Category: Naniwa Tomoare

From doing my research and chatting with folks from Late Riser, No Good and Law Break I feel I don’t want to hand out that info, for that I went out of my way to attain that knowledge with my share of labor and difficulty.

Stop asking to be spoon fed kids!

I been reading Nanitomo (Naniwa Tomoare) a lot and learning not only about kanjo but the lifestyle of Osaka (and have been for a while). I first heard of the kanjo culture back in 1998, and got fully aware of it in the early 2000’s. To fully grasp it you have to understand Osaka’s attitude and Japanese culture. Don’t go to Osaka and call a kanjo runner’s Civic a ricer, you might get a beat down. These cats who started back in 1980’s did it to settle beef and to show who is the best of the best. If they weren’t racing against other teams they would terrorize the highway because they pretty much owned it. At times fights broke out. It died out almost completely, and if you see them in large groups 99% of the time they are just hooning, not necessary racing. Japanese laws are no joke, disobeying the law is like disrespecting life. It’s oppressive to some. It forces people to become rebellious. That being said, that’s why they terrorized the highway. It’s a big middle finger to the law. It’s the same reason why Bosozoku’s soup up their cars the way they do. In Nanitomo, there’s more fighting than racing at times and they’re brutal. That’s how it was back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Even though me and Tougel did kanjo style running in sacramento, we never consider ourselfs kanjo racers, ONLY PRIVATE RUNNERS. We did it our way, our own style. We had to play it smart.

I can’t ask people to stop ruining the kanjo style, by all means keep doing what you do. But have an outlook on how it looks in the eyes of those who know the history and culture. Especially the ones who been into it way before these kids heard about it from internet sites. Ask yourself, if you consider yourself a real “kanjo racer” what are you racing for? Who are you racing against? Are you really racing or are you just speeding and hooning like me and Tougel did back in the day? Hell, even in the eyes of some kanjo racers in Japan like the fact that people dig their style over seas. Compliment the style, don’t bite it.

Peace peace y’all.