By chance, one day, I happened upon a gigantic book of motorcycles in a close friend's private reading collection. Inside were a great number of images from throughout the twentieth century that depicted near perfect design and construction of motorcycles, but only one, to me, showed near perfect style and attitude. The image was a black and white photograph, and it depicted a young Japanese man on a motorcycle, a kid with a slight, yet very confident smile pursed on his lips that told me that he knew he was the shit for riding a motorcycle. At the top of image, in large white letters, the word "BOSOZOKU" was placed boldly. Because of the way the photo struck me, I decided I would research the word a bit further. What I found was a subculture living completely parallel to the skateboarding life I've known for so long on the other side of the globe.

Bosozoku is a Japanese term that is translated to English as a "violent running tribe". In Japan, bosozoku are teenage motorcycle gangs that have been running the streets of its cities since the 1950's. They are known for their fast, reckless driving and complete disregard for traffic laws. They are easily recognizable by their bold style of dress and their common practice of gathering in public in large numbers, often to the dismay of pedestrians and authorities(*). Herein, the parallel lies. Suffice to say that somewhere in a public place in America as you read these words, a violent rolling tribe is disregarding some sort of rule for the sake of having fun, much to the dismay of citizens and authorities. The only difference is that the members of the gang ride around on four wheels instead of two, and there is no motor involved.

When you think of your life on a skateboard, hopefully you think of at least these two things, otherwise you will not understand what the hell I'm talking about. The two things I write of are, simply, yourself and others. Skateboarding was designed to make you happy. Only you ride your skateboard. If you've ever gone skateboarding by yourself, though, it's just not as fun as running the streets with as many friends as possible. Why is that? Here's why. It's because you're in a gang. It's because when you decided to get on that four wheeled motorcycle with no motor and found out a few days or weeks or months later that you couldn't live without riding it, you became bosozoku.

My educated guess, in studying the origins and operations of the bosozoku motorcycles gangs, is that their common bond is their love for riding motorcycles and turning the heads of the society outside of their inner circle. Masayuki Yoshinaga, former bosozoku member and renowned photographer who was granted inside access to the bosozoku in his adulthood for a pictorial publication, portrays the gangsters as "full of life, teenagers dedicated to the sublime intensity of youth"(**). Because the gang members are known for their flagrant disregard for regulations, it is often the case that they are seen as a group of misguided individuals dedicated to destroying the face of society at large versus a subculture dedicated to getting the most out of their adolescence.

If you love skateboarding, you also have to live with dealing with the people you encounter outside of your inner circle. "Bosozoku members tend to be perceived as criminals and misfits" in Japanese society, just as skateboarders are in other societies around the globe(***). It just comes with the territory. Anyone who does not understand who you are or what you do will always question and challenge you. Granted, trespassing and the alleged "destruction" of public or private property are risky habits to have, but they sure are fun, especially when you have the opportunity to trespass and destroy with your closest friends.

And that is what binds us. It is the same exact thing that binds the bosozoku members. What we live for is the chance to do what we love with our friends. Just as the bosozoku members see the streets as a means to have a good time with their friends, so do we. The look on that kid's face in that photo I wrote of earlier is the same look I'd imagine we carry to the majority of the people outside of our gang. It says "I'm the shit because I ride a skateboard". Two or four wheels, motor or not, we are commissioned to hold down the ideal that skateboarding is a bond that is shared with friends who skateboard. Skateboarding is a gang that you're either deep into or way far out of, and the only people who will understand the bond are the people who meet you out in the streets when it's time to skate. See you out there...