Sean and I have a dream that one day we’ll take our kids on a family trip to Tokyo. I’ve never been to japan, Sean has been there many times. It would cost us a fortune to fly, house, and feed all of us over there, so it’s a long term dream. But I would love to take my kids to a country that seems full of contradictions. On one hand, the culture comes across as strict and demanding conformity to tradition, and on the other, I’ve never seen such dedication to subculture anywhere else in the world.
We’ve talked about Japanese chicano culture before, but today I want to dive in a bit deeper to their lowrider culture. One of my favorite parts of living in L.A. was seeing the spectacular, intricately decorated lowriders that originated in L.A.’s Mexican neighborhoods. Japan has created a lowrider culture that can only be taken as a form of the highest flattery (I guess you could go after the Japanese for cultural appropriation, but for some reason no one does. I think they do it too well.). Check out this short doc capturing lowriders cruising the streets of Tokyo, as well as a collection of Japanese lowrider enthusiasts showing off their most prized possessions.
Images via Top Gear
