Drive an hour south of Fukuoka and take a right at the city of Hita and you'll find yourself skirting the edge of Lake Bairin.
Mountains rise up from the water's edge, the slopes crowded with cedars, and the road alternates between dense forest and sweeping panoramas of the lake. If you know where to look, you may notice a moss-stained sign that reads "Autopolis International Racing Course."
The sign seems to be a relic, and for that matter, entirely out of place. Here, buried in the mountains on the rural border of Kumamoto and Oita prefectures, it would be madness to build such a grand racing circuit. Mad ideas, however, are sometimes entertained.