5.Tokyo Rockabillies
Where: Japan
When:1950s
Moving on to number 5 on our list of weird subcultures around the world. Imagine 1970s classic The Grease being filmed in Japan and you will get a general feel of Tokyo Rockabillies subculture. In fact, if you stumble upon one of their gatherings, you will feel like you have walked in the middle of a scene from that movie being filmed, since everyone looks like an extra waiting for a director to yell “Action!” Full leather outfits, truckloads of hair grease and fast motorcycles are the staples of a group centered on Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park. The music is a big part of the group and can always be heard around them, blasting from stereos. Every girl looks like Olivia Newton-Jones and every boy has a comb and a switchblade in his back pockets. While the group has it’ share of young members, the majority consists of an older crowd. Anyway you cut it, there’s something slightly weird about middle age Japanese men dress in leather dancing to Rock Around the Clock in a public park.
