Bōsōzoku

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Japanese subcultures

Bōsōzoku (暴走族) (literally "Violent Running Tribe") is a Japanese subculture very similar to car clubs: gangs of young men who share a common interest in designing (often illegal) modifications for cars and motorcycles. These modifications often include removing the silencing features so that more noise is produced. They also engage in dangerous driving, such as weaving from side to side on the road, not wearing crash helmets, and ignoring red traffic lights. Japanese police call them "Maru-So"(police code:マル走)

Among their activities is shinai bōsō (市内暴走), which consists of driving down city streets at high (illegal) speeds. It is not properly a race; mostly, it is done just for the thrill of it. With many cars (or bikes) involved, the leading one is driven by the sentōsha (先頭車), the leader, who is responsible for the event. Nobody is allowed to overtake him. Others keep a lookout for side and rear cars/bikes. Although they do race, some groups prefer to just bōsō, or violently run. They modify their exhaust systems to be extra loud and drive through suburbs at speeds of 5-10 miles an hour, waving imperial Japanese flags and shouting obscenities, occasionally throwing Molotov cocktails and carrying swords/spears, daring anyone to do something.

Bōsōzoku members tend to be perceived as criminals and misfits, and they are commonly said to be recruiting grounds for the yakuza. Very few bōsōzoku members are older than 20 as they are then considered adults under Japanese law and can earn a criminal record. Bōsōzoku members older than 20 are considered immature and childish.

Bōsōzoku were first seen in the 1950s as Japanese youth began to see more products of industry, such as cars and bikes. The first bōsozōku were known as kaminari-zoku (雷族) or "Lightning Tribes".

There are bōsōzoku clubs throughout Japan, including female bike gangs, identified by their stylish fashion and customised motorcycles. Members take part in mass rallies and have had gang wars amongst themselves. As a fashion and youth subculture, bōsōzoku are subject to increasing state and police pressure.

1 Stereotypes and media characterizations
2 Bōsōzoku in popular media
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Stereotypes and media characterizations

A team in Nagano

The stereotypical bōsōzoku look is often portrayed, and even caricatured, in many forms of Japanese media such as anime, manga and films. The typical bōsōzoku member is often depicted in a uniform consisting of a jumpsuit like those worn by manual laborers or a tokko-fuku, a type of long Chinese satin coat with kanji slogans usually worn open with no shirt underneath showing off their bandaged torsos and baggy matching pants tucked inside tall boots. The uniforms will most likely be adorned with militaristic slogans and patriotic rising sun patches, a look most likely inspired by Japanese World War II fighter pilots. Leather jackets, often embroidered with club/gang logos, and even full leather suits are also seen as common elements of the bōsōzoku look. Among other items in the bōsōzoku attire are usually round or wrap-around sunglasses, long headbands also with battle slogans and a pompadour hairstyle most likely akin to the "greaser"/"rocker" look or perhaps because of the hairstyle's association with yakuza thugs. Surgical masks are also stereotypically worn by bōsōzokus perhaps to conceal their indentities although these type of masks are also worn by allergy sufferers in Japan, especially during autumn. Females are also shown dressed in a similar style but dress in a more feminine manner with long and often dyed hair, high-heeled boots and excessive make-up.

Bōsōzoku are known to modify their bikes in peculiar and often showy ways. A typical customized bosozoku bike usually consists of an average Japanese road bike that appears to combine elements of an American chopper style bike and a British café racer, for example: oversized visored fenders like those found on café racers, "sissy" bars and raised handle bars like those on a chopper. Loud paint jobs on the fenders or the gas tanks with motifs such as flames or kamikaze style "rising sun" designs are also quite common. The bikes will often be adorned with stickers and/or flags depicting the gang's symbol or logo.

The other common mode of transport among bōsōzoku gangs are cars, which are modified in a similar manner as their motorcycles. Bōsōzoku gangs usually favour 4-door saloons, with two types of bodystyling being most common: VIP Style, a big alloy, wide bodykitted saloon with ducktail spoilers and lowered suspension with extravagant interior styling, but of an older model as newer model are usually a preserve of Yakuzas; and Group 5 style wide body extensions, similar to its 1970s racing counterpart.

[edit] Bōsōzoku in popular media

God Speed You! Black Emperor - a 1976 documentary film about a gang of Bōsōzoku.
Akira - features bōsōzoku acting in a cyberpunk environment. An accident on a highway during a high speed ride is the starting point of the whole plot.
Shonan Junai Gumi - A manga about two bōsōzoku members, Eikichi Onizuka and Ryuji Danma, who attempt to leave their violent lifestyle behind in order to increase their chances with the opposite sex.
Great Teacher Onizuka - Sequel to "Shonan Junai Gumi", in which Eikichi becomes a high-school teacher and occasionally uses his experience from his bōsōzoku days to deal with his school's unruly students or to help out troubled youths.
Shimotsuma Monogatari - A movie/manga based on a novel about two girls from completely different backgrounds, one of them being a member of a bōsōzoku gang.
Fruits Basket - Kyoko Honda was once the leader of a Bōsōzoku gang and was known as "The Red Butterfly," while Arisa Uotani belonged to a different gang called "The Ladies."
Kunio-kun video game series - There is a bōsōzoku gang known as the "Yokohama Funky" led by Shinji in the first game for the arcade, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun (Renegade in the U.S. and Europe). He also makes a comeback in other games such as Kunio Tachi no Banka (Super Famicom/SNES) and Kunio no Nekketsu Tōkyū (Dodgeball) Densetsu (Neo Geo). Bōsōzoku thugs are commonly featured as enemies in other games in the series as well.
Black Rain - Features a dirt-bike riding bōsōzoku gang whose leader works for a major Japanese crime syndicate. Probably one of the first American-made films to feature bōsōzoku.
Crazy Thunder Road (狂い咲きサンダーロード) - A Japanese "B-movie" from 1980 directed by Sogo Ishii about bōsōzoku in a post-apocalyptic setting.
The Yokusuka Jump Squadron is the newest faction in Kaiju Big Battel that is lead by disgruntled Kaiju Hero Super Wrong. Also in the YJS is Dusto Bunny who was forced to join after the Squadron defeated him at ShpadoinkelMania from the Avalon in Boston.
Weezer's video for their 2002 single "Dope Nose" features Bōsōzoku.
Kishidan (氣志團), the Japanese rock band, occasionally adopts the Bōsōzoku look in addition to other Yankii fashions; In their music video for One Night Carnival, they portray themselves riding around on motorcycles in this fashion.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift features a bōsōzoku gang headed by D.K. ("Drift King," the main antagonist) whose uncle is an oyabun in the Yakuza.
Guitar Wolf, A Japanese punk rock band, supposedly based their leather-clad biker look on old-school 1950s-60s Bōsōzoku gangs.

[edit] See also

Motorcycle gang
Biker
Rockers
Greaser
Scooterboy
Raggare
Hashiriya
Yakuza
Drifting - many former bōsōzoku groups would dissove and become drifting teams and few would later compete in the D1 Grand Prix series, notably Toyohisa Matsuda and Masayoshi Tokita both who came from the same gang turned drift club known as Canopus based in Chiba, who wear a headband and carries a toy baseball bat, one of many typical weapon that is similar in characteristics by bōsōzoku members.