Touge is the Japanese word for “mountain pass” but thanks largely to Initial D and Best Motoring, when we hear it we think of AE86s and S13s drifting through hairpins in midnight battles. Back in the 80s, the touge also saw plenty of two-wheeled action from youths who thirsted for speed and motorized thrills. Today, August 19, is Motorcycle Day in Japan, so let’s not overlook this vital aspect of touge culture.
From the 1970s to the 1990s, mountain roads like Mt Akagi and Okutama Toll Road teemed with sportbikes. The media, police, and observers called them the Rolling Tribes or Rolling Kids, but the riders called themselves simply hashiriya, or “street racers”. The “rolling” referred to how riders leaned their bikes at extreme angles in corners and and scraped their knees on the pavement, giving the impression that the bikes were rolling or rotating through the turns.
Although riders followed unwritten rules, such as not tailgating cars driven by regular folks, their speed antics and loud exhausts still caused an uproar among some citizens. Eventually there were enough accidents and complaints about reckless driving that the authorities added chatter bars — raised horizontal reflectors along lane marker lines — or closed certain roads altogether at night time.
As a result, the number of riders began to decline over the 90s. Fortunately, some documentaries about the Rolling Kids survived, and we can immerse ourselves in the culture through these videos. Happy Motorcycle Day from JNC!
