The circuit was opened in 1990 as a private motor racing facility built for wealthy enthusiasts. "TI" stood for Tanaka International, a reference to Hajime Tanaka, owner of the golf club that controlled the land on which the track was constructed. Soon after opening, the circuit hosted its first competitive race event, staged by veteran British drivers.
The track sits in a remote part of Okayama Prefecture, a geographical factor that would later prove significant in limiting the circuit's appeal to major international sanctioning bodies and their commercial partners.
In 1994 and 1995, TI Circuit Aida was awarded the Formula One Pacific Grand Prix, a second Japanese round on the calendar alongside the established Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Both editions of the Pacific Grand Prix were won by Michael Schumacher, during the period in which he secured his first two world championships with Benetton.
The 1994 race took place against the backdrop of one of the most turbulent seasons in Formula One history, contested weeks after the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola. The Okayama event attracted significant global attention as the championship battle intensified.
Japan joining the small group of countries — fewer than ten in total at that point — to host more than one Formula One event in a single calendar year was a commercially and politically notable achievement, though the arrangement proved temporary. The Pacific Grand Prix was discontinued after 1995, primarily because TI Circuit Aida's remote location made logistics and attendance difficult to sustain at the level required for Formula One.
A round of the 1996 International Touring Car Championship was planned for the circuit as a replacement for the discontinued F1 event but was relocated to Suzuka.
In 1999, defending Japan GT Championship GT300 title holder Shingo Tachi was killed during a private test at the circuit when driving a GT500 Toyota Supra. A technical failure prevented the car from decelerating in time for the first turn. Although no driver fatalities had occurred during JGTC or Super GT race events at the time, the incident occurred less than a year after Tetsuya Ota had suffered serious burns in a fiery multi-car crash at Fuji Speedway during a JGTC parade lap.
In March 2003, the Tanaka International Company — parent company of the circuit's official owner, TI Circuit Company — applied for civil rehabilitation under Japanese bankruptcy law. Unimat Holding Co., Ltd. subsequently announced that it would provide financial support to keep the facility operational. The owning company was renamed Okayama International Circuit Co., Ltd. on 1 May 2004, and the circuit itself was officially renamed Okayama International Circuit on 1 January 2005.
Unimat subsequently sold the circuit on 3 March 2012 to Aska Corporation, an automotive parts manufacturing company.
After the name change, the circuit continued to host domestic Japanese championship rounds. On 26 October 2008, the renamed Okayama International Circuit hosted a round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship — the first FIA world championship race held there since the 1995 Pacific Grand Prix. The WTCC returned in 2009 and 2010 before the Japan round shifted back to Suzuka from 2011 onward.
During the years it operated as TI Circuit Aida, the circuit hosted rounds of the Japanese Touring Car Championship between 1992 and 1995, and again in 1997 and 1998. The Formula One Pacific Grand Prix occupied the headline slot in 1994 and 1995. The track also hosted Super Formula Championship rounds beginning in later years after the renaming.
TI Circuit Aida occupies a specific place in Japanese motorsport history as the venue that briefly brought a second Formula One race to Japan in the mid-1990s, providing Schumacher with two Pacific Grand Prix victories en route to back-to-back championships. The circuit's remoteness, which contributed to the discontinuation of the F1 race, ironically preserved its character as a club-level and national championship venue, and the renamed Okayama International Circuit continued to host Super GT and other series into the 2020s.