Small time Gangster

Low level punks, the kind that you were when you were in high school are called yankees in Japan. And no, they are not from New York. 

They are the kind of kids who would cause mischief in all your classes and would often drop out and work at McDonalds. Well the McDonalds thing is less true here as it is seen as a slightly more respectable job (like I swear they all speak a little English and know just what to say when my Japanese comprehension fails for 'would you like to eat this here or is this take out?'). Also there are less McDonalds on average so it would make sense for the most degrading job to be something that is extremely common. Which just so happens to be convenience stores. I would say that working at the local 7-11, Lawson, or FamilyMart would shame me to pieces, but it is actually a really convenient job for the elderly without any higher education. And in Japan it is very different from America in terms of higher education. It really does separate blue collar from white collar, but also there is no astigmatism here that blue collar is demeaning or bad in anyway. Ok, maybe a small one. But kids can go straight into the blue collar work force from high school and start earning money, which can be a heck of a lot more appealing to them than another 4 years of education with an uncertain future career. Really, the job market in Japan is truly wretched right now; I think last year there was more than 30% of the graduates without jobs. 

But that is not what we are talking about is it? We are talking about yankees today. The term actually originated from the Yankee that you are all familiar with, being northeastern Americans. They have since borrowed it and changed the meaning just a bit. They are pretty much just delinquents. The school skipping, cigarette smoking, disheveled looking punks. They are trademarked by differences from cultural norms, such as dyed hair, piercings and ...odd clothing. They are often seen smoking, sometimes (often) underage, and will hang out in groups. They are not all that wealthy and will normally ride around on this type of cheap little bike. It looks like a shortened version of a motor cycle but it rides a lot slower. It is kind of like trying to still look cool at 1/3rd the price. Apparently these bikes are also pretty easy to hot wire and steal as well, meaning that the bikes might not always belong to the person riding it. More expensive versions that are becoming popular are actually a a legit moped. And they are huge. I think you could easily fit 3-4 people on it. They are often decorated by LEDs, much louder speaker system (you can actually hear them coming from their music) and have a really plush padding for seating. I call them boats. Nothing I can say can really describe these accurately enough. More adult versions might be seen driving one of those  tattooed cars with the dragons and anime characters on it. 

The dress code can vary it seems, but a pretty common look is baggy sweats and trainers  with the odd pant leg rolled up and a t-shirt or sweat shirt. But don't think of new sweats with the tags still on as you might see in Brooklyn on a night out, they care less about fashion than that. A stereotyped school girl, as they still have to attend school, is said to be trademarked by the longer skirts and possibly less make up than most. Though I have never really been witness to that. What I have been witness to is wearing their trainers/sweats under their skirts, which is not really acceptable by school standards. Most girls in school will actually roll up their skirts and belt them up high, pretty standard across the world right? I still remember rolling up my ugly maroon jersey shorts for middle school gym class that they didn't bother differentiating between guy and girl styles or sizes, and still not managing to really appeasing either. 

As far as their accessories go, I feel like hair dye is a mandatory. It doesn't have to be flamboyant, just the orange or brown, a fading yellow as is most common. And then piercings or tattoos. Most are still too young for the tattoos, but I know that they can manage to get the piercings  I have two boys in my schools with some ear cartilage ones. Personally I have two cartilage ones in one of my ears and my students like to jokingly call me a yankee. I have had to explain to them that in western culture this is actually exceedingly normal and tattoos are also pretty much downright common now. They were shocked to learn this. And then I showed them a group normal American girls and pointed out that one had a foot tattoo, one had a shoulder one and then the various piercings. 

These yankees have a decently rude attitude and use really bad language. Though keep in mind, there are several forms of language in Japan going from formal to super slangy and only spoken amongst friends. Pretty much you can expect them to use this casual language with anyone, which comes off as rude, and where one might say obaasan in reference to an old lady (variations being obaasan, obaachan, obaa, sobo, obahan roughly from most polite to least polite), they would go with obahan which is really not so respectful and you should never really say it to a person (also it is kansai dialect). 

It is said that these punks are kind of territorial kind of like how gangs used to be(?) in the United States and that they are rough with each other and will get in fights fro said territory, or possibly over a girl (my image of them is based on primal needs). I have never really seen them do anything except for hang out and smoke late at night by the kamogawa (river in Kyoto). Oh, and play their music kind of loud over crappy speakers on their modified bikes, or much nicer ones from their boats. But again this all gives them a bad image. 

Overall they are harmless and if you are nice and polite to them, they will return the favor, but of course if you come off superiorly, they will mock you mercilessly.

short bike. notice the street tires

for size comparison against a more normal sized (though still small) rice rocket.

Meter Maids in Japan

A few of my friends in Japan have coined a cute little nick name for these guys, Green Goblins. This in large part comes from them always wearing green, and also of course never really being a pleasant site to see.

These are the people who ticket your bikes and cars and are always prepared to tow them (or impound them). 

In many places, you are allowed to park your car for a maximum of 30 minutes before they come and tow or boot it(if you are not allowed to park there or there is a no bicycles sign, they can ticket or possibly tow your immediately...upon spotting you). This is a rough 30 minutes, because you see, the 30 minutes starts from when they catch you. Traditionally, they would come by with chalk and would make an outlining of your car on the pavement, or possibly just its wheels, with perhaps a time stamp as well (also in chalk). In 30 minutes time when they return to check on your car, if it has moved then they don't need to worry, but if it hasn't, that is when it get a ticket or a boot. 

Now an easy way to over come this would be to make sure every 30 minutes or so you move your car around. But that can also be just too much of a hassle for people. 

This chalk method also works for people and bikes as well. Yeah. People. I was told that they will outline people speaking at like a public square (who have not previously organized with the park or area to be able to speak there at an allotted time). For example, if a politician was to be speaking at a certain venue at a certain time, I am certain it would be most acceptable; however lower politicians and activists will do demonstrations at parks and they have a 30 minute time allowance before they too get 'towed'. 

This chalk method might be a bit dated as they seem to have little electronic gadgets now where you can probably just plug the information in, though these gadgets could be purely for ticketing as opposed to timing vehicles. Or perhaps the chalk method is more meant for a scenario where a person who was not the original tagger to be able to determine how long a vehicle has been parked in a certain location. Or maybe they just don't trouble themselves with chalking cars any more since they are rarely parked in locations where chalk would be necessary for long (really it is just that people never drive them since public transportation is so fantastic here). They are more concerned with bicycles and motorbikes, though that could just be because I live in a larger city, where there is a great number of bicycles and their riders.

So what happens if you car gets a boot or your bike get impounded? Well you have to either call the organization to get the boot removed and pay the fine, or go and retrieve your bike (and also pay the money). Apparently it is a pain in the butt if your bike get impounded because you have to walk to the impound on foot and it is never near any sort of station. You could also take a taxi to got get it as well, but depending on the location and the nearest taxi services, that could be quite expensive. I was told in a joking manner that the walk is supposed to be a sort of penance for your misdeed and also to make you reconsider doing it again (as you wouldn't want to walk there again). In addition to where ever it would be that you have to pick up your bike, you would then have to ride it all the way back to your place, which could again be quite far if the impound is on the outskirts of the city. 

But what if you get there just in time? As in they are writing the ticket and you arrive?

I was actually able to witness this event just this weekend. Quite unlike the United States, if you arrive there and make it clear that it is you car, they will just walk away and there is no penalty. No ticket. No boot. Nothing. The man I saw this weekend just went up and unlocked his door and opened it. No words were said at all. These meter maids just packed up their little instruments and walked away. The man then went back inside the store once their backs were turned and they were far enough away. Hah!
To the left is them ticketing the car and, if you can see it, in the one on the right there is a man in the car now and the meter maids have dispersed. Here you can see the no parking sign, so this person does not have a 30 minute window, he just gets a ticket if caught.

BIcycle BIcycle BIcycle

One of the more amusing things about my morning is seeing the men suited up and riding bikes.

Japan is a very bike based community. I feel like most everyone has a bike and in some cases they have them in multiple. Since when you live in a town everything is relatively close together and easy to get to, owning a bike makes things really convenient. It saves you the quick yen you would spend on a bus or subway and often will get you places a bit faster. However with the surplus of bicycles, is the frequency they get stolen. The whole scenario has a very university campus feel to it; the closeness of everything; the necessity of having a bike; and of course the thievery of them. Though I think Japan is a bit better on the thieving part. But occasionally if you find that you did not properly lock your bike it might be missing or if left there for days it might be a tire lighter. Luckily there are many security people and cameras to prevent just that. In addition every bike is registered with the police so that if they do find it, it can be returned to you.

Whenever I ride my bike I feel like a troll in comparison. Simply they can carry umbrellas; ride with no hands, text and manouver their bike through a crowd; and one of the more spectacular things to me is the mommy mobile, or the mama-chari. On these special mounts there is less dexterity but higher endurance. There are either one or two seats mounted to the front or back of the bike, or both in some cases, where children ride. Not only can there be up to three passengers, two of them are often asleep; which might be the more amazing feat with the jostling of the bike and the amount of foot traffic they must encounter. If you were to ride your bike with someone who is not child sized, say a friend or boy/girl friend, it would not be considered legal and you can get fined for that. That isn't to say that this doesn't happen anyways. There is often a bar just above the back wheel, usually a basket can be mounted there to make shopping more convenient, however when the basket is remove it leaves an excellent back seat just the right size for a friend. Additionally there are spokes that you can buy that stick out of your tires that allow someone to stand on them and hold on to the rider.

And just a caution that  the above mentions of the umbrella carrying and texting while riding are also fine-able; though personally I think they are impressive. I have yet to see anyone get fined from this but I have heard of cases where it has happened.