You’ve Got 1 Day to Learn How to Drift in Japan

Is It Really Possible to Go From Zero to Sideways in a Single Day?

If you’ve ever typed “learn to drift in Japan” into a search, you already know the highlight reels – cars getting sideways, kissing corners, bright colours and smoke – lots of it.

What you don’t see is how complete beginners transition from newbie to controlled oversteer in just a matter of a few hours with the help of our champion teacher, Shota Konno. 

Alex, one of our first students and visitor from Washington State whose entire drifting knowledge came from Initial D references, shows exactly how you can hop in knowing nothing about donuts or figure 8s and get out dominating all the fundamentals to be one step closer to being able to get freaky on the track. 

This is what Drift School SHO’s 1- day beginner course on Ebisu Circuit’s School Course looks like.

Why Ebisu Circuit Is the Perfect Classroom to Learn How to Drift in Japan

Ebisu Circuit is one of those unique places where you walk away from the experience thinking, “Wow, that’s unique – a drift circuit in the same place as a Safari Park”, but when you come to Japan you have to expect that the Japanese do things a little differently.

When you enter, you’re welcomed by tigers, lions and alpacas, but don’t get sidetracked by the Tohoku Safari Park – you’re here to learn how to drift and drifting we shall do.

Ebisu Circuit is no joke. It’s the kind of course that people from all over the world come to for bragging rights, race at, and get a taste for drifting. The courses were created by none other than drifting legend Nobushige Kumakubo. 

The Drift Land Course is situated at the base of the complex and was designed for instruction, featuring generous runoff, visual cone markers, and speeds that reward technique over bravery. 

For novices, that means maximum learning with minimum risk of running into anything.

Meet the Car: R32 Skyline Set Up for Beginner Drifting

Before you head out, you need to get to know what you’ll be driving. After all, you’ll be spending the best part of a day behind the wheel, so you should get properly acquainted with your car.

It wouldn’t be very Japanese if you didn’t drive in a JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) car, so we have brought the goods. An R32 Nissan Skyline. 

Makes sense? It’s all good if it doesn’t. All you need to know is that the car is powerful enough to get sideways in and have a bit of fun with.

Our Skyline is the kind of car that’s easy enough to get sideways in, but also requires you to work together with the car to get out of it what you want.

Learn How to Drift: The Four Drills That Turn Newbies Into Drifters

1. Standing-Start Donut

Goal: Feel rear-wheel breakaway, then counter-steer to move around in a circle.
How: Raise revs to 5,000 rpm, pop the clutch, keep revs in the 5–6 k band, counter-steer with light hands on the steering wheel. When you start to feel the back sliding out counter-steer and correct and then repeat as you feel the back of the car moving around in a circle.

Alex’s milestone: Stalled on loop 1; drew a perfect smoke ring by loop 3. It’s almost as though he was fooling us into believing he didn’t know what he was doing. 

Pro tip: When you’re doing a donut, you don’t want to create too much smoke. The perfect donut has the tyres spinning while creating minimal smoke, otherwise, you’ll likely blow out a tyre and the longer you can keep your tyres in good condition, the more fun you can have.

2. Figure 8

Goal: Link left and right-hand donut turns, learning weight transfer.
How: Initiate with a clutch-kick into the first loop, feather throttle at crossover, catch the opposite slide.

Breakthrough: Realising the “pause” as you prepare for the second part of the figure 8, it’s not a time to panic, it’s a chance to prepare for what’s about to come.

Alex again, led us to believe that this wasn’t his first rodeo. After a few goes, he was doing circle work like a boss.

Shota-san was well impressed.

3. Handbrake Slide

Goal: Slide the car using the handbrake at speed without lifting the throttle.
How: Enter at ~45 km/h, pull the handbrake up for half a second, and turn the steering wheel in the direction you want to slide
Big lesson: Slides are easy to grasp once you feel comfortable with driving into the slide at speed.

4. Handbrake Drift

Goal: Fuse clutch-kick and handbrake techniques to keep one continuous drift.
Result: Alex linked the School Course cones end-to-end at 56 km/h entry—translator’s cues down to single-word nods: “Good… good.”

What a Beginner Learns: Play-by-Play Data

* Handheld GPS/IMU logger; values rounded.

Instructor Debrief
“Once he heard tyres break loose at five grand and felt the car pivot and we were away. Even though I was a little nervous about the language barrier going into the day, my nerves went away knowing how quickly Alex picked up everything with my instructions and some help with the translator.” — Shota Konno

Costs, Course Options & What’s Included

Travelling to Fukushima: Easy Shuttle, Zero Japanese Needed

1. Tokyo Station → Fukushima Station: 1h 40m on the Tōhoku Shinkansen (Yamabiko service).
   
2. Sendai Station → Fukushima Station: 25m on the same line.
   
3. Drift SHO Shuttle: Meet staff at the East Exit—no taxi guesswork, no confusing bus timetables. The only thing is that you have to put up with us for an hour there and back! 

The course fee includes morning pick-up and evening return.

FAQ (Rich-Snippet Ready)

Q: Do I need to speak Japanese?
A: No. Every session includes an English-speaking translator in the passenger seat.

Q: Can I drift with an automatic licence?
A: You need to know manual basics—everything else we teach.

Q: Is safety gear provided?
A: Helmets are included, but you’re welcome to bring your own.

Wanna Learn How to Drift in Japan?

Learn the fundamentals of drifting in one day and book our 1-day package at the home of drifting in Japan and learn from the best.

Bring an open mind; leave with sideways bragging rights at Japan’s drifting Mecca.