Dekotora

Part off a larger on-going project on subcultures around the world, this series explores the Japanese subculture of 'Dekotora'. Translated as 'Decorated Truck'. which is essentially the practice of adding bling-upon-bling to everyday working trucks. The tradition of drivers decorating their trucks originally stems from a 1975 Japanese movie that drew its inspiration from American films such as 'Smokey & the Bandit’. Drivers started decorating their trucks in the hope of being cast in the movies and the Utamaro-Kai association of Dekotora drivers was started. Things have evolved since then and now the truck designs can be quite personal to each driver and can cost anywhere up to and over $100k. Junichi Tajima, the head of the Utamaro Kai association said when asked what Dekotora means to him, that 'after 40 years, Dekotora is my children, my brothers, my family’.