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. Fees and rules are checked against each circuit's official site; the verified date is shown per entry. Want to drive one rather than read about it? We arrange drift days by region.
Tohoku
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Ebisu Circuit
Drift day pass ¥8,500 (Course 4: Kita/School/Touge/Kuru Kuru/Slide Park) or ¥10,000 (Course 5: + Nishi); half day ¥5,000/¥6,500; Kuru Kuru only ¥3,000. Winter tariff Dec 1–Mar 31: ¥5,500 full / ¥3,500 half on both passes. Closed Wednesdays
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✓ · English ✓
The drift mecca: 3 matsuri a year, the EDS series, and official English entry documents. Rental drift cars and tuition come from independent operators here — The Sideways Experience (¥125,000–225,000 per car/day), JDM Drift School 翔, Japan Drift Rentals, KMS (linked from the circuit’s own site) — while Fukushima Prefecture’s own tourism site sells a 45-minute drift-taxi ride at ¥50,000 per car for up to three people, the cheapest legitimate way to feel it. Note Powervehicles does NOT rent or loan cars despite what older English blogs say.
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
Kanto
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Nikko Circuit
Own licence required for sport runs (new ¥10,000 incl. ¥4,000 insurance / renewal ¥5,000; 30-min briefing at 9:00 or 13:00, bring a photo, your licence and a hanko stamp). Most drift days are run by outside organisers (FLUKE, Drift Kingdom, Drift Muscle…)
Foreigners ✓ · Rental TBC · English ✗
No nationality restriction in the rules, and overseas crews have run here (GKTECH, Final Bout Special Stage Japan). But everything is in Japanese — site, briefing and paperwork — and the licence needs a hanko stamp, so bring a Japanese speaker or go through an English-speaking organiser. 105 dB noise limit. General spectating is restricted on normal days; go on event days.
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
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Mobara Twin Circuit
No drift free-run at all — drift happens only on scheduled days: circuit-run grip/drift track days (NikoNiko Saturdays, SUNDAYMEETING, holiday days) at ¥15,000 full day booked ahead / ¥8,500 half day same-day only, plus organiser days, lessons and D1 NEXT rounds. Blank schedule days are grip members & karts alternating — no drift. "Mobara Drift Land" (East course) is group hire only: ¥50,000+tax half day (skidpad, max 3 cars) / ¥70,000+tax (outer loop) + ¥600/person insurance. Gate ¥500 on weekends (weekdays free)
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✗ · English TBC
The easiest proper drift venue to reach from Tokyo without a car — a city bus from Mobara Stn stops almost at the gate. But check the East course schedule before you plan anything: you cannot turn up on a random day and drift, and the circuit rents no drift cars (rental karts only), so you need your own car and a published drift day. Entry rules ask only for “a driving licence holder” with no nationality clause, and riders without one are judged on track record. Overseas drifters have run here (Vertex event, 2026) and Uber ran an official inbound drift ride-along here in June 2026. Ride-along seats are a published menu item at ¥1,500 on track days — the cheapest way in if you don’t drive. Booking and the whole site are Japanese-only.
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
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Minami Chiba Circuit
Fee sheet revised 25 Apr 2026: member free-run in your own car — plaza areas ¥3,000–9,000, mini-circuit drift slots ¥6,000–8,000 per slot (2–4 cars a slot; membership ¥10,000 + Japanese web booking). Beginner "Drift Experience EX" ¥45,000 weekday / ¥50,000 weekend for one all-in coached hour; school rental (Mazda Roadster NA) ¥70,000–90,000 for EX graduates. Most visitors arrive through an English-speaking operator’s package rather than booking direct
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✓ · English ✗
The venue most English-language drift experiences near Tokyo actually use, even when the listing says “Tokyo”. The circuit itself is Japanese-only and runs a coached ladder for beginners — EX intro, then school rental, then member free-run in your own car; the English layer comes from the operators selling on GetYourGuide, Klook and Rakuten. Worth knowing if you booked a “Tokyo drift experience” and wondered where you were going. The official domain forwards to driverlife.net; bookings run on reserve.minami-chiba-circuit.com.
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
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Honjo Circuit
Grip free-run only (15-min tickets ¥2,000–3,500)
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English TBC
NOT a drift venue: official event categories are grip/2-wheel/gymkhana/kart only — no drift slots listed. Listed here so you don’t waste a trip.
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
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Tsukuruma Circuit Nasu
TBC — the circuit puts its running-fee table in a separate sport-running regulations document rather than on the booking page. Gate and session prices should be read there before travelling
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English ✗
Run by Sunrise Circuit LLC alongside a GR Garage in Utsunomiya. Unusually for Japan, sport running needs no reservation — check the calendar or phone, then turn up. First-timers must sit the circuit’s licence briefing before running. Which categories run on a given day is published on the calendar, so confirm it is a drift day and not a grip day.
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
Kansai
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Meihan Sportsland
No general drift free-run — you join an organiser’s track day (C/D/E courses) or hire the track. Gate ¥500 on Sun/holidays. Closed Thursdays
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✓ · English TBC
Kansai’s drift home; the legendary C-course wall. Note what the official page actually says: general walk-up running covers karts and bikes only — there is no four-wheel session at all, so every car on track is there via an organiser’s day (SEIMI STYLE, HitomiGO, Link-so…) or a private hire. Overseas crews run here regularly (Hoonigan/Animal Style; Australian tour operators book the E course), and rental drift cars are available through those operators. Private hire booking has shifted with the times in the worst way: the FAX machine is broken, so the circuit is accepting course bookings by email ([email protected]) for now — still no web booking. Old domain meihanc.com is dead; official info lives at web1.kcn.jp/meihansl/
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
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Gransnow Okuibuki / Okuibuki Motorpark
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
Formula Drift Japan venue (Rd.5 2026 + FDJ2/FDJ3 rounds).
Official site · verified 2026-07-21
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Central Circuit
Gate ¥1,000 per person for the full day 7:30–17:00 (free for junior-high age and under), and it changes for events. Track-running fees are set per session and per licence class, published on the circuit’s own four-wheel licence and event pages rather than as one table
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
A full 2.8 km road course rather than a drift pad, which is why drift running here is organiser-run event days rather than open free-run. The circuit publishes a monthly event page listing which days are drift. Japanese-only site, and a four-wheel licence is required for some categories.
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
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Suzuka Twin Circuit
Gate ¥500 per person on weekdays, ¥1,000 weekends and holidays (high-school age and up); members are exempt. Free-run booking closes at 16:00 the day before — same-day entry only if a slot is still open. Running fees are listed per class on the circuit’s free-run page. Noise limit enforced
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English ✗
Two courses (full course and the shorter G course) about 25 minutes from Suzuka Circuit, and much cheaper to run. Used by HitomiGO for its non-Meihan drift days and by Formula Drift Japan. The four-wheel full-course record is held by a Silvia. Booking and all signage are Japanese-only.
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
Chubu
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YZ Circuit East
Free-run 50-min slot ¥4,000 booked / ¥4,500 same-day — drift is allowed in the mixed slots 2G, 4G, 6G, 7G and 8G (1G, 3G and 5G are grip only); half day ¥11,000, full ¥15,000. Gate ¥500. Email-only booking. Closed Tuesdays
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English ✗
Regular beginner-friendly drift days (Chibikko Gang, MJ Style, CDA). The least foreigner-ready of the six: the track’s own private-hire terms state the renter must be “a person who understands Japanese”, booking is a Japanese email template, and the paperwork wants a hanko stamp. Nothing bans overseas drivers, but we have not confirmed anyone doing it unaided, and no rental cars serve this track. Private hire (road course): ¥300,000 weekday / ¥550,000 Sat & holidays / ¥650,000 Sunday, +tax.
Official site · verified 2026-08-22
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Fuji Speedway Drift Park
Drift free-run ¥9,900 a day, licence holders only. Gate ¥1,200 for adults (¥900 high-school age, free for junior-high and under) — but licence members pay nothing and bring one passenger in free, so a licence holder’s day costs ¥9,900 flat. Licence: Short Course & Parks ¥25,000 new / ¥22,000 renewal, issued the same day after a course of about 2.5 hours; the Racing Course licence at ¥49,000 includes it. Whole-park hire ¥407,000 a weekday / ¥594,000 weekends and holidays
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English TBC
The newest way to drift in Japan, and the closest one to Tokyo: this pad was rental-only until June 2026, when Fuji opened it to individual licence holders. Renamed from Multi-Purpose Driving Course on 1 Apr 2026 with no change to the layout, so you will still see the old name on event pages. Running is in roughly 20-minute blocks with the layout and direction swapped between them, a beginner-priority slot, and a maintenance break 12:00–13:00; passenger rides are allowed if the passenger also holds a licence. Fuji killed its Short Course drift slot on 31 May 2026, so this is now the only place to drift on the site. Two catches for visitors: the licence is compulsory and the whole process is Japanese-only, and free-run days are published one month at a time — September 2026 had five. Some organiser track days here waive the licence requirement, which is the practical way in for a visitor.
Official site · verified 2026-09-04
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Owara Circuit
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
D1 NEXT Middle West venue.
Official site · verified 2026-07-21
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Sportsland Yamanashi (SLy)
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English TBC
Drifting is banned during normal sport-run sessions; only possible on private track hire (short course). No public drift slots.
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
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Mihama Circuit
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
Grip/kart-focused; no drift track days found on the official 2026 calendar, and at least one official event page states drifting is prohibited. Verify before planning.
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
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Motorland Mikawa
Free-run ¥4,500 for the first hour on the day, ¥4,000 if booked, then ¥3,000 an hour after that; an “hour” is about 50 minutes of running. Gate ¥500 per person on weekends and holidays. Second driver ¥500 per person per hour. Transponder ¥500. Booking by phone up to 3 days before, and cancelling later than that costs ¥2,000 per car per hour
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English ✗
The rare venue that sells drift running by the hour rather than only through organiser days — but only in fixed slots: on the full-course timetable drifting is allowed at 10:00, 12:00 and 14:00 and prohibited in the other slots, so turning up at 09:00 gets you a grip session. Seasonal opening hours: 9:00–17:00 in Mar/Apr/Oct/Nov, 9:00–18:00 May–Sep, 9:00–16:00 Dec–Feb. Phone booking, Japanese only.
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
Chugoku
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Bihoku Highland Circuit
Drift free-run: A course ¥5,000 / B course ¥6,500 (winter ¥4,000/¥5,500), 2nd driver ¥2,000. Gate ¥500. Open every day except New Year’s Day
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✓ · English TBC
The most accessible circuit in Japan for a visitor, and almost nobody outside Japan knows it. The official FAQ states no licence of any kind is required to run — just be 18+ for a car (16+ for bikes). Two English-speaking operators (k-dori in Kobe, an Australian tour company) rent prepared drift cars here. Trade-off: the circuit itself takes bookings by phone and FAX only — no web, no email — and the site is Japanese-only, so the practical route is through one of those operators. 100 dB limit measured 2 m behind the exhaust at 5,000 rpm, enforced with no second warning. West Japan’s competition staple (JDC, D1 NEXT West).
Official site · verified 2026-08-26
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Okayama International Circuit
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
Formula Drift Japan Rd.6 2026 venue (spectator event).
Official site · verified 2026-07-21
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Hadashi Tengoku Circuit
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
D1 NEXT West venue.
Official site · verified 2026-07-21
Kyushu & Okinawa
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Motorland Kijo
From ¥10,000 per person for a 1-hour drift session in the venue’s kei car on low-grip tyres, 6 runs guaranteed, ages 13–90, instructor in the passenger seat
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✓ · English ✓
By a wide margin the cheapest way to actually drive a drifting car in Japan — two orders of magnitude below a rental at Ebisu, because you use the venue’s kei cars on special low-grip tyres, so no on-site licence is needed. Bookable in English through Activity Japan; bookings close 06:59 three days before, cancellation 50% the day before and 100% on the day. Run by a shop called Y-STYLE — its own page asks you to ring 0983-32-3819 before a weekday visit. A coached introduction in someone else’s car, not a track day with your own build.
Official site · verified 2026-08-12
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Motorsports Multi Field Okinawa
Shared use is sold in half days (9:00–12:00 or 13:00–16:00), same fee however long you stay. Four-wheel drift, non-resident rate: ¥4,700 weekday / ¥5,500 weekend & holidays (city residents ¥3,200/¥3,700). 30-min “choi-nori” drift plan ¥1,500. Helmet hire ¥500, shower ¥100
Foreigners ✓ · Rental ✗ · English ✓
A city-owned multi-purpose field that lists four-wheel drift as its own shared-use category — and the easiest venue in the country for a visitor to walk into. There is no reservation system at all: the official facility guide states that contacting them in advance does NOT hold you a running slot, so you check the published schedule, turn up, sign the application form and pledge at the office and pay in yen on the day. Both documents are printed in Japanese and English, down to the rules ("Half-cap helmets are strictly prohibited"). 20 cars per half day; drift is limited to 2 cars on course at once; exhaust under 100 dB; temporary plates refused at the gate. Shared use is closed on days booked for private hire. Whether a driving licence is checked is not stated in either document — TBC.
Official site · verified 2026-08-12
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Autopolis
Sports running (grip, racing course, licence holders only): ¥4,600 weekday / ¥5,600 weekend per 30-min slot. Trial run (体験走行) ¥2,200 per car for 2 laps behind a pace car in your own road-registered car, signed up at reception 30 min before. Drift is not sold by the circuit — it happens on organiser days on the Lakeside course
Foreigners TBC · Rental TBC · English TBC
Kyushu’s famous circuit, and NOT a drift venue in the sense visitors expect: its own four-wheel product is grip laps on the GP course for course-licence holders. Kyushu’s drift scene runs on the separate Lakeside course, on days shops and clubs have hired — the circuit’s own Lakeside booking list (18 Jul 2026) shows drift and drift-shop days on 9 Aug, 22 & 23 Sep, 28 & 29 Nov and 6 Dec 2026. You enter through the organiser, not the circuit, and for the Kyushu DRIFT★League that means a printed PDF entry form, a hanko stamp, a fax and a transfer to a Japanese bank account. Also the D1 Grand Prix Rd.7 & 8 2026 spectator venue.
Official site · verified 2026-08-12
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SPA Naoiri
Two-wheel sports running only, ¥2,800–3,900 per session
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English TBC
NOT a four-wheel venue. Its own FAQ answers the question in one line — 「4輪のスポーツ走行は行っておりません」, four-wheel sports running is not offered — and the only cars on it are on SPA Naoiri’s own driving academy. Run by the same company as Autopolis, which is why it turns up in searches for Kyushu circuits. Listed here so you do not plan a day around it. No food on site; the FAQ sends you into Nagayu to eat. Spectating is free except on race days.
Official site · verified 2026-08-12
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HSR Kyushu
Four-wheel run day ¥4,950 per 25-min session (¥2,200 from the third), plus ¥500/day insurance and a ¥5,500 licence issue/renewal fee. ¥1,100 same-day surcharge if you did not book. Capacity 20 per session
Foreigners TBC · Rental ✗ · English ✗
NOT a drift venue: the published four-wheel product is a licensed grip session on the circuit course. Entry requires an ordinary driving licence and a car that would pass shaken (open cars need a 4-point-or-better roll bar); the kit list asks for licence, hanko stamp, helmet, gloves, long sleeves, long trousers, vinyl tape and the car. Booking through the site’s My Page or by phone on 096-293-1370. Noise limit 103 dB/A since 2020. Listed so you know what the Kumamoto option actually is.
Official site · verified 2026-08-12