In Defense of the Kaid Racer

"ptak appreciates old racecars" (racecarptak) 04/30/2014 at 19:05 • Filed to: bosozoku

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Or: Five Reasons Why Bosozoku Isn't Steaming Tawagoto

What is bosozoku? Bosozoku is a type of car modification originating in Japan sometime in the 1980s. The term literally means "reckless gang" and is used more often outside of the car community to refer to the semi-yakuza youth subculture. The bosozoku frequently drive these cars and similarly modified motorcycles, which they are better known for. I suppose one could compare it to the American 1950s greaser subculture.

Now that I have that out of the way, let's get one thing off the bat: I acknowledge the fact that the bosozoku style isn't for everyone, and I'm certainly not trying to get everyone to like it.

Oh wait. Shit. Yes, I absolutely am. Although I'm not the world's greatest expert on bosozoku (and I've never been to Japan), I have recently become very interested in it and I've noticed that it's a style that has a lot of haters.

Here are five reasons why you should respect it.

1 - It's Not Rice

Seriously. Bosozoku isn't some tarted-up Cavalier with a plastic blower and LEDs in the rear lights. It takes skill to build, just like any real custom car. Look at these two pictures as an example: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Some are more ruggedly built, using sheetmetal carved by someone in their own little garage. Whether a bosozoku car is more tasteful than a ricer I leave up to you, but they're usually not made from supermarket parts.

2 - Everything Has Some Bosozoku In It

Or rather, bosozoku has a bit of everything in it. And by "everything" I mean a lot of types of car modification one encounters in the Land of the Rising Sun. Okay, I guess that wasn't very clear. Bosozoku has the base car of the kyusha ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), the stance of the shakotan ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), and the paint of the yankii ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). My point here is, one should understand that it is the combination of all these styles and more.

3 - There are Varying Degrees of Bosozoku

This is important: not all bosozoku is crazy wings and senseless Gundam-upping of a car. Some of it is more mild and tasteful. Of course, this makes one wonder if less crazy bosozoku is not one of the styles described above. It's all very confusing. Personally (and this is just me) I think less crazy bosozoku can be classified as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! : bosozoku without the cocaine. If someone more knowledgeable than me knows for sure the difference between bosozoku and kaido racer, please comment below.

4 - Six-Year-Old You Would Probably Love It

He or she absolutely fucking would. Don't deny it. The crazily exaggerated wings, fins, stanced wheels and freaky paintjobs would appeal to even the most mild-mannered little nerd. And that's important, because we can't let ourselves let go of our childish sense of wonder. Bosozoku caters to that, if only visually.

5 - Don't Take it Too Seriously

By saying that, I don't mean that bosozoku is any lesser or worse than other styles of car modification or that it doesn't deserve your respect. What I mean is that I think there's a real light-heartedness at the center of bosozoku, despite its roots half in the Japanese gangster scene and half in 1980s Japanese endurance racing. If bosozoku were a movie, it would be Scott Pilgrim vs. The World . Scott Pilgrim was a phenomenal movie, but it didn't demand to be taken seriously. Doesn't mean it's worse than Citizen Kane , just that it didn't ask you to grant it the same dignity.

Okay. I'm done. You can leave. Go back to your usual Oppo-ing.

>drops mic<

>crickets chirping<

Bandit > ptak appreciates old racecars 04/30/2014 at 19:13

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I just can't get over the wheels and tires. I love the exhausts that come and to some extent the crazy front splitters, but the wheels kill me.

Blondude > ptak appreciates old racecars 04/30/2014 at 19:16

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Bosozoku is the most ridiculous automotive subculture out there and I love it for that.

Your boy, BJR > ptak appreciates old racecars 04/30/2014 at 19:17

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I've never had an issue with cocaine kaido. I love it.

wiffleballtony > ptak appreciates old racecars 04/30/2014 at 19:39

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I hated Scott Pilgrim.

ptak appreciates old racecars > wiffleballtony 04/30/2014 at 19:44

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Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder > ptak appreciates old racecars 04/30/2014 at 20:19

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I really like Kaido Racers.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > ptak appreciates old racecars 05/01/2014 at 10:03

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My take on it is this - if you despise "stance" but adore kaido/bosozoku then you're a hypocrite. I find it funny how little hate there is in the comments considering that if I was to show a cleanly stanced M3 I would get destroyed in the comments. THey're different at a cultural level as to how they change the cars but the modifications are similar.

You can't deny it - in both cases the cars are effectively back breaking lowriders with form being the only end goal. The paint and body mods are wild and fender gap is the enemy. I like certain stance cars and badly done stance is just as bad as a bad tune or excessive rice. Likewise, crappily done kaido looks like shit because it reflects the effort put out by the owner.

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > ptak appreciates old racecars 05/01/2014 at 10:08

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If you look at them in the stance of "comic book cars", you can really appreciate them. Often they are the cars that as a kid you drew in the margins while sitting through English class.

XJDano > ptak appreciates old racecars 05/01/2014 at 12:57

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I just read that in an open tab from yesterday when I didn't get to it.

Ezekiel > ptak appreciates old racecars 05/30/2014 at 23:25

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I was expecting this to be excruciatingly incorrect honestly, but aside from the terms, you weren't too far from most of the true intentions. The term you should be using in place of 'bosozoku' is actually 'zokusha'. Zokusha style cars were built to attract attention in ways bosozoku/yankii's could not. Before the police would use cameras and things that they have today, guys would build their cars in such a fashion that the police could not properly identify and describe them to other officers. People that continue to style their cars like that today are generally just enthusiasts, but you do still have some old school yankii's riding around in their Mark II sedans with chop tops and insanes mods and a bunch of bosozoku's.

And as far as kaido racers go, they really are just tamed zokusha style cars. Zokushas aren't street legal, obviously, so they need special plates to prevent them from being harassed by police, but kaido racers can roam the streets and present 'roll calls' (revving) throughout each city without much of a problem.

ptak appreciates old racecars > Ezekiel 05/31/2014 at 09:06

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Thanks for the in-depth explanation! Yeah I wasn't quite sure what zokusha or kaido racer meant, but now I know. :)