-day
Foreigners ✓ · Rental TBC · English ✗
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FREE-RUN
Drift is part of normal sport running, sold by the half day — but first-timers must pre-book the briefing (form closes 16:00 the day before) and straight-through exhausts are refused at the gate. No English, no rentals. Closed Thu–Fri.
Half day ¥7,000 visitor / ¥5,000 member + entry ¥500
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English ✗
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FREE-RUN (DRIFT ON WEEKDAYS)
No licence and no reservation for the three-hour session — but mixed drift-and-grip running is weekdays only; weekends are grip, with 25-minute drift slots booked by phone. Ring before you travel.
3-hour session ¥9,500 weekday / ¥11,500 weekend + entry ¥1,500–2,000
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English ✗
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FREE-RUN (FIXED SLOTS)
Sells drift running by the hour — but only in the 10:00, 12:00 and 14:00 slots; every other slot is grip. Phone booking in Japanese, up to three days ahead.
¥4,500 first hour (¥4,000 booked), then ¥3,000 an hour
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English ✗
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LICENCE + FREE-RUN
The closest drift pad to Tokyo, open to individuals since June 2026 — but only with Fuji’s own licence (¥25,000, same-day course, Japanese-only). Some organiser days waive it.
Free-run ¥9,900 a day + licence ¥25,000
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English TBC
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HIRE ONLY
Drifting is banned during normal sport-run sessions and possible only on a private hire of the short course. No public drift slots.
Private hire of the short course only
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English TBC
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NO DRIFT
Grip and kart focused: no drift track days on the official 2026 calendar, and at least one event page states drifting is prohibited.
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
Kansai
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FREE-RUN (WEEKDAYS) · HIRE
Gransnow Okuibuki / Okuibuki Motorpark
Four ski-resort car parks that Formula Drift Japan races on. A visitor can buy a weekday individual run (¥15,000, from three days out, capped near ten people) or hire a whole lot. Japanese web booking.
Individual run ¥15,000 weekday · lot hire from ¥60,000
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English ✗
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FREE-RUN BY THE HOUR
An 820 m drift-only D course that the circuit sells to individuals by the hour, no licence needed — among the cheapest real drift access in Kansai. Runs clockwise or reversed; a sub-driver can share the car. Formula Drift Japan has raced here. Book by 16:00 the day before.
Drift course ¥4,000 an hour weekday (¥5,000 weekend) · gate ¥500 / ¥1,000
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English ✗
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FREE-RUN (FIXED SLOTS)
Free to watch, and drift runs on ordinary free-run days — only the 10:00 and 14:00 sessions — plus dedicated Drift Days. Phone booking only, in Japanese, with a first-timer briefing.
Free-run ¥4,000 weekday / ¥5,000 weekend + tax · entry free
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English ✗
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ORGANISER DAYS
No walk-up car sessions at all: every car on track is here through an organiser’s day or a private hire. Rental drift cars come via overseas-friendly operators. Closed Thursdays.
Through the organiser · gate ¥500 on Sun/holidays
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✓ · English TBC
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ORGANISER DAYS
A full 2.8 km road course, so drift here means organiser event days listed on the circuit’s monthly page, not open free-run. Japanese-only; a licence is needed for some categories.
Gate ¥1,000 · running fees per session and licence class
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
Chugoku
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FREE-RUN
No licence of any kind needed and open every day but New Year’s Day; two English-speaking operators rent drift cars here. The circuit itself takes bookings by phone or FAX only.
A course ¥5,000 / B course ¥6,500 + gate ¥500
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✓ · English TBC
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SPECTATE
Full-scale GP circuit that hosts Formula Drift Japan Rd.6 2026 as a spectator event. Its own four-wheel product is grip running; there is nothing to drift.
Grip run days only; fee varies by date
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
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SPECTATE · DRIVING BY PHONE ONLY
Alive but offline: its own cup rounds, the Yamaguchi number-one decider (18 Oct 2026) and D1 NEXT West Rd.2 (6 Dec 2026), all at ¥500 admission. To drive you telephone in Japanese; no running fee is published anywhere.
Spectators ¥500 at its own events · running fee not published
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English ✗
Kyushu & Okinawa
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FREE-RUN
Motorsports Multi Field Okinawa
A city-owned field that lists four-wheel drift as a shared use: no reservation system, turn up for a half day, forms in Japanese and English, pay in yen. No rental cars; two cars on course at once.
Half day ¥4,700 weekday / ¥5,500 weekend
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✗ · English ✓
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COACHED EXPERIENCE
The cheapest way to drive a drifting car in Japan: an hour in the venue’s kei car on low-grip tyres with an instructor beside you, bookable in English. Not a track day for your own build.
From ¥10,000 per person for one hour
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✓ · English ✓
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ORGANISER DAYS
Not the drift venue visitors expect: the circuit sells grip laps, and drift happens on shop-hired Lakeside days entered through Japanese paperwork. D1GP Rd.7–8 spectator venue.
Organiser days · grip slots ¥4,600–5,600
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
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NO DRIFT
Not a four-wheel venue at all — its own FAQ says so in one line. Same company as Autopolis, which is why it turns up in searches. Skip it for drifting.
Two-wheel sessions only, ¥2,800–3,900
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English TBC
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NO DRIFT
Not a drift venue: the only four-wheel product is a licensed grip session on Honda’s circuit course. Listed so you know what the Kumamoto option really is.
Grip session ¥4,950 per 25 min + licence ¥5,500
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English ✗
Related: the same circuits by prefecture — can you drift in Tochigi, Chiba, Gifu… · every confirmed drift event in Japan · rent a drift car or a seat in one — every operator and price · which of these tracks you can drive in Assetto Corsa or GT7 first · drift tyres in Japan · what a drift day really costs · noise limits and tech rules by track