I used to be obsessed with Bosozoku, Grachan and Zokusha when I was in HS and college and made friends with several of the old heads in Japan that still run these cars. They’re such cool and unique vehicles full of personal touches that make every one insanely different from the last.

And yeah they aren’t for everyone. In fact with grachan and bosozoku, if you hate it, that’s kind of the point. Japan is a very conservative and orderly society. The point of these cars were to be as loud and garish as possible. During the 60s to 80s, you had a lot of disillusioned youth who were falling in with bosozoku gangs or the Yakuza. Sometimes there was overlap (Zokusha, basically Gang car). They’d often be used for drifting, donuts, causing chaos at intersections and fucking with/getting into chases with Japanese police. Basically anything to cause chaos and have fun. basically what happened during the hotrod era in the US where many young vets came back from WW2. Most groups broke up back in the 80s-90s, though there’s still some old guys that keep the style and spirit alive and newer fans of the style who build their cars out to emulate it. Same goes for the much more prominent biker side of the Bosozoku.