Nihonkai Maze Circuit 日本海間瀬サーキット

Three-hour four-wheel session 09:00–12:00 or 13:00–16:00: ¥9,500 visitor weekday / ¥11,500 weekend and public holiday; MAZE licence holders ¥8,000 / ¥10,000. Entry ¥1,500 weekday / ¥2,000 weekend, free for licence holders and for middle-school age and under. Drift-only 25-minute slots at 08:00–09:00 and 12:00–13:00 ¥4,500 / ¥5,500, reservation required by telephone. Trial run (体験走行) for circuit first-timers ¥4,000 weekday / ¥5,500 weekend, 25 minutes plus instruction, entry included, helmet and gloves lent free to four-wheel drivers, phone booking. MAZE licence ¥33,000 first year including ¥3,000 sports safety insurance, ¥28,000 renewal, with ¥20,000 of running vouchers. One week a month is a Kansha Day (感謝DAY) discount week on which the same three-hour session drops to ¥8,000 visitor / ¥6,000 member on a weekday and ¥10,000 / ¥8,000 at a weekend

At 610 Mase, Nishikan Ward, Niigata City, on the Sea of Japan coast. Reachable without a car on a weekday: West Kanko Bus runs the Maze line from Maki Stn on the JR Echigo Line via Iwamuro to Mase, 15.9 km, fares ¥160–620, and under the timetable in force from 1 Apr 2026 the 07:32 from Maki arrives 08:15, in time for the 09:00 start, with returns from Mase at 13:25, 14:52 and 17:13. At weekends and public holidays every bus in both directions is reservation-only (three each way), booked on a separate line that answers 09:00–17:00 weekdays only and closes the day before travel — a Monday seat has to be requested by the preceding Friday. A minshuku one minute from the gate does ¥4,000 room-only

The rarest set of conditions in the country: the circuit states in its own words 「MAZECIRCUITは、特別なライセンスがなくても、走行することが可能です」 and 「予約は必要ありません」 — no club licence and no reservation for the three-hour session. Gates open 08:00, you pay at the gate, enter at the office and run; first-timers get a briefing on the spot. The catch is the day of the week: the legend on every monthly schedule reads 「4輪＝4輪グリップ(平日はドリフト・グリップ混走)」, so the three-hour drift-and-grip session is weekdays only and Saturday and Sunday four-wheel sessions are marked grip. The drift-only 25-minute slots do run at weekends but need a phone booking. Dates also move when a private hire takes the day, and every schedule carries 「必ずご来場前に空き状況をお問合せ下さい」 — ring 0256-85-2201 before you travel. No published decibel limit: the four-wheel safety regulations cover catch tanks, glass, roll bars and fuel tanks, and only require a silencer on a modified exhaust, so a dB ceiling is TBC. Hosted both rounds of the D1 NEXT Niigata Series on 18–19 Jul 2026. No cars are hired and there is no English page.

Confirmed dates from our drift calendar, each checked against the organiser’s own page.

• Thu 17 September 2026 Maze Kansha Day Drift & Grip Free-Run (PM) · Drift track day
• Fri 18 September 2026 Maze Kansha Day Drift & Grip Free-Run (PM) · Drift track day
• Mon 26 October 2026 Maze Kansha Day Drift & Grip Free-Run (AM) · Drift track day
• Tue 27 October 2026 Maze Kansha Day Drift & Grip Free-Run (AM) · Drift track day
• Wed 28 October 2026 Maze Kansha Day Drift & Grip Free-Run (AM) · Drift track day
• Thu 29 October 2026 Maze Kansha Day Drift & Grip Free-Run (AM) · Drift track day
• Fri 30 October 2026 Maze Kansha Day Drift & Grip Free-Run (AM) · Drift track day