Reply #105: Well, I'm no expert, I've only seen them from afar, but according to the wife...

[Matsubara]

...the "yankee" and "bosozoku" (speed tribe) subcultures (which have recently been getting displaced by kids mimicking the US hip-hop subculture) are mostly a sort of pose and a way for less-advantaged kids to rebel and form some solidarity. She claims most of them raise hell a while and then go on to be upstanding citizens.

The bosozoku groups are a motley crew - there's several with souped-up cars, then some with crappier cars, then there are some riding on crappy little scooters with flags on them (often 2 on one scooter)

In a way I can kinda see why teens would get into it if they weren't big into studying - Japan seemsto be a kinda boring country for a teenager.

A good movie that kind of touches on bosozoku and yankee culture (as well as lolicon) is Shimotsuma Monogatari ("Kamikaze Girls" in the US)

It's also very funny.