11/13/2022 0 Comments Crazy choppers in japanOnce you've been battered round the head with context - something Japan manages with alacrity - the Diablo, despite its underlights and strobes and regurgitated Dolly Mixture palette, doesn't look ridiculous. It has ‘EXCITING TEAM RISK!' written on the door. Right on cue, a heavily modified Nissan Silvia zips past, all turbo whistle and dump valve. As signs written in kanji fly overhead, it's like passing through a stargate into the stereotype dimension. Lamps on the wires supporting the bridge phase between three colours and dapple the road with colour. We're headed across Rainbow Bridge - it ties together Shibaura Pier and Minato town across Tokyo Bay, and it looks like a Mario Kart level. Morohoshi drops into his Diablo, and starts the engine. But each car from our group stood out, they were unique. It ended five years ago because of rivalry and jealousy - cars like this appeal to a certain kind of person, and they don't tend to mix well with each other. No matter where they were from or how they modified their car. It means ‘Diablo Meeting' in Japanese, and we welcomed everyone. Traditional enthusiasts wanted to keep away from me in the early days, so I had to start my own group - Akuma Shukai. "I'm not what you'd associate with anything Lamborghini - the company, other owners - and we've always had a troubled relationship. I can understand why some people, and why some Lamborghini enthusiasts find my modifications." He pauses, searching for the mot juste. In Italy, there were crowds cheering at my car and gesturing me to play the horn, even in traditional Mafia towns. Whenever I'm overseas, other Lamborghini owners love me. But I kept it down, and at the end Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann signed my car." Somebody must have been watching, because the next morning I was asked to behave better. All the lights were on, and I was playing the air horn. "I attended the 50 Years of Lamborghini rally earlier this year, and before it started, I went to fill up my SV in Milan. His modifications have distanced him from the more traditional Lambo enthusiasts, and some modifications - particularly his air horn, which plays the Godfather theme tune - have raised a few eyebrows when he's taken his car abroad. Thing is, Morohoshi's brand of originality is a little. Every time I build something, I create something original that's still me. There's something different about each of them, but also a common. So has the Aventador I'm currently customising. This, the Murciélago Roadster and the Murciélago Coupe I own, all received great interest. "People started asking questions, and when they heard I'd bought another car, they wanted to know what I was going to do with it. Eventually, they learned who I was and where I came from." But I was persistent, and patient with them. They were normal businessmen and hadn't had the youth I had. It was too much for them - they're weren't used to this style, and they didn't understand it. "When I first arrived at the official Japanese Lamborghini Club meetings after I'd changed the first Diablo, nobody liked it. Bigger, louder exhausts, flashy wraps, LEDs, diamonds: Morohoshi style. Eventually, I found a small garage in Tokyo that would do what I wanted. I even begged them, but it was an expensive supercar, and they wanted nothing to do with me. The owners just refused - they were too scared to change my car, even though I brought the LEDs with me in a box and big piles of cash. "I had to go to five different shops before I found anywhere willing to make the modifications. Both are futuristic and powerful, and inspired me to think differently to other people. When I was planning, I took inspiration from bōsōzoku bikes. So I began thinking of ways I could make my car look different. But then I started going to owners' club meetings. It was loud, like the Countach, and fast, and beautiful. In the beginning, I was quite happy with it. "After 16 years and a few arrests, I bought my first - a Diablo. Neons are added, exhaust pipes are radically oversized, each fairing carries the flag of its club, and they're ridden at maximum attack through heavy traffic. The bikes are part British café racer, part American chopper, but mostly incomprehensible madness. Literally, the word means ‘violent running tribe', but the reality's a bit more civilised. As a young man, he used to have a motorcycle customised in Bōsōzoku style. Anyway, it's important to remember your past." They are good-hearted, they respect friendship highly, and there are lots of people to help with lots of things. Still, it's important for me to remain part of this group, and this place. But now I concentrate on my cars and work. I used to spend a lot of time working here when I was younger, but my business trading goods was in the grey area." He gives his smile another careful centimetre. "I like flashy cars," says Morohoshi-san.
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