Yokohama Night Special Attack Corps

Expect lots of good stuff on female bikers in the Japanese School Girl Inferno book. Tragically, there's already lots of nuggets that may not make the final cut: like behind the scenes tales from Ryo Tochinai, a journalist for legendary biker bible Teen’s Road.

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Tochinai was once slashed in the leg with a razor while interviewing a female biker in Shinjuku. Previously, a member of a similar gang told him about giving birth to a lifeless lump of green meat brought on from spikes of speed and liberal helpings of paint thinner.

Back in the ‘80s, tensions were at an all time high. Teen’s Road was covering a feud between two rival factions and was accused of favoring one side over the other. Keep in mind that this was a mag that meant so much to the target demographic that copies of Teen’s Road were routinely left at gravesites and tossed into the coffins of readers who met untimely ends on the “Crazy Thunder Road.” And if the staff wasn’t careful, they too might wind up in the bone yard. While on assignment at a local high school, some bad boys held up a sword was held up to Tochinai’s throat while another began digging an improv burial plot nearby.

Teen’s Road ceased publication in the early ‘90s. The decline of the biker movement was certainly a factor, but it was mostly because the staff was tired of getting their asses kicked on a regular basis. Most moved over to a new magazine Outlaw Densetsu, which covered crime and yakuza stories.

Once in Hiroshima, Tochinai visited the offices of a little known, but much feared Gurentai (low ranked yakuza) organization. The building was also overflowing with gifts and love offerings from the larger syndicates, which seemed strange as it should have been the other way around. Turns out, the Hiroshima faction were the guys who did the dirty work for gangs involved in legimate business who didn’t want to get their hands dirty. The Gurentai were sitting on a cache of military weaponry, including bazookas, smuggled in from the Philippine army.

“I couldn’t believe it was real, “ Tochinai said. “It was like a manga. A whole gang made up of Golgo 13s.”

Comments

[Carl Horn]

What's the cultural origin of the white robe of the Japanese biker? White is an extremely unusual color for an American biker to wear. These are, needless to say, not American bikers.

[Matt Gray]

Hmmmm...Biker movement or Scooter fad? I'm not a member of Sacramento's very own Vago MC, but from the photo, those look like Honda scooters that became popular with the under 16 crowd in the mid to late 80s. The kids who rode those, circa 1988 in Sacramento, were usually welding backwards/upside-down PING visors, Vuarnets, Howard Jones T-shirts, and Sperry Topsiders...not razor blades.

Can you really call these gals biker gang members? Well, maybe, afterall, the gal on the far left is wearing what looks to be a mean pair of Carrera shades.

[Patrick3]

Hey Matt,

The Ladies' gangs rode everything from cute little scooters to enourmous Honda and Kawasaki choppers adorned with thunder seats and chrome ahoogah horns. We've even uncovered some pics of old granny bicycles tricked out like "Decora Trucks," although it seems only a group of boys in Gunma were into them. The kids themselves ran from sweet and innocent to hard-as-hell.

We will have an interview with an ex-member of the Tokyo-based gang Akujo (Evil Girls) in the Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno book. I don't think anyone into Howard Jones would have lasted more than a single white line with them.

[Patrick3]

Carl,

I was wondering about the color white last week while sitting in the Immigration holding pen...no new insights, sadly.

[Steve Harrison]

I was wondering about the white 'colors' too, thinking all kinds of obscure crap like 'white is the color of death' and stuff, then I though maybe an easier answer.

What was going on in pop culture, pulp culture at the time? what was going on in the movies, on TV? The answer may be that simple.

You all know how this stuff feeds on itself.

Unless they just put those on for the photo shoot. Wouldn't that be a kick? :)