City Circuit Tokyo Bay: Karting with No Licence

City Circuit Tokyo Bay is a karting course in Aomi, on the Odaiba waterfront, where you drive electric karts with no driving licence at all. It is the answer if you have no International Driving Permit or are travelling with someone too young to drive on the street: drivers must be 150 cm or taller, a two-seat kart takes a passenger from about 105 cm, and a children’s kart takes riders from 105 cm. A 10-minute session costs JPY 3,500 on weekdays and JPY 4,000 at weekends (City Circuit Tokyo Bay, checked November 2026). It is a circuit, not a tour of the city.

It is not sold on GetYourGuide or Viator, so there is nothing to book here: you book on the circuit’s own site, or walk in.

What you can drive

City Circuit Tokyo Bay’s Japanese pages (city-circuit.com), checked November 2026. Prices in Japanese yen, paid at the desk.

No licence is needed for any of them. The session length includes getting in and out, so the driving time is shorter, as the table shows.

Getting there and opening hours

The circuit is at Aomi 1-3-12, Koto-ku (江東区青海1-3-12). City Circuit gives Aomi Station on the Yurikamome line as directly connected, and Tokyo Teleport Station on the Rinkai Line as 4 minutes on foot. It opens at 12:00 every day and closes at 20:00 Monday to Thursday and 22:00 Friday to Sunday, with last entry 45 minutes before closing. It stays open in the rain.

Online booking opens 7 days ahead and closes 3 hours before the slot; walk-ins are accepted, and payment at the desk is cashless (City Circuit Tokyo Bay, checked November 2026). The pages are in Japanese with English headings, so a browser’s translate button helps.

How it differs from a street tour

A street tour is about the city: an hour behind a guide through Shibuya Crossing or past Tokyo Tower, in normal traffic, with a costume and photos. The circuit is about driving: a short session on a closed course, no traffic lights, no guide, no permit, and a much lower price per session. It also takes people the street tours cannot, such as a 10-year-old who wants to drive the children’s kart, or a visitor whose permit is a 1968 Vienna Convention one.

If you do hold a 1949 Geneva permit, the circuit and a street tour are different days out, and some visitors will want both. Every tour by area lists the street tours, and the licence and IDP guide explains which permit works.

Who it suits

• No permit, or the wrong one. The circuit asks for no licence.
• Families. A child of about 105 cm or taller can ride as a passenger with a parent in the two-seater, or drive the children’s kart. Kids and passengers compares the options.
• People who want to drive, not sightsee. Seven or seventeen minutes of driving at up to 50 km/h on the single-seater.
• Rainy days. The circuit stays open; a street tour in heavy rain may be cancelled or moved.