'Bosozoku' hot-rod gangs continue their noisy activities in northern Kanto

"Hey dude, you better not badmouth the Koshin-kai, or you'll be sorry!"

It was around 6 p.m. last May, when the reporter for Shukan Gendai (July 6) accosted a group of youths hanging out in front of JR Tsuchiura station in Ibaraki Prefecture. He asked them to tell them which local hot-rodder groups were well known in the area. But as soon as he mentioned the Koshin-kai, their mood became hostile.

"They scare me, so don't ask for details," one told him.

A 15-year-old youth going by the name Masaya steered him to a place on the riverbank there the group often assembled.

Earlier this year, the writer had learned of 23 minor members of two rival gangs were arrested for hanging out while possessing dangerous weapons. Another two in Kanagawa Prefecture were arrested for inflicting severe injuries on a third man.

"Word on the street has it that the old school bosozoku are essentially extinct. The ones you see at present differ from the old gangs both in appearance and style."

Writer Masayuki Kiguraya has set out to cover gang activities around the nation. In northern Kanto, a name to watch for is the aforementioned Koshin-kai, which translates as "god of good fortune club."

These noisy hot-rodders -- an offshoot from what was formerly known as the "Kaminari-zoku" (Thunder Tribe) -- first began appearing in Japan from the early 1950s.

With their hair teased into exaggerated pompadours and clad in colorful clothing, they would cruise down city streets late at night on modified motorcycles.

Most of Koshin-kai's 20 or so members are said to be high-school dropouts, teens who hold down blue-collar jobs. The group's leader is 17 years old. Six of its members are currently confined to penal institutions.

"In the past, our gangs used to have run-ins with an outfit called the Ushiku Rengo," said a bosozoku member in Ibaraki. "It formally reorganized, and then proposed that we bury the hatchet. Their leader's about 15 years old, but he's really fired up. He's over 190cm tall and is covered with tattoos."

During the Showa era (before 1989) it was not unusual to see bosozoku gangs with over 100 members; now, the most you'll see are said to be between 20 and 30.

"At the start of the new century, numerous local governments enacted ordinances to stamp out the bosozoku," a former gang leader tells the magazine. "In addition to banning the hot-rodders outright, they also arranged punishment for people who recruited them for yakuza gangs. Then came tougher laws on dangerous driving, which went into force with tough new traffic regulations enacted in 2004, which had a major impact and drove many gangs out of existence.

"Still, there's no way to deal with small-scall activities. There are risks involved in forming a big team. Local han-gure (loosely affiliated quasi-gangsters) take notice of promising youngsters, thinking 'There's a guy with good spirit,' and they'll fix him up with a yami-baito (illegal part-time jobs) by tempting them with offers of good money."

Such activities are said to be particularly active in Gunma Prefecture.

"There are lots of wild kids in Maebashi," says a taxi driver while waiting for a fare in front of JR Maebashi station. "They always start to assemble from around evening."

The taxi driver usually hears them before he sees them. They wear cork helmets on which rising sun flags are printed. 

A former biker who became a yakuza and who has gone straight recalls, "In the past, I often had contact with my protectors -- such as when I was made to clean up at a yakuza office as a sort of apprentice. But now with the police crackdown, there are few opportunities.

"The han-gure are easily able to encounter bosozoku members, and what's more, they have more influence than rank-and-file yakuza. The kids are convinced that if they tie up with the han-gure they'll be able to secure a better livelihood."

To recruit wild kids, the han-gure single out one at their discretion who appears to be promising, and supply him with funds. His companions start to look up to him, so he tells them, "If you want to be like me, then come help me out with a job" -- and then gets them involved in things like special fraud schemes that have been making headlines.

Kiguraya promises more details in a future installment

© Japan Today