Kamikaze Biker: Parody and Anomy in Affluent Japan

by Ikuya Sato

In this firsthand account of high-risk car and motorcycle racing in Japan, Ikuya Sato shows how affluence and consumerism have spawned various experimental and deviant life-styles among youth. Kamikaze Biker offers an intriguing look at a form of delinquency in a country traditionally thought to be devoid of social problems.

"Ikuya Sato's Kamikaze Biker is an exceptionally fine ethnographic analysis of a recurrent form of Japanese collective youth deviance. . . . Sato has contributed a work of value to a wide range of scholarly audiences."—Jack Katz, Contemporary Sociology

"A must for anyone interested in Japan, juvenile delinquency and/or youth behavior in general, or the impact of affluence on society."— Choice

"The volume provides a sophisticated . . . discussion of changes happening in Japanese society in the early 1980s. As such, it serves as a window on the 1990s and beyond."—Ross Mouer, Asian Studies Review

" Kamikaze Biker is a superlative study, one that might help liberate American social science from the simplistic notion that behavior not directly contributing to economic productivity should be summarily dismissed as 'dangerous' and 'deviant.' "— Los Angeles Times Book Review

Genres: Japan, Nonfiction, Asia

296 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 1991

Reviews

[Nam Pham · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author approached the subject matter in a strictly scientific manner, which can appear a bit boring - especially for normal readers like me. I chose this book after watching Kamikaze Girls by Tetsuya Nakashima, and I can see some very common points regarding girl bikers. Later, by accident, a friend introduced me to a film titled Aoi Haru (Blue Spring) when I was about half way through this book. It was awesome, in a sense that it portrayed directly how Yankees made their life decisions after finishing highschool, which was discussed extensively in the book- although it did not mention much about bosozoku. From the 'shit-squatting' poses to the permed hair, from the boy who can't escape adolescence to the one fell deep into the criminal world, the book and the film became a great compliment to each other.

With regards to youth deliquency, I do not label them as society problems which demand for a cure. Firstly, there can not be a society of such perfection: there will always be crimes and dirts and the so-called bad things happened. Secondly, social deviants shall be perceived merely as the different products of the social system and their own existence and value should be celebrated - like any other ideas or values. However, that does not mean I want to blame anyone. There is nothing wrong with them and there is nothing wrong with the world, either. I do not want to fix anything but myself, for I can only fully understand myself and no one else.

[ТАИСЛАВ МЫЛОВАРОВ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite Researching, It may start out slow, but it certainly picks up after several chapters.