Like religion, the import culture's beliefs and ideals are strong and we have our share fanatics, but now many splinter groups exist who, like purists and born agains, assume they derive their divine inspiration from the original Japanese impoort scene. A good example is the European contingency, upgrading their Pugs and Corsas with so-called Veilside body kits. Veilside Japan will tell you they don't make kits for these cars, but the signature of these JDM companies is strong and revered. In essence, these aero kits were born out of homage to the names.
Mr Yokomaku, the creator and founder of Veilside, will tell you that his greatest inspiration is a woman's body. If you study the lines and curves of a one of their body kits, it's easy to see where he gathers inspiration. However, despite his role as one of the most important Japanese companies to influence body kits today, Veilside's Yokomaku is originally a tuner and race fanatic who holds various records for some of the fastest cars of his era, and has built two very strong drift cars for D1GP.
Of all of the outgrowths of import culture, the new generation of the JDM is actually looking to us, their American counterparts. The rise of the sport compact scene and the success of shows like X5 in the land of the rising sun speaks volumes about the overseas originators looking to the U.S. for a change. It could be the old school Japanese VIP scene and our bling mentality flirted with the U.S. sport compact scene, and the offspring is the movement in trends. And it seems to be working. Our trends are fast taking hold in Japan.
And is it ever bankable. In fact, media is now so powerful and resonates so strongly in society, that people who manipulate images that blur the fine lines of media and reality are hailed as artists. Take the directors who know nothing of the life they are portraying. The Fast and the Furious 3 is on its way and it is somewhat mind boggling, considering how most people who work or live the import industry think of F and F as a disservice and gross misrepresentation of our scene, not even remotely representing true import culture. Precisely because of F and F, we've evolved and grown, moving away from the corny street-thug-wannabe-racer type in a brightly colored four-cylinder car with wings and way too many graphics. Most of us don't want to be identified with the stereotypes the media portrays, it having nothing to do with the real hobby. All arguments aside, our image is obviously appealing since the success of the movie is based on people outside our scene looking in and imitating it. Again, at what cost?
Twenty-plus years ago, when hip hop first exploded on the East Coast, naysayers said it would not last, yet amid all of the drama, controversy, conquering and defeat, hip hop stuck it out. However, it's becoming predictable; it's own fight for legitimacy making it necessary to reinvent itself. At worst it's become a lifestyle, turning political, with huge commercial successes.
And now on the West Coast it seems obvious that the import culture is the new hip hop in attitude, mindset and freedom of thought. It's a rebellious stance. The import scene advertises its clothing companies in hip hop magazines. There are punk rock skateboarders trying to tune cars. Hip hop radio jocks are trying hard to shift to our scene, from the heaving gasps of exhausted hip hop and ESPN-ized extreme lifestyles; they want a taste of our fresh and relatively young enclave, whose inspirations are a mixture and blend of influences from Asia and the West Coast.