[BŌSŌZOKU]. ティーンズロード [Teens Road], December 1994.

[BŌSŌZOKU]. ティーンズロード [Teens Road], December 1994.
Tokyo: [Million Shuppan], 1994

B5判 / large 8vo (255 x 180 mm). 142 pp. Profusely illustrated in color and black-and white. Saddle-stapled, photographically illustrated wraps; rubbed, minor nicks to spine. Very good.

December 1994 issue of the ‘yankii’ magazine Teens Road, dedicated to the women members of bōsōzoku clubs. Unlike the other magazines of the period, Teens Road emphasized the fashion and lifestyle of these “runaway girls,” along with motorcycle & car tuning, custom autobody work, and the goings-on of various groups. It was the first of its kind to focus on these sukeban (’girl delinquent’) clans and, at its peak, had a readership five times the recorded number of members of such clubs.

Yankii, a general term for a group of aesthetically linked ‘delinquent’ subcultures, was originally born out of the influence of post-war American rock and counterculture. With the rise of bōsōzoku style — defined by tokkō-fuku jackets and their spectacular, outlandish custom modifications — out of the earlier kaminari-zoku gangs, this yankii world began to take on its own uniquely wild aesthetics. Though the bōsōzoku retained a specific look, it intersected with a number of other subcultures around the turn of the millennium, such as gyaru.

The cover of this issue highlights these subcultures’ flirtation with far-right imagery. While nationalistic symbols of imperial Japan were common in bōsōzoku uniforms, fascist aesthetics around the turn of the millennium were also employed in bizarrely decontextualized ways in various subcultures. It was not uncommon for visual kei bands, for example, to wear Nazi designs in music videos and on-stage.

Stock #1109