One of many national touring car championships to utilise the TCR regulations debuted by the TCR International Series in 2015, TCR Japan was launched in 2019. These regulations provide a relatively accessible means of racing full-on customer tin-tops, with models available from a wide range of manufacturers.
Japan has a rich history with touring car racing, so naturally a TCR series was launched once the regulations really started to take off in popularity. This was effectively the first top-flight touring car championship in Japan since the demise of the JTCC towards the end of the 1990s, and it provided plenty of entertainment.
The format used in TCR Japan was a little unusual. There were two races per weekend, with one on the Saturday and one on the Sunday. Rather than combining all these results into one championship, the series has separate standings for the Saturday Series races and the Sunday Series races. In 2024 however the series changed to a more traditional format, with all results counting towards the same standings.
Aside from this, the series was much like any other national TCR championship. Entry numbers were initially fairly solid, however post-COVID they never fully recovered. By the 2024 season some races saw only a few cars on the grid; with the contract to run the championship up at the end of the year, it was announced TCR Japan would cease at season's end.