Leisure Center in Kanagawa Pref. City Keeps Slot Car Fever Burning

By Michio Watanabe / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

18:14 JST, June 3, 2025

YAMATO, Kanagawa — Beep! The electronic sound was the signal for a pack of tiny cars, all less than 20 centimeters long, to blast around the corner. Nearby, seven people, controllers in their hands, followed their beloved vehicles with their eyes as the cars accelerated down the straight. The crowd erupted whenever the announcer called out which car was in the lead or that one had gone off course.

The scenes were from a slot car race, one of two held each month on the first floor of Big Bang, an indoor leisure center in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture. Slot cars, tiny racers brought in from overseas, run along the circuit with motors powered by electricity from the track.

The cars started to be imported to Japan in the 1960s, and the fun of feeling the speed they could achieve, despite their lightweight bodies, quickly made them extremely popular. People crowded around miniature racetracks in toy stores and on the roofs of department buildings.

Big Bang’s current racecourse was built around 2005. At the time, 1/32-scale slot cars were very popular because no assembly was required and they could be raced immediately after purchasing.

Noboru Hashimoto, 56, the president of Big Bang, recalled how the track first came to be installed.

“We used to have another circuit in the 1980s. My father, who ran this place before me, put the new racecourse in after a vendor recommended it to him, saying it would make the place successful again,” he said.

Other slot car circuits nearby later closed, as visitor numbers declined. Yet Big Bang, which also had income sources from facilities for other sports, such as billiards and table tennis, kept going. Currently, there are only a few full-fledged slot car courses even in the Kanto region. Big Bang has about 50 regular customers who come in with their own favorite slot cars in hand.

“We value each and every customer,” said Toshiyuki Sato, 42, who operates the track and provides live commentary during the races. His talking creates a homely atmosphere.

Nobuhiro Yanagisawa, 69, a regular customer from Yokohama, knows the slot car race boom of the 1960s from personal experience.

“This place is great. It’s a difficult racecourse that requires fine control of your car, so the people who gather here are highly skilled. They no longer let an old-timer like me win easily,” he said, inviting laughter from those around him.

Even if the fever has gone down for most people, the ones who still love slot cars can come to Big Bang to find like-minded friends with whom they can talk about their favorite hobby. Just seeing them, I caught some of their joy.

Big Bang

Address: 2-4-3 Yamato-Higashi, Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture

Access: A four-minute walk from Yamato Station on Odakyu Enoshima Line and Sotetsu Line

Hours: The slot car racetrack is open from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesdays to Fridays, noon to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 6:30 p.m. on Sundays. The tracks are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.