Quick picks
Closest to Tokyo, big views
Hakone Turnpike
About 15.7 km of curves from Odawara up to the Taikanzan viewpoint. ¥900 for a car. Weekends fill with sports cars and motorbikes.
Mount Fuji over the lake
Ashinoko Skyline
10.7 km along the ridge above Lake Ashi. ¥1,000 for a car, open 7 am to 7 pm, 40 km/h limit.
The famous hairpins
Irohazaka, Nikko
48 hairpins on two one-way roads, one up and one down. Free, but jammed for hours on autumn weekends.
Checked on 30 October 2026. None of the links in these picks earn me a commission.
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Quick answers
- Can I drive the touge roads from the anime and films? Yes, as public roads with speed limits and normal traffic. They are not closed courses, and racing or drifting on them is illegal.
- Which is closest to Tokyo? Hakone: the Turnpike and the Ashinoko Skyline are both in the Hakone area of Kanagawa. Irohazaka is in Nikko, Tochigi, further north.
- Do I need a JDM car? No, any rental car works. To rent a Skyline, Supra or GT-R, see Rent a JDM car in Japan.
- Where can I actually drive fast or drift? On a closed track with an instructor: see self-drive drift lessons.
Read this first
These are public roads. Japan's Road Traffic Act applies even on the private toll roads, and the operators watch them. On 26 July 2026, the Hakone Turnpike's operator posted photos of a sports car sliding in the Taikanzan car park and warned that deliberate tyre marks count as criminal damage (Kuruma News, in Japanese). Drifting on public roads is a crime in Japan (Kuruma News, in Japanese).
So treat these as scenic drives: keep to the limit, use the lay-bys to let faster cars past, and stop for the views. If you want speed, book a track.
Hakone Turnpike
The Anest Iwata Turnpike Hakone, still widely called the Hakone Turnpike, is a toll road of about 15.7 km climbing from Odawara towards Yugawara, with views over Sagami Bay, Lake Ashi and Mount Fuji. Its curves make it a well-known driving spot, and on weekends sports cars come from all over the region (Kuruma News, in Japanese).
The toll went up from ¥730 to ¥900 on 1 July 2024, the first rise in 37 years apart from tax changes; a discount through the ETCX service brings it down for repeat use (Norimono News, in Japanese). It is a road of the NEXCO Central group. Check the operator's notices before you go, especially in bad weather.
Ashinoko Skyline
A 10.7 km winding toll road along the ridge above Lake Ashi, known for its views of Mount Fuji and the lake (Ashinoko Skyline, in Japanese).
Tolls, hours and the speed limit are from the operator's own site on 30 October 2026. The 7 pm closing time matters if your rental car has to be back by evening: many JDM rental desks close at 6 to 6:30 pm.
Irohazaka, Nikko
Irohazaka is named after the 48 syllables of the old Japanese alphabet, because it has 48 hairpin bends. It is two separate one-way roads on either side of the Kegon gorge: the First Irohazaka for going down (one lane) and the Second Irohazaka for going up (two lanes) (Kuruma News, in Japanese). The road is free.
The catch is autumn. Nikko's autumn leaves draw huge crowds in October and early November (the 2018 traffic forecast covered 6 October to 4 November), and the climb that takes about 20 minutes on a quiet day was forecast to take about two hours at weekend peaks in the 2018 season, with jams from around 7 am (Kuruma News, in Japanese). Those figures are from 2018, so check the current traffic forecast if you go in the leaf season, or go on a weekday.
Planning the day
- Rent the car for the whole day, or two. The JDM rental desks I have checked hand over and take back cars only in the daytime; see Rent a JDM car in Japan for hours, ages and deposits.
- Get an ETC card with the car for the expressways out of Tokyo; see the ETC section of my Daikoku-without-a-tour guide.
- Winter: these are mountain roads and can be icy. Check the road operators' notices, and note that at least one JDM rental company forbids driving on snow or ice and does not cover damage there.
- Go early. On fine weekends, car parks at the viewpoints fill and the roads get busy.
FAQ
Is it legal to drive the Hakone Turnpike in a sports car?
Yes. It is a toll road open to cars, and the Road Traffic Act applies, and the operator has warned publicly against dangerous driving in its car park (Kuruma News, in Japanese).
How much are the tolls in Hakone?
¥900 for a car on the Turnpike's main line (since July 2024) and ¥1,000 for a car on the Ashinoko Skyline, as checked on 30 October 2026.
When is Irohazaka busiest?
In the autumn leaf season, roughly October to early November, especially at weekends, when the climb has been forecast to take around two hours instead of 20 minutes.
Can I drift on these roads?
No. Drifting on public roads is illegal in Japan. For drifting, book a lesson or a passenger ride on a closed track: see which Tokyo drift tours actually drift.
Sources: Kuruma News (July 2026, November 2025 and October 2018), Norimono News (June 2024) and the Ashinoko Skyline operator's site, all checked on 30 October 2026.
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