WEBVTT - Illegal Racing on Japan’s Kanjo Loop 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:09.760 Causer Media. You're listening to the Away Days podcast on 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:15.120 the ground outside reporting from the underbelly with me Jake Hanrahan. 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:21.440 To watch Awaydays documentaries, go to YouTube dot com slash 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:28.480 at Away Days TV. This is part three Speed Tribe 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:34.800 twenty five, Episode one. This podcast is a production of 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:47.319 H eleven Studio and Call Zone Media, Osaka, Japan. I'm 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:49.880 sat in a car that's doing over one hundred miles 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:53.280 per hour on a stretch of road known locally as 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:58.920 the Kanjo Loop. The guide driving is sending a text 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:02.560 at the same time. I'm terrified. I gripped the chair 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:05.360 and the seatbelt, then the back of my own head 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:10.120 as we zoom around the corner at top speed. The 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.679 car is a souped up nineties era Honda Civic, the 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:17.720 only car the Kanjo races driving a sack up. Both 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:19.440 the back seats have been torn out to keep the 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.759 car as light as possible. This Civic is for racing 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:26.760 on Japan's highways and back ropes. As we speed down 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.720 the elevated road of the Kanjo Loop, the street lights 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:33.280 stream past the windows like flares in the night. The 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.640 driver shifts the heavy gearstick as if it's part of 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:39.440 his extended anatomy. He grips the wheel with his gloved hands. 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:44.080 The car roars, tires screech, one wrong move and that's 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:48.880 us card punched, dead, mangled, wreck of smoking steel and 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:52.680 burned flesh. But the driver does have control and we 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:57.840 are most definitely alive. Scary, but I can't lie. It's 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:02.680 also exhilarating. We're driving so fast the car shakes every 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.320 time the driver weaves in and out of the traffic. 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:08.919 This is not a racetrack dot not in the legal sense. 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:14.520 This is real Japanese street racing. This is kanjo, zoku 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:20.840 or kanjo for sure. Kanjo is not about car park 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:25.120 meetups with shiny alloys and a harmon card and sound system. 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:27.959 This is not a car club you'll find on Facebook. 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:33.200 Kanjo is chaos. It's driving Balaklava's hinge number plates and 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:36.639 civics hit in ninety at three a m. It's street 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:42.280 racing in its most defiant form. This racing culture centers 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:46.280 around the Hanshin Expressway loop here in Osaka. It's kind 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:50.239 of a ring road, a circular elevated highway that cuts 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:54.160 through the city like a racetrack, built by accident from 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:57.080 ground level. Its snakes throughout the city like a huge 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:02.440 concrete dragon. It's a pretty incredible thing of architecture. Now, 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:04.720 at night, when the traffic thins out and the city 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:10.080 is mostly asleep, the Hanshin Expressway transforms into the Kanjo Loop. 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:15.000 This highway becomes the battleground for civic cruise to race 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:26.080 and taunt the police. Kanjo Zoku started in the late 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:31.520 eighties and early nineties. Back then, Japan's economy was absolutely booming. 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:35.920 After getting smashed a bit by the nukes in World 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.920 War Two, Japan rebuilt itself. First. Of course, they had 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:42.440 the help of the US, which began pouring money into 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:46.800 the country's new leadership during the Korean War. But the 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.360 Japanese have a very hard work ethic, and so they 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.240 hit the ground running, saved a lot, and focused on 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:58.920 tech and manufacturing cars electronics in heavy industry. But the 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:03.400 nineteen seventies, companies like Sony, Toyota, and Panasonic were becoming 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:07.480 household names all around the world. But the real explosion 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:11.280 came in the eighties. Thanks to loose policy and even 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:15.520 looser rules around money, credit and a culture of corporate loyalty, 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:21.520 the Japanese economy went into overdrive. Banks were lending like crazy. 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.920 Everyone was investing in the stock market or pouring money 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:30.640 into property. It created a giant asset bubble. At the peak, 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:35.320 the Japanese stock index hit nearly thirty nine thousand, nineteen 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:40.120 eighty nine. It wasn't just financial though. The whole vibe 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:45.080 of the era was go fast, spend lots, accumulate, accumulate, accumulate. 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.000 To give you an idea of the abundance of the time, 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:53.599 Japan began buying up iconic American assets such as Columbia 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:59.560 pictures in the Rockefeller Center. Japanese fashion, cas and consumer 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:04.560 tech were everywhere. Some even speculated that Japan might overtake 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:08.280 the US as the world's top economy. This was the 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:11.839 wild backdrop for the beginnings of the Kanjo street culture. 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.560 There was a surge of young bard petrol heads with 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.120 time and a chip on their shoulder as they saw 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:22.720 the whole country getting rich. The Kanjo scene came from this. 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:25.200 It was kind of like a spot, kind of like 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:29.520 a gang and everything else in between. Crews would take 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.840 to the Kanjo Loop at night in heavily modified hondas, 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.840 weaving through the traffic, dodging police and taunting rival groups. 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:42.360 As you can imagine, this was all completely and utterly illegal, 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:45.800 but that's kind of what made it so alluring to 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.200 the youth of that era. The Kanjo CRUs in turn, 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:53.160 had respect, an air of danger and non stop street cred. 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.680 Here in Asaka. At the center of it all, there 0:05:56.680 --> 0:06:02.159 could only be one car, the Honda Civic old school 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:07.240 high revving featherweight Civics from the ef EG and EK generations, 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.920 built from the late eighties to early two thousands. These 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:13.520 are the cars that Kanjo began with and now the 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.760 ones they still roll with. The use of the Civic 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.919 was a perfect emblem of the movement. It was cheap, 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:24.800 fast and deadly nimble on a tight highway circuit. With 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:29.000 a few modications like a stripped interior, coil overs, semi slicks, 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:32.680 and a roaring B sixteen or B eighteen engine, you've 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.679 got something that can run circles around almost anything else 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:39.679 on the road. It's the perfect vehicle for the Kanjo loop. 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:42.159 Good luck to any of the police that tried to 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:48.039 catch up with them. No chance. But it's not just 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.440 about speed. As I said, the Civic became the symbol 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:55.080 of Kanjo. These are not pretty show builds or slick 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:59.960 aerodynamic sports cars that banged up race cars, stickered vinyl 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.320 rough and with all the comforts model out of them. 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:07.200 The Kanjo Civic is ugly in the most beautiful way possible. 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.200 As well as the cars themselves. The other fascinating part 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:13.840 of the kanjo scene is just how tribal it is. 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.560 This isn't just a bunch of lads racing around the city. 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:22.520 These are solid, well organized crews, tight knit, disciplined, and 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:27.679 often very secretive. Names like No Good Racing, Temple Racing, 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:31.760 Law Break, and Team Flox a legendary in the scene. 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:36.000 Some of them go back decades. No Good Racing, for example, 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:39.640 is the most iconic kanjo crew in Japan. The name 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.440 alone is a giant fock to the public, who deemed 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:47.400 the Kanjo racers as quote unquote no good. The Japanese 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:50.880 police even used their name in anti street racing campaigns 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:55.400 with posters that said don't be like No Good Racing. Obviously, 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:57.960 that didn't work, and it only made their legend grow 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:01.760 bigger and bigger. The series will go to meet Not Good. 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:18.840 Each crew had its own identity stickers, slogans, and color schemes. 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:23.160 Some of them even had connections to Japan's criminal underworld, 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:28.160 specifically the yakuza. Either way, these were not casual hobbyists. 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:30.880 You couldn't just pull up and join. There was a 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:36.360 serious hierarchy, loyalty, respect, rivalries. It's gang culture, but with 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:44.440 a v tech engine. Now, as you can probably imagine, 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:48.240 underground street racing crews in Japan are not that easy 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.800 to find. You might see them zoom past you on 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:55.920 the expressway, but that's about it. The car rime in 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:58.800 is being driven by a contact I've made through a 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.280 friend of a friend. He's part of one of the 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:05.520 local kanjo crews here in Osaka. He's agreed to take 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:07.600 me to a garage that is kind of a base 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:11.160 for a few of the next generation of kanjo drivers 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:16.040 around here. After the white knuckle ride on the expressway, 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:18.440 we put off the snaking roads and drive for a 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.360 while into what is clearly a blue collar neighborhoods away 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.960 from the city center. This is not the QT anime 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:30.320 style Japan that weves stupidly stereotyped the whole country to 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:34.520 be like. This is a wear and tear area, hard graft. 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:38.720 Only everyone in this neighborhood works, construction or car paths. 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:43.559 There's no thrills here whatsoever. Every inch serves a purpose, 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:46.959 mostly industrial. We pull up to a garage topped to 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.320 away at the back of a small estate. It's around 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:52.960 ten at night now, but business is clearly still open. 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:55.479 The lights are on and I can see the silhouettes 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.960 of a few men smoking and chatting outside. How our 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:01.880 guide makes a call and the gates are opened. We 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.480 pull in and part behind a row of Honda Civics. 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.440 Of course, this is a garage where people come to 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:11.480 get their illegal race cars tuned up and repaired. If, 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.480 like me, you find some kind of beauty in the 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:18.319 raw aesthetic of something like a Civic, you will absolutely 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:22.240 love the Caanjo Loop race cars. They are raw, compact, 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:26.600 just perfect. These are cars meant for high speed racing 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:31.400 at night, blurred vision and streaming brake lights on each 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:34.280 door and bonnet. There's a decaled specific to whichever crew 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:38.720 the races belong to. We enter the garage. It's a 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:44.479 borderline cyberpunk scene of stickered civics, removed head gaskets, raised engines, 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:48.319 dust and oil. The yellow halogen bulbs above flicker as 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.240 a man steps forward to shake my hand. He's got 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:54.959 bleached blonde hair and visible scars across his face. He's 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.920 dressed fashionably with a metal chain around his neck. He 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:00.640 runs this garage for the racers and is eager to 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:02.719 talk about the subculture that he grew up in. 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:10.480 Con I guess kanjo zoku are young speed addicts. It 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:12.880 all started when the kids who were riding in motorcycle 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.439 gangs evolved from the bikes into racing the cars. According 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.240 to the olders I know, in this subculture, they began 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.719 to modify cheap cars like the Civic or even other 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.880 cheap cars back then, like the Hachiroku AEE eighty six 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.880 or the Starlet. They drive at illegal speeds on the 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.839 Osaka Loop road and they'd race around the normal people 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:34.200 in their cars. This is the counterculture in Osaka. It 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.720 has been popular with young people for a long time. 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.320 During a normal day, these kids who race can be 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:42.920 really quiet and orderly. They don't make trouble, but deep 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.960 down they're searching for something extraordinary at that place on 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.320 the Loop. I think it's the feeling of being able 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.400 to ride however you want that they seek. That's kanjo. 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.000 It's controversial, obviously, the police want to come after you, guys. 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:57.160 They don't want you to be doing it. 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:02.760 Mo Conzo's well, realistically, the number of people street racing 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:06.160 has decreased due to police enforcement. They've cracked down and 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:10.000 have become much stricter. It's become increasingly difficult to race. 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.400 Every year. The police have become much harsher, so punishment 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.480 is worse. Several years ago there was a big roundup 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.800 of conjo racers in which nearly one hundred people were arrested. 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:23.360 After that, no one properly raced for about two years. 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.880 So what will happen to you if the police catch 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:30.280 you running the cando? 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:33.160 If you get caught running the canjo now, you'll usually 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:36.680 get arrested for what the police call joint dangerous behavior. 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:39.880 That's the charge. The first time penalty is they take 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:41.920 away your license away for two years and give you 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.680 a fine. Also, some people have had accidents involving ordinary 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:48.559 people's cars where they abandon their civic and run away. 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.120 When that happens, the police come to their homes the 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.880 next day. I've heard many cases like this. 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.120 In recent years. The kanjo scene has been decimated by 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.800 the police crut down. Understandably, they don't want people flying 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:06.600 around the expressway in excess of one hundred miles per hour. 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:09.880 Legal race tracks have been opened for the racers to 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.840 get their kicks, but for many it's just not the same. 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.840 If Kanjo is morphed into some kind of legal racing hobby, 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:21.760 it's no longer Kanjo. The underground nature of it and 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.280 the cat and mouse chases with the police is what 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:28.320 makes it special for the people involved. In the early 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.559 two thousands, the police began to try and contain this 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:35.240 outlaw racing culture. They were tried to catch the racers 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:38.720 on the spot, but it rarely worked. The cando drivers 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:41.920 knew the loop inside out, had fast cas and were 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:46.120 usually gone long before the sirens kicked in. But things 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:48.840 changed when the police started to play the long game. 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:53.240 Instead of chasing, they started watching. High end cameras were 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.720 set up around the highway and undercover traffic units began 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:01.120 quietly tracking the races. They grab license plate numbers, follow 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:05.640 the cars home, and then start building proper cases. Honestly, 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:09.679 the police were pretty smart about it. They waited, watched, 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:13.120 and then picked people off one by one, often at 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:17.800 home in quiet raids. Sometimes these came even weeks after 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:21.640 the illegal races, the police went after more than just 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.920 the drivers too. Tuning shops that were known to help 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.000 modify the kanjo cars like the one we've just been 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:33.000 in started getting police visits. If you were selling illegal 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.920 exhaust systems or helping tweak their ECUs off the books, 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.680 you were on the radar of the cops. A few 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:44.360 shop owners even got hit with charges for aiding illegal racing. 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.760 The police were not messing about. At the same time, 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:53.040 public pressure started building. Videos of the races were all 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:57.640 over the internet, flashy clips showing cars weaving through traffic 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:04.120 at crazy speeds. People were not happy. Understandably, regular drivers 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:06.880 did not want to get killed on their commute, and 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.320 the government didn't want to be seen letting it slide. 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:15.120 So the crackdown kept on going. Things got worse. More surveillance, 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:19.400 more arrests, more cars impounded, more pressure on the whole 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:26.720 kanjo scene. Now, in a way, this was very effective 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.480 in crushing the scene, but at the same time it 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:34.560 forced it to evolve. Many rival crews joined forces by 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:38.520 establishing networks and friendships to let each other know where 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.640 anti kanjo measures were placed on the highways they race. 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:46.920 This was completely new. Before they absolutely hated each other. 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.840 Now they had to work together, and so the people 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:54.160 still involved are the most hardcore of the hard core. 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.720 Threats of arrest don't seem to phase them, even in 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.080 a country with a conviction rate of over ninety nine percent. 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.840 The police's illegal street racing crackdowns aren't just focused on Kanjo, 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:10.320 though there are several different underground street racing scenes and 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:14.920 styles here in Japan. The bigger threats from law enforcement 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:19.160 and also the crashing economy has created a new generation. 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:22.920 Amidst all of these racing styles in Japan, we plan 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:40.360 to document as many as possible. Later that night, I 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:42.920 head out on foot to find a building adjacent to 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:45.280 the loop. I want to find a high point to 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:47.880 get an idea of the scale of this road that 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:51.280 underneath is huge. As a walk along the pavement at 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:56.160 ground level, the road above looms over everything. Huge metal 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:58.880 and concrete pillars rise up here and there to support 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.280 the loop. With the help of a local, I find 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.959 a nearby building with an open door, explain what I'm 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.960 trying to do, and one of the residents kindly unlocks 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:11.800 a door from the stairwell to a small office that 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:16.320 has a balcony. From this vantage point, I can see 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:19.960 the Kanjo Loop wind throughout the city. It's like a 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:30.080 huge concrete serpent climbing through the urban landscape. Suddenly I 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.480 hear the high speed gearshifts of two cars driving way 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.840 too fast. I can't see them from here, but I 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:45.199 can hear them Kanjoe Zoku. Before the loop was this 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:48.680 neon lit racetrack for modern civics. The road was a 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:53.560 key infrastructure development that transformed a saca's urban transit system. 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:58.200 As I mentioned earlier, Japan underwent rapid economic recovery after 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:03.560 World War Two. This included a massive focus on infrastructure. 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.840 For the nineteen sixties, traffic jams had become a major 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:11.879 issue in big cities like Osaka. Roads were narrow and 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.760 car ownership was increasing rapidly due to the economic bubble. 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:21.399 The government and private companies like Hanschin Expressway Company stepped 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:27.119 in to build high capacity elevated roadways throughout the city, 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:31.440 and so the Hanschin Expressway system the Kanjo Loop began 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:36.240 construction in the early nineteen sixties. It was a response 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:40.280 to the nineteen sixty four Tokyo Olympics boom in Japan's 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:45.560 growing economy in Asakka, planners imagined a ring road style 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:50.320 expressway that would loop around the central commercial districts. This 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:54.480 circular route would ease traffic by connecting various outward roads 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:58.359 and relieving pressure from the ground level street network, and 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:02.080 so the Kanjo Loop was built primarily between nineteen sixty 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:06.600 four and nineteen sixty nine. For the shear's scale and 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:10.159 ambition of the project, that wasn't bad time at all. 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:13.920 The loop forms a seven and a half mile circular 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:19.240 route cuts through Asaka's central areas. During construction, the loop 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.560 had to be elevated above a crowded, built up city, 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:29.560 requiring meticulous planning to minimize disruption. Surrounded by homes, roads, 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:33.560 and commercial businesses, the loop was built on large reinforced 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:37.760 concrete legs to fit in and around the area. Had 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:39.480 they not done it this way, they would have had 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:43.840 to demolish huge swarths of buildings. As it is, most 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:47.760 of the road hobvers ten to fifteen meters above ground level. 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:52.680 It's a site to behold, and whilst this obviously wasn't planned. 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.679 The expressway is designed like the perfect racetrack for rogue 0:19:56.800 --> 0:20:00.960 canjo drivers. Many of the curves and owners are sharp 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:06.399 and require extreme precision driving. This makes it ideal for racing, 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:11.760 but also incredibly risky. There are over a dozen tightly 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:16.040 spaced on ramps and off ramps, often requiring sharp merges 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:21.119 and quick acceleration. These ramps contribute to the loop's notorious 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:25.119 difficulty at high speeds. This road was never designed for 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:27.640 cars to be hitting it at one hundred miles an hour, 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:32.240 especially with the low visibility. Pretty much the entirety of 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:35.679 the loop as high walls, sound barriers, and narrow lanes. 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.080 For the street racers, these features just add to the 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:44.040 thrill of the Kanjo experience. The danger blows their hair back. 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:51.520 For the nineteen seventies, the loop was fully operational. It 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:55.480 became a crucial part of a sucker's transit puzzle, especially 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:59.520 for commuters and commercial vehicles trying to avoid the city 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:04.080 center congestion, and as we know, it also became a 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:10.399 makeshift underground racetrack. Now, some people will tell you that 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.320 Kanjo Zoku is dead, It's done, no one really raises anymore, 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.919 but that is simply not true. There are several different 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:21.040 crews still active, and some of them are even growing 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:24.880 as they remain largely in the shadows. There are dozens 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:28.000 and dozens of crews or teams still, but the main 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:32.760 ones are forever remembered and refused to disappear. Kanjozoku dot 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:36.560 Com and excellent resource on this world with first hand 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:42.080 and second hand sources, has documented this well. They're right quote. 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:45.359 Since the late seventies, there have been many many teams 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:47.600 that have either ran on the Loop or claimed to 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:50.800 have had. Some of these teams still exist to this day, 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:53.800 whilst others have been ingrained into the asphalt of the 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:57.520 Loop itself and faded into local folklore, so to speak. 0:21:58.680 --> 0:22:00.919 To look at some of the estab names we can 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.320 speak of, No Good Racing formed in nineteen eighty five, 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:07.240 and that uses their ever so tongue in cheek motto 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:11.520 of bye by police, a pretty self explanatory statement of 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:14.480 their intentions should they be met by any form of 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:18.879 resistance by local law enforcement. The first senior of No 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:21.000 Good Racing said that when he was racing in his 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:23.919 earlier years, people would say it was No Good and 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:26.199 it became a sort of running joke that stuck and 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:29.600 became the team's name. Of course, as the group would 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:31.800 go on to become one of, if not the most 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:35.159 well known group. The name took on other meanings, but 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:39.920 we can leave that to your imagination. How about Temple Racing, 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:44.720 formed in nineteen seventy eight in the Higashi Shimiyoshi area 0:22:44.840 --> 0:22:48.720 of Asaka. That's right, teams had a home turf, so 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:52.200 to speak, so being careful and respectful in another area 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:55.639 of the city would mean avoiding confrontation, either from another 0:22:55.680 --> 0:23:00.359 team or again the Red Siren Crew the police. The 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:03.720 team name derives from the character Simon Temple from the 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:07.760 English TV series called the Saints, a popular character used 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:11.840 in the team's style at the time. Other names such 0:23:11.880 --> 0:23:15.800 as Warp Racing formed in nineteen eighty two. They are 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:18.480 well seen across social media as the current group of 0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:22.640 players attend such tracks as the Central Circuit in Hiogo 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:28.159 Prefecture or again Suzuku Circuit over in My Prefecture. But 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:30.440 that's not to say they don't appear in the nighttime 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:34.080 of the city in any one place. The resonation of 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:38.480 B series engines coming and disappearing in a flash to 0:23:38.560 --> 0:23:41.280 provide just a glimpse of how many teams there are 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:45.080 or were. Some names we can talk about are no 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:50.080 good Racing, Temple Racing, Warp Racing, Late Riser, Law Break Checker, 0:23:50.400 --> 0:23:56.560 Top Gun Racing, Magnuani Racing, Borough Racing, Crafty Dust, Fairness, Fantasy, 0:23:56.800 --> 0:24:02.320 Fine Formation, Get Chapin Racing, Get On, Child Hampty, Joker Racing, 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:06.439 Kaiser Loop, Loose Racing Loop in Mercury, and so and 0:24:06.480 --> 0:24:11.560 so it goes on and on end. Quote. Clearly, there 0:24:11.560 --> 0:24:14.680 are many different crews here in Osaka, but they don't 0:24:14.720 --> 0:24:18.200 exactly stand around advertising what they do when they're not racing. 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:20.480 I want to sit down with one of these major 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:22.639 players and try to ride along with them in a 0:24:22.720 --> 0:24:27.080 proper underground race on the Kanjo Loop. A friend of mine, 0:24:27.200 --> 0:24:30.800 a local, is helping us due to the illegalities of 0:24:31.000 --> 0:24:34.119 Kanjo and his strong ties to it. I want to 0:24:34.200 --> 0:24:38.880 keep him very anonymous. We'll just call him John. John 0:24:39.000 --> 0:24:42.399 has various connections with different crews across the city. He 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:44.920 knows what he's talking about, and he knows what he's doing. 0:24:45.800 --> 0:24:48.000 He was around in a time when Kanjo Cruise would 0:24:48.000 --> 0:24:51.080 have full on gang fights, various meetups if there was 0:24:51.119 --> 0:24:55.720 ever a dispute. He's old school, So John reaches out 0:24:55.760 --> 0:24:58.000 to various different crews for us to try and meet 0:24:58.440 --> 0:25:00.520 he vouches for us. We have a hit history of 0:25:00.560 --> 0:25:03.959 not fucking anybody over when it comes to anonymity, and 0:25:04.000 --> 0:25:09.439 we cover underground countercultures properly. It's all good. Eventually we 0:25:09.480 --> 0:25:12.800 get a call. There are a few lads who are interested. 0:25:13.600 --> 0:25:16.240 I can't say which group it is why will become 0:25:16.280 --> 0:25:19.040 clear later, but we're told to head out and meet 0:25:19.080 --> 0:25:21.000 them at a garage a late one night on the 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:25.120 outskirts of Osaka. We drive over and meet a few 0:25:25.200 --> 0:25:28.520 lads in what looks like a completely normal mechanics center, 0:25:29.200 --> 0:25:33.600 mainstream equipment, regular cars, nothing particularly out of the ordinary, 0:25:34.080 --> 0:25:38.679 and nothing that screams kanjo. Turns out, though, that this 0:25:38.840 --> 0:25:42.680 garage moonlights as a base for various illegal underground racing 0:25:42.760 --> 0:25:46.639 crews across the city. Backroom deals for band off the 0:25:46.680 --> 0:25:50.639 books equipment take place here. The next generation of Kanjo 0:25:51.080 --> 0:25:55.560 is very much hidden in plain sight. After we shake 0:25:55.600 --> 0:25:58.679 hands and exchange pleasantries, some of the guys at the 0:25:58.680 --> 0:26:01.159 garage usher us into a room behind a row of 0:26:01.240 --> 0:26:05.400 kas in various states of repair. The main guy, we'll 0:26:05.400 --> 0:26:09.000 call him Himari, has an aura about him that's unmatched. 0:26:09.359 --> 0:26:12.640 He's scruffy, short, skinny, and he looks as if he's 0:26:12.720 --> 0:26:15.159 just woken up at all times, but he has this 0:26:15.280 --> 0:26:18.280 air about him that just tells you this is the guy. 0:26:18.680 --> 0:26:22.399 He doesn't even need to make an effort. It's just him. 0:26:22.680 --> 0:26:24.600 He chain smokes as he makes us tea in the 0:26:24.640 --> 0:26:27.440 back room and invites us to sit down in the chairs, 0:26:27.840 --> 0:26:32.119 which are all old repurpose civic seats. This room is 0:26:32.160 --> 0:26:35.919 decorated with old car parts, withered racing posters, and a 0:26:35.960 --> 0:26:39.960 half dozen ash traits. The lads inside are all linked 0:26:40.000 --> 0:26:44.000 to Kando directly. The super friendly and happy to help us, 0:26:44.359 --> 0:26:46.760 but they're also very cautious due to the level of 0:26:46.840 --> 0:26:52.240 police crackdown. After some chatting, tea, drinking, and what seems 0:26:52.240 --> 0:26:55.880 to be about a thousand cigarettes, Himari makes a phone call. 0:26:56.840 --> 0:27:00.240