STREET YOUTHS, BOSOZOKU, AND YAKUZA - SUBCULTURE FORMATION AND SOCIETAL REACTIONS IN JAPAN

A number of Western assumptions about Japanese crime control are based on notions of a specific Japanese ''shame culture '' and/or a causal relationship between the policing system and low crime rates in Japan. According to these views, subcuttures ought to be of minimal signific ance in Japan. In contrast to such beliefs, this article describes the size and the characteristics of subcultural formations, such as group ings of street youths, bosozoku (hot-rodder) groups, and yakuza (netwo rks of male adult criminal organizations), as numerically significant and culturally visible phenomena. In a comparative perspective, featur es of Japanese subcultural groupings are interpreted in their relation to masculinity and to culture-specific problems of contemporary Japan ese society.