A story I did this summer on “decochari” (or dekochari). Decochari is short for “decorated charinko (bike)”. It’s like the crazy customized trucks they have here – but bicyles, and the owners are too young to have driving licences.
It was quite a shoot. Must have been 35C all afternoon which turned straight into a thunderstorm and the heavens opened. I only got a handful of night shots because the bikes short out with a few spots of rain!
Kazuki Abe (18) with his decochari customized bicycle. The bicycle took 7 months to make. “There are only 10 people in our national decochari club. We need to try harder.” . . .
Yuji Yoshida (14) riding his decochari customized bicycle. “It’s got 50 lights on there now. The battery runs out after about 30 minutes.” . . .
Easy riders . . .
A customized truck. The bicycles are smaller versions.
A sign in a customized truck. It says “Hold onto the steering wheel the way you hold the woman you love: softly and with both hands.”
Here’s a link to all the photos: Dekochari customized bicycles
[...] Wired Magazine, and The Japan Times to name a few. He recently wrote a story titled “Pimp my pushbike” on his blog and shares this fun image from the photo shoot. It’s an honor to share [...]