The Highlight Of Our Trip To Japan – Go-Karting!!

One of the highlights from our trip to Japan this year was the experience of street Go Karting in Osaka.  To dress up in cartoon costumes and drive around the busy streets of Osaka at 60km/h was an opportunity we were not missing. No trip to Japan would be complete without this amazing experience. There are a number of companies to choose from located in Tokyo and Osaka. We choose Akiba Kart Osaka. 

The most important thing you need to know before racing off on the roads is that this is a guided tour of the city not a race on a track. You are on real roads with real traffic so all the usual rules apply. You need to have a full clean driving licence from your home country as well as an International Driving Permit to be able to drive in Japan. Without these you will not be allowed on the tour, so prepare before you arrive.

We had booked for the early evening so we arrived 20 minutes before our tour was to start. We were greeted by friendly staff. You are handed a tablet with a safety briefing and once complete it you get to choose your costume. Unfortunately we can’t dress up as the specific Mario Kart characters due to copyright but there is a large selection to choose from. I (Brian) went for Pichachu and Lynne dressed up as a Minion.

Your are then given your kart and brought out onto the road. The tour is fully guided and you go for a quick lap around the block to familiarise yourself with the kart. The full tour then begins, you cruise around Osaka taking in some of its most famous sites from a unique perspective. The highlight for me was weaving under the legs of the Hitachi tower fully lit up. 

The tour guide also stops and grabs some great photos of you along the way. It lasted about an hour and I can honestly say it was one of the most fun things we did in Japan. If your interested the link to OsakaKart is here. If you want to see some footage of our trip you can view it here. To keep up to date with our adventures follow us on Instagram 🙂