Rally Japan

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Chris Atkinson driving his Subaru Impreza WRC at the 2006 Rally Japan.

Rally Japan began in 2001 as International Rally on narrow forest roads in the Tokachi region on the northern island of Hokkaidō. . 2002 and 2003 editions of the event were held under the name or Rally Hokkaido as part of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. The first ever WRC Rally Japan was held in 2004 and was won by the 2003 world rally champion Petter Solberg of Subaru World Rally Team.

The 2005 event was held on September 30, 2005 through October 2, 2005. Headquarters and the service park were located in and near Obihiro, Hokkaidō. The rally was won by Marcus Grönholm in a Peugeot 307 WRC 1:22.1 ahead of Sébastien Loeb in a Citroën Xsara WRC. The 2006 event was won by Loeb 5.6 seconds ahead of Grönholm.

Rally Japan is the fourteenth rally on the World Rally Championship schedule for the 2007 season. It was won by Mikko Hirvonen of BP Ford world rally team. This win was third in Mikko's carier as a top level rally driver. The 2007 edition of the event was also remarkable for the retirements of both 2007 title contenders on the same rally - Marcus Grönholm retired on the first day of the rally after heavily damaging the roll cage of his Ford Focus WRC on stage four. Sébastien Loeb retired on the next Leg of the rally after his co-driver Daniel Elena called out the wrong pace note instruction for the first time in 10 years. In December Rally Japan organisers announced that for the 2008 WRC season the event will move from Obihiro to Sapporo, the biggest city on Hokkaidō.