SCOOTER MANIA
Scooters: the chariot of choice for pre-pubescent provisional licence holders, unhinged delivery drivers and middle-aged men with Oasis haircuts. Not in Japan
In Japan, scooters are not just the preserve of spotty teenagers, they’re an affordable part of the modding scene
Safe to say, the watermark for weird is set high from the outset. That text wasn’t some wonky Engrish translation either, as pulling into a seaside car park next to some snogging dolphins in the Higashiibaraki District of Ibaraki, I’m hit by a juggernaut of dense sound and smell.
Overly rich fuel rips up my nostrils, kicking my tear ducts into ‘mild sob’. Below, an army of titchy 50cc two-stroke scooters are ring-a-dingdinging around like the Crazy Frog having an orgasm. They’re all slammed, wearing outrageous fairings, wild paint jobs and bizarre trinket jewellery. Perched on top of them, not a bunch of youths craving a car licence, but enthusiastic elders – all beaming with wide smiles and radiating enthusiastic golden retriever energy. It’s a scene. Literally.
Known as ‘gentsuki’ (pronounced gent-ski), scooters have always been accessible and affordable mobility for Japan’s crowded streets. But for some, it’s also the first rung of the tuning ladder; a way to express their personalities and make something feel like their own.
Scooter modding really booted off in the late Seventies and early Eighties, when DIY custom car and bike culture reached fever pitch. Being easy to modify, scooters started to be hacked with a couple of hallmark modifications. Notably the complete lack of suspension.
Yep, to get that low-low look, people rip out the rear spring so the only dampening you have is the seat, tyres and the squidgy bits of cartilage between your vertebrae. Then custom belly rubbing cowlings and kaido racer aero wings can be added, a rowdy bōsōzoku exhaust (the louder the better), and some crazy paint or decals.
After 40 years scraping speed bumps and piercing ear drums, this closeted domestic scene is now bursting out of Japan. Thanks to the scooters’ Instagenic nature, gentsuki are now springing up everywhere – from California to deepest, darkest Northamptonshire. So we thought we’d go back to source and hear from some of the OGs.
“MEET US AT THE AQUARIUM. SUNDAY. BY THE KISSING DOLPHINS.”