Illegal Vans

[A trio of tricked out vans in Morioka]

A white van much like the ones in this picture lives near my house. I regularly see others cruising around the streets and highways, parking at shopping malls and restaurants. The owners hold huge rallies on sunny Sunday afternoons in the park. The shops that do this customizing work advertize openly in widely circulated family-type magazines and newspapers. Yet, I'm assured they are quite illegal!


[A Disneyesque van last winter]

Some are plain and others are elaborately painted but in a land of predominately white Hondas and Toyotas they all stand out. My friends assure me that the owners are all members of bosozoku gangs. These are the hot-rodders who drive around late at night keeping us awake with their whining motorcycles and roaring cars. Whilst camping at the seaside one year we asked the campground manager if someone couldn't do something about the racket every night. We were assured that no one could do anything!


[The lengths they go to]

In the end I don't believe they are all hooligans. I have seen these vans pull into restaurants with entire families, including small children, pouring out. They seemed pretty normal to me. I think many of them are young people fed up with the repressive, depersonalizing society they are asked to conform to. This is one way of showing their individuality and thumbing their noses at society. And society seems to allow them this outlet!