Page 4, The Bosozoku

We had seen some Bosozoku riders pass by. In researching the web on Japan before the trip I had happened on to YouTube videos of some extremely flamboyant styled motorcycles with riders making all kinds of racket with their bikes. It almost seems like they are trying to play some sort of tune. What I do know is that these guys are the “rebels without a cause” of Japanese riders; unless the cause is to annoy people. ;-)

Here are some links to YouTube clips:

Bosozoku tune Bosozoku Bikes

I am concerned they might get some sort of carpel tunnel injury, whacking the throttle the way they do. When I was in Yokohama I heard packs of these guys making as much noise as they could as they rode around the city late at night. Actually I like the sounds better than loud flatulent Harleys we have around here.

We rode down the road a ways and James saw the Bosozoku stopped at a rest area. So we turned around to see if we could get some pictures. Cool another cultural exchange. Oh, I forgot to mention, these guys are basically gang members, some call them “Speed Tribe”. They hang out and cause trouble, in an anti-social way. This is out of the ordinary for Japanese, as they normally try to not stand out. Also, supposedly these young toughs are junior Yakuza candidates. I didn’t see any missing fingers though.


James explained in Japanese my fascination as a foreigner and asked if it was OK if I took pictures and video. They were happy to oblige, and actually showed off their bikes and noise. Their bikes have flashy bright colors, chrome and polished bits. They turn their turn signals skyward for style; they fold their license plates up horizontally so they are difficult to see. Most bikes have a huge padded sissy bar on the back too. One guy showed me that the gauges on his Honda Hawk were USA spec and read MPH instead of Kilometers. A couple of the bikes were two-strokes and help to fill the higher frequencies of their orchestration. The riders have a certain style too; they wear painted half helmets with a visor, vests with fur collars and brown knee length boots. One guy was sitting on the curb sipping a canned coffee drink with two fingers and smoking a cigarette, looking like a modern day James Dean. Here are a couple links of a bike revving and the tribe leaving the rest area. They got together and were blipping there throttles for a mile or so. We could hear them for awhile in the distance.

Video of Bosozoku riders 5MB

Video of Bosozoku Bikes leaving 19MB


Continued on Page 5 of 5...

I found more pictures and put a "+" sign on the additions.

Jeff

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