Photo/Illutration Fumitaka Takeya leads the pack at the Neo Speed Park in Yachiyo, Chiba Prefecture, on June 11. He is the course record holder on the track. (Itsuhiro Suzuki)

YACHIYO, Chiba Prefecture--On any given day, the roar of engines echoes across the racetrack in a stretch of cleared forest area roughly an hour’s drive from Tokyo.

Touted as the “capital of karting,” the 500-meter Neo Speed Park here draws visitors from all points of the compass.

The circuit in Yachiyo in the Tokatsu-Katsunan area opened in 2010. It has a height difference of about 5 meters, which enthralls fans. But the location, in northwestern Chiba Prefecture, is off the beaten track. It is mainly motorheads who make the trek.

Anyone with a driver’s license can go for a spin. The go-karts are fitted with a 5-horsepower engine and two pedals, the right one for accelerating and the left for braking.

The karts reach speeds of up to 60 kph but feel much faster because the driver’s seat is mounted so close to the ground.

ONE-OF-A-KIND TRACK

Cars and motorcycles are Fumitaka Takeya’s passion. The 57-year-old from Narashino in the prefecture learned of the track almost 10 years ago and Shigeyuki Tanaka, from Funabashi in the prefecture, introduced him to the fun of karting.

“You can play for keeps against young people, but even middle-aged men can win,” Tanaka, 59, said. “Every time I come here, I find buddies.”

In recent years, it’s not just Japanese who turn up after watching footage of the karting park on video-sharing websites. Foreign nationals come in droves, too.

In some races, up to eight karts compete at the same time.

A maximum of 500 people use the course each day.

In mid-May, a group of four guys from Canada visited the circuit.

They raved about an S-shaped downhill curve immediately after they finished an uphill section. They said they had never raced a course layout like that before.

One foreign fan translated a booklet listing key points on the circuit into English.

“There is no other go-kart course close to Tokyo with this much height difference,” said Makoto Tateno, who manages the facility. “I was surprised that a foreigner came all the way to Japan just for karting.”

TOURISM RESOURCE

Although the Tokatsu-Katsunan area is adjacent to Tokyo, municipal officials have yet to fully make full use of the site’s proximity to the capital.

On its website, Yachiyo city’s tourism promotion office lists information on cherry blossom viewing spots, farm stands and the like. But not much else.

“The (Neo) Speed Park has a lot to offer, and proper promotion would have a ripple effect,” said one official.

A lack of city-run information offices that provide sightseeing tips has hampered the municipality’s efforts to promote its tourism resources. Some areas remain undiscovered, the official added.

And while the city governments of Funabashi and Ichikawa operate tourist information offices in front of major train stations in the prefecture, they have yet to come up with measures to lure tourists already visiting Tokyo, officials said.

The Kashiwa city government, anticipating demand from inbound tourists, reopened its tourist information office in front of Kashiwa Station at the start of this fiscal year.

Takeshi Sakimoto, a professor at Edogawa University in Chiba Prefecture with a keen interest in tourism issues, noted that Tokatsu-Katsunan is also known for the local Ryutetsu Nagareyama Line, Nakayama-Hokekyoji temple in Ichikawa and the Funabashi H.C. Andersen Park in Funabashi.

“Because the area is dotted with sightseeing spots, the municipal governments need to work together to help tourists visit them with less hassle,” he said.

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