Hashiriya: Japanese Street Racing

[Robin H]

Taken from Wikipedia:

Quote:

Street racers, known natively as hashiriya (走り屋), can also occur on expressways and highways, infamously in Japan, where they are known as kousoku battle or commonly known as Roulette-zoku as they drive round and round on circular expressways [citation needed] and frequently occur on the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. The most notorious group to be associated with it was the Mid Night Club who gave street racing a worldwide attention with its 186 mph (300 km/h) antics and was known for its high standards and organisation until they were disbanded in 1999 following a fatal accident involving a group of motorcyclists. Nowadays, with heavier punishments, patrolling police cars, crackdowns in meeting areas and speed cameras, expressway racing in Japan is not as common as it was during the 80's and 90's but still occurs on a not so regular basis. However persistant racers simply install electric license-plate swiveling mechanisms or picture-proof screens over their plates. [citation needed] As a result of these crackdowns, in 2001, the amount of hashiriyas have dropped to 4,365 last year from 9,624 in 1995 and police arrests in areas where hashiriyas gather are common, where their cars are checked for illegal modification and if there is, the owners are fined and forced to remove the offending modifications. The expressway racing scene is portrayed in the manga Wangan Midnight and Shuto Kousoku Trial.

One of the cause of street racing in Japan is that, despite the sufficient amounts of race circuits, they are usually overcrowded and at around 20,000 yen per trip, are deemed "too expensive" by car dirvers, in contrasts to a highway toll of less than 1,000 yen. Also as with Japan's high cost of living, many young drivers prefer to put their savings or take out loans into their vehicles where they would usually gather with likeminded people at either the Shibaura parking area, the Tatsumi parking area or the best known of the lot, Yokohama's Daikoku Futo service area

Like in other countries, street races also occurs on long straights in industrial estates, which are used for drag races, known natively as Zero-Yon (ゼロヨン).

In rural Japan, racers slide around the corners of remote winding mountain passes, as portrayed in the manga/anime Initial D. This "sport" is called Touge, and is associated with drifting

[peter026]

:o Crazy

[sparkystav]

That must have hurt when the car hit the camerman!! OW!

[lee_iceman]

Does anyone know if this 走り屋 actually means Hashiriya (street racer)?

[Robin H]

dunno

you thinking of getting some stickers made up

[lee_iceman]

dunno

you thinking of getting some stickers made up

Possibly, I was kinda liking what Galla did on his.

[Anees]

A few years back their was a computer racing game called "Midnight Club". I assume this is where the name came from then.

CRAZY! :D

[Rob's Lexx]

craaaazy, but cool

[aido]

Quality video there mate, wish I could drive like that!

[spikes]

great vid and music :)

[P38Aaron]

see a white tezza at 1:24

good video.

[craig7022]

Fantastic Driving :)