Street Go Karting in Japan with STREET KART Tokyo Bay
*This blog post has been updated to reflect business updates.
Scott and I had heard and seen pics and videos from this go karting attraction around Tokyo and we decided we’d do it for our first trip to Japan. Formerly MariKart, Street Kart offers different packages for you to drive/do a Tokyo tour via go kart. There are several locations, but some may have closed since we last visited. The location we went to was one of the Shinagawa locations (which on maps says permanently closed), but the Tokyo Bay location shows open. You can always email or reach out via one of their listed contact methods, and see if they get back to you.
From the Shinagawa (#1) location, we did chose the “Long Tokyo Tour”, which had us driving on Rainbow Bridge, stopping at an observation deck overlooking Tokyo Bay, passing by views of Tokyo Tower, and lastly crossing through Shibuya Crossing. The entire tour is 2.5 to 3 hours, and the cost of this was 13,000 Yen which is a little over $100 USD (although I believe we paid about $132 USD when we booked). The fee includes the go-kart rental, gas/fuel cost, costume rental, driving guide, a consumption tax, and photo shooting (done by the driving guide). So what do you need to be able to do this? For those visiting from the U.S., you will need:
An International Driving License/Permit “IDP” (Issued by a signatory to the 1949 Geneva Convention - this is offered through AAA)
Your Passport
Here’s how you can get your International Driving Permit, it was very easy for Scott and I, and we were able to get everything finalized in 1 visit to a AAA office.
PRE TOUR We arrived 10 minutes early so we could pick out something to wear if we wanted, I just selected a Mr. Potato head cap and Scott wore a Mr. Potato head onesie. We were given a rundown of what to expect as well as introduction with our driving guide and important hand signals and formations. I was super bummed because I thought I had my gopro all ready to go, but apparently it wasn’t charged! There’s an option to rent gopros or video cameras, but we were on our way out as I discovered this. We also are not permitted to take out our phones during the driving/tour for safety. But the driving guide will take a ton of photos throughout the tour.
DURING TOUR This was truly an experience of a lifetime, and exciting, but nerve-wracking at times. You are driving on the street in the same lanes as other cars. It is imperative that you are alert to stay in formation with the other go-karts and also the signals that the driving guide is giving. Particularly on Rainbow Bridge, I think we were going at max speed of 60 km / 37 mi/hr. That may sound slow, but when you’re in an open air kart, and driving alongside regular cars & vehicles on a windy bridge, it can be terrifying (especially since I kept hovering out of my seat while going over bumps on the bridge).
I also really enjoyed that we got to stop by this telecom tower that has an observation deck overlooking Tokyo Bay, our driving guide took some pics for us. Afterwards, I thought driving through the busy area of Shibuya was fun, it’s interesting to be traveling not on foot through a popular area like Shibuya, and get to actually drive through the famous crossing.
It was a bit hectic for me as we made our way back to the shop, because we would go through narrow and windy streets. And you really have to balance defensively driving, watching for people and things crossing the street but also keep up with your guide. At one point I really thought I was going to go off a corner, but we made it back safe and sound. I probably would not do this again, but am thankful that I got to experience it at least once.
I feel like the sentiment with the locals is that it’s annoying to navigate around the go-karts and to see and hear the karts zipping in and around the city and small streets. You’ll definitely turn heads as you’re waiting at a light or in traffic. We drove after it rained, so it was definitely chilly, layer up and the mask helps while driving. At the end, our driving guide air dropped all of the photos to my phone. So I’m really glad to have these snaps as a memento.
