Speed Tribes

I finally finished Speed Tribes. Don't know why it took me so long. I really freakin dug it.

Bad Eye loaned this to me. He said a bunch of his biker buddies passed this book around in the late 90's when he lived in Chi-town. He was keeping it alive.

"Speed Tribes" is the translation for Japan's bosozoku. What's that? Outlaw motorcycle clubs and car clubs. Or as it turns out, mixed clubs rolling on two OR four wheels. Whatever they can afford. They're sort of like Japan's answer to England's mods and rockers. Riding around, taking uppers, getting drunk, making noise, being rowdy, fighting, taking downers, sleeping in an underpass and doing it all again the next day.

Speed Tribes is broken into about a dozen chapters. Each one profiles a different type of Japanese youth subculture. From bosozoku to bar hostesses to political activists to computer nerds. The author just tries to give you a cross-section of Tokyo youth and Japanese culture. It's diverse and very fucking intriguing.

Marie and I are probably going to Scotland next year and then Italy after that...and I think/hope Japan could be the next holiday after that. It's high up on my list o' places to go. I'm mesmerized. I might not come back.

I'd recommend anyone read this book. It's so surreal at times. So foreign. But it makes you want to be there and see this shit with your own eyes. I just find Japan a very interesting place. And likewise, this is an interesting book.