Sporting towering Elvis-style hair and a college uniform modified right into a rebellious silhouette, 15-year-old Reona worships Japan’s basic bad-boy subculture just lately taken international by successful Netflix courting present.
Japan within the heady Eighties teemed with hot-blooded teenagers who rebelled in opposition to society via harmful bike rides, faculty “wars” and full-on avenue brawls.
Their outlandish vogue and supposed traits equivalent to chivalry have since made them Japan’s pop-culture darlings, from anime to movie, regardless of its conformist inhabitants’s disdain for rule-breakers.
The newest to capitalize on the style is Netflix, whose latest actuality present “Badly in Love” spotlighted Japan’s yankii (delinquent) tradition by starring 11 younger women and men, together with former bosozoku (bike gang) members.
And a yankii-themed exhibition is now underway in Tokyo, re-enacting the 80s chaos with flamboyantly modified bikes and closely embroidered tokkofuku, military-style jackets worn by the bikers.
High-schooler Reona, who AFP has chosen to not identify in full as a result of he is a minor, mimics the 80s rebels by donning saggy faculty trousers designed to create an imposing impression. “I think their hardcore manliness on full display is so cool,” he informed AFP.
A combating spirit, loyalty to associates and ease are redeeming qualities typically related to the subculture Image: AFP
A combating spirit, loyalty to associates and ease are redeeming qualities typically related to the subculture.
Modern delinquents, in the meantime, are typically derided for his or her infantile TikTok clout-chasing, on-line bullying and the underhanded manner they rip-off aged folks as a part of so-called “black-market part-time gigs”.
Prank movies have gone viral lately displaying teenage prospects committing unhygienic antics at Japan’s famed sushi conveyor-belt eating places — so-called “sushi terrorism”.
“Getting arrested for riding around your motorcycle may have some honor, but getting arrested for those sushi pranks is plain lame,” Reona mentioned.
Hirotaka Sotooka, 43, laughs off his eight-year-old son’s precocious penchant for gangster-like apparel, however attracts a transparent line.
The mother or father is prepared to tolerate bikes, fistfights and vogue statements, however “I don’t want him to bully the weak, be violent toward women or do anything purely evil”, he informed AFP.
“Otherwise it’s his life to enjoy,” he mentioned, proudly watching as his son strikes an ideal tough-guy pose earlier than a bosozoku-style bike showcased on the yankii exhibition throughout its February iteration.
Japanese teenagers nonetheless do make headlines vrooming recklessly, skirmishing and even dueling, however they’re now generally seen as much less belligerent after many moved on-line to vent.
The variety of bosozoku members, too, plummeted almost 90 p.c to five,880 in 2024 from their peak in 1982, police information reveals.
That is partly as a result of “surveillance cameras are now everywhere” and “everyone films you on an iPhone and leaves proof of your act”, Kenichiro Iwahashi, a former outlaw biker turned delinquency knowledgeable, informed AFP.
With the danger of arrest a lot larger, bosozoku gangs as hardcore as these within the 80s identified for his or her unlicensed, unhelmeted and tokkofuku-flaunting model are “almost non-existent today”, he mentioned.
While lengthy fashionable in fiction, yankii youths stay deeply frowned upon in actual life for his or her transgressive behaviours and occasional transitions to full-fledged profession criminals.
Satoru Saito, who performs as a “yankii comedian” full with towering quiff, shaved eyebrows and tokkofuku, typically finds himself vilified on-line by these virtually allergic to his “anti-social” look.
“For some people, this is a hard no,” the 33-year-old informed AFP. “Most of these yankii folks are doing things like fighting or committing crimes, and the act of riding motorcycles at midnight can be extremely noisy, so I get why they are hated.”
This makes “Badly in Love” an audacious undertaking that few typical TV broadcasters would have dared to inexperienced gentle.
From “Tokyo Revengers” to “Crows”, manga and flicks themed on faculty gangs have at all times made fashionable content material as escapist fantasy.
But that includes these troublemakers past fiction would have “risked exposing TV stations to criticism from the public that they are endorsing the yankii culture”, influential leisure author Motohiko Tokuriki informed AFP.
Mindful of the danger, Netflix says it went past strict authorized compliance to “avoid sensationalism” and contextualise solid members’ previous slips into delinquency.
“We had extensive internal discussions… to ensure the production would not be perceived as glorifying or condoning the violence,” “Badly in Love” govt producer Dai Ota informed AFP.
Overall, his gamble paid off: the present, with Season 2 already set for launch later this 12 months, has maintained a weeks-long high 10 presence, together with in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
“Our hope was to show that these young people — who have often been marginalised or labelled as ‘social outcasts’ — are simply youths who worry, struggle and genuinely grow.”
Despite her powerful, closely tattooed exterior, Season 1 participant Otoha informed AFP she is “not at all what people think of me”.
The 23-year-old “introvert” now calls her previous delinquency “embarrassing”.
“I’d like people not to admire us, but take us as their anti-role model.”
© 2026 AFP