On February 13th, 2021 a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Japan. The epicenter of the quake was actually in the ocean off the coast of Fukushima. In a note of cruel irony, Fukushima was also the site of another tragic earthquake disaster in 2011 which resulted in a tsunami that caused significant damage to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The February 2021 quake caused an immense amount of damage to homes and businesses. Unfortunately one of the places hit hard by the quake is the legendary Ebisu Circuit owned and operated by D1 driver and Team Orange founder Nobushige Kumakubo.

Ebisu Circuit is iconic in the drifting community and has been the site of hundreds if not thousands of drifting events like D1GP, Big X, and Drift Matsuri over the past few decades. Even portions of Keiichi Tsuchiya’s Drift Bible were filmed at the Circuit.

Despite the name, Ebisu Circuit isn’t just one course; rather there are several large and small tracks, including a mock togue road and drift-specific course all placed on the circuit’s hilly, countryside landscape.

As mentioned before Kumakubo is the founder of Team Orange so the crew would regularly hold demonstrations at Ebisu as well.

Ebisu Circuit is just as important to Japan’s drifting culture as Irwindale Speedway is to the American drift scene. In fact, Ebisu Circuit was a very big deal to American drifting fans even before Irwindale Speedway became solidified as “The House of Drift”. When drifting was still considered an “underground phenomenon” American drifting fans and other fans all over the world spent hours watching videos on DVD and YouTube of the drifting competitions and events hosted at the circuit.

To put it plainly, Ebisu Circuit is effectively the mecca of drifting culture.

Sadly, when the earthquake hit it caused several major landslides in areas all across the circuit. The landslides and the shaking from the quake effectively destroyed several of the courses.

There have been massive cracks on the asphalt in some areas while others were completely buried by the mudslide.

All of that damage is not to mention the damage done to some of the buildings and other on-site facilities at the circuit.

Ebisu was already facing financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 global pandemic forcing the circuit to close or operate at very limited capacity reducing revenue.

The devastation caused by the earthquake has just exacerbated those issues further. As a result, Kumakubo-san is largely unable to bear the financial burden to repair Ebisu Circuit himself.

While initially refusing to accept financial help from the public at first, Kumakubo has had a change of heart and has allowed fans and the drift community to organize a GoFundMe campaign.

Adam LZ behind the wheel of his S15 at Formula Drift Texas 2020. Photo by Larry Chen

Namely Kumakubo reached out to massively popular automotive YouTuber and Formula Drift 2020 Rookie of the Year “Adam LZ” to personally organize the campaign.

“Been patiently waiting for a fundraiser to pop up regarding the Ebisu damage - and had the honor of being asked to help host the campaign.

Ebisu is near and dear to my heart - the people I’ve met, the skills I’ve developed, and the good times have been endless. I know you guys love the Ebisu content - here is your opportunity to help them recover” Said Adam in a statement on his Facebook page.

He isn’t just blowing smoke either. A quick visit to Adam’s YouTube page will reveal tons of content he has produced from years of visiting the circuit. Considering Adam’s performance in Formula Drift during the 2020, it is easy to see that he definitely meant it when he said that he “developed” his skills there.

Adam LZ with his Toyota JZX100 Cresta at Ebisu Circuit

Without Ebisu Adam may not be where he is today in terms of his professional drifting career. In fact Ebisu is so important to him Adam actually owns a Toyota JZX100 “drift missile” that he permanently keeps at Ebisu Circuit to drive every time he visits the course.

Despite that, Adam knows that these days people can still be wary of fundraisers online so he included a statement in the campaign to assuage any concerns about the allocation of the funds.

“All funds raised minus the transaction fees charged by GoFundMe will go directly to Nobushige Kumakubo & the Ebisu Circuit account via international wire transfer from Adam’s account. All transactions will be100% transparent & posted here so that everyone can see that the money is going to the right place.” says the campaign page.

As of the writing of this article the GoFundMe Campaign has raised just over $80,000 out of its $100,000 goal.

If you want to contribute then visit the official GoFundMe campaign page here.

You can also visit the direct Ebisu Circuit donation page (in English) here.

All of us here at GTChannel are fans of Ebisu Circuit and Kumakubo-san so we wish him the best and hope the circuit can be repaired and brought back to its former glory soon!

Ebisu Circuit Fundraiser for Earthquake Damage of Iconic Drift Track