Japan Car Mod Gangs - Kaido (Highway) Racer III

A strange phenomenon occured in the 80s - the birth of the car modding genre "Kaido Racer". Kaido means Highway in Japanese. The idea was to take a regular car and make it colorful, as wildly modded as possible and often as noisy as possible. The modding isnt to make the car better - it is to take a car and turn it into a public offense.

The idea was to essentially rebel against the law - the cars are illegally modded with huge tailpipes that often run directly from the engine block, massive spoilers that jut out to the point of being absurd. This modding style was popular around the Tokyo area in the 80s and like most Japanese trends, evntually died out in the larger centers....but trickled into the countryside and remained in small pockets of Japan.

This footage was taken from an event that took place in Ibaragi Prefecture in 2007... a countryside province of Japan - nothing but rice fields, simple people and idiots like these guys...

These car enthusiasts are usually lower income manual labour countryside types - bricklayers, builders, mechanics and such. "Hicks" would be a suitable term to describe them simply.

The premise is to drive up and down the highway making a nuisance of themselves... revving the engine noisily, hanging out the window, driving slowly, swerving all over the road, causing obstructions and being defiant toward the police. Rebellion born into a very peculiar form of expression.

The funniest part is that these guys are dead serious about it. This isn't funny to them - It's a lifestyle.