Tough Guys

In Japan the tough guys, the ones that choose not to go to high school, smoke before their 20, bleach their hair and style it in the oh-so-attractive mullet, are often referred to as being "Yankee." I can only imagine the origin of that one...

A common hobby of the Yankees with a few yen to spare is to get one of these radical motorcycles. It's not about speed or looks (well, maybe it is about looks), but how loud you can rev the already really loud engine. I could hear these guys driving away after they were already long gone.

A common trait among Yankees is confidence, dare I say cockiness. But it's not always bad. In fact, the young lad sitting on the bike had more guts than most Japanese people and just started talking to me, in English nonetheless. This is a rare occurrence. He couldn't say much, but he still did a pretty good job, taking into account he probably hasn't studied lately.

They were so proud of their bikes that they had no shyness taking a photo. In fact this was the start of our conversation:
Y: Hi!
A: Hi. How are you?
Y: I'm ikemen (a word for cool, attractive male)
A: Oh. I see.
Y: This is my bike. Very cool!
A: Yes, very cool.