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Podcast Host (11:19)

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Jake Hanrahan (11:20)

Why is this taking so long?

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Podcast Host (12:28)

Kelly Harnett spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit. I'm 100% innocent. While behind bars, she learned the law from scratch. He goes, oh God. Harnett jailhouse Lawyer and as she fought for herself, she also became a lifeline for the women locked up alongside her. You're supposed to have your faith in God, but I had nothing but faith in her. So many of these women had lived the same stories.

Jake Hanrahan (12:56)

I said, were you a victim of domestic violence?

Podcast Host (12:58)

And she was like, yeah, but maybe Kelly could change the ending. I said, how many people have gotten other incarcerated individuals out of here? I'm gonna be the first one to do that. This is the story of Kelly Harnett, a woman who spent 12 years fighting not just for her own freedom, but her girlfriend's too.

Jake Hanrahan (13:21)

I think I have a mission from God to save souls by getting people out of prison.

Podcast Host (13:26)

The Girlfriends Jailhouse Lawyer listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Jake Hanrahan (13:43)

Each crew had its own identity stickers, slogans and color schemes. Some of them even had connections to Japan's criminal underworld, specifically the Yakuza. Either way, these were not casual hobbyists. You couldn't just pull up and join. There was a serious hierarchy, loyalty, respect, rivalries. It's gang culture, but with a VTEC engine. Now, as you can probably imagine, underground street racing crews in Japan are not that easy to find. You might see them zoom past you on the expressway, but that's about it. The car I'm in is being driven by a contact I've made through a friend of a friend. He's part of one of the local Kanjo crews here in Osaka. He's agreed to take me to a garage that is kind of a base for a few of the next generation of Kanjo drivers around here. After the white knuckle ride on the expressway, we pull off the snaking roads and drive for a while into what is clearly a blue collar neighborhood away from the city center. This is not the cutesy anime style Japan that Weebs stupidly stereotyped the whole country to be like. This is a wear and tear area, hard graft only. Everyone in this neighbourhood works construction or car parts. There's no frills here whatsoever. Every inch serves a purpose, mostly industrial. We pull up to a garage tucked away at the back of a small estate. It's around 10 at night now, but business is clearly still open. The lights are on and I can see the silhouettes of a few men smoking and chatting outside side. Our guide makes a call and the gates are opened. We pull in and park behind a row of Honda Civics. Of course, this is a garage where people come to get their illegal race cars tuned up and repaired. If, like me, you find some kind of beauty in the raw aesthetic of something like a Civic, you will absolutely love the Kanjo Loop race cars. They are raw, compact, just perfect. These are cars meant for high speed racing at night. Blurred vision and streaming brake lights. On each door and bonnet there's a decal specific to whichever crew the racers belong to. We enter the garage. It's a borderline cyberpunk scene of stickered Civics removed, head gaskets raised, engines dust and oil. The yellow halogen bulbs above flicker as a man steps forward to shake my hand. He's got bleached blonde hair and visible scars across his face. He's dressed fashionably with a metal chain around his neck. He runs this garage for the racers and is eager to talk about the subculture that he grew up in.

Kanjo Racer (16:36)

I guess Kanjozoku are young speed addicts. It all started when the kids who were riding in motorcycle gangs evolved from the bikes into racing the cars. According to the olders I know in this subculture, they began to modify cheap cars like the Civic or even other cheap cars back then, like the Hachiroku AEE 86 or the Starlet. They drive at illegal speeds on the Osaka Loop road and they'd race around the normal people in their cars. This is the counterculture in Osaka. It has been popular with young people for a long time. During a normal day, these kids who race can be really quiet and orderly. They don't make trouble, but deep down they're searching for something extraordinary at that place on the Loop. I think it's the feeling of being able to ride however you want that they seek. That's Kanjo.

Jake Hanrahan (17:21)

It's controversial. Obviously the police want to come after you guys. They don't want you to be doing it.

Kanjo Racer (17:29)

While realistically, the number of people street racing has decreased due to police enforcement. They've cracked down and have become much stricter. It's become increasingly difficult to race every year. The police have become much harsher, so punishment is worse. Several years ago, there was a big roundup of Kanjo racers in which nearly a hundred people were arrested. After that, no one properly raced for about two years.

Jake Hanrahan (17:52)

So what will happen to you if the police catch you running the Kanjo?

Kanjo Racer (17:59)

If you get caught running the Kanjo now, you'll usually get arrested for what the police call joint dangerous behavior. That's the charge. The first time penalty is they take away your license away for two years and give you a fine. Also, some people have had accidents involving ordinary people's cars, where they abandon their Civic and run away. When that happens, the police come to their homes the next day. I've heard many cases like this.

Jake Hanrahan (18:24)

In recent years. The Kanjo scene has been decimated by the police crackdown. Understandably, they don't want people flying around the expressway in excess of 100 miles per hour. Legal racetracks have been open for the racers to get their kicks. But for many, it's just not the same. If Canjo is morphed into some kind of legal racing hobby, it's no longer Kanjo. The underground nature of it and the cat and mouse chases with the police is what makes it special for the people involved. In the early 2000s, the police began to try and contain this outlaw racing culture. They would try to catch the racers on the spot, but it rarely worked. The Canjo drivers knew the loop inside out, had faster cars, and were usually gone long before the sirens kicked in. But things changed when the police started to play the long game. Instead of chasing, they started watching. High end cameras were set up around the highway, and undercover traffic units began quietly tracking the racers. They grabbed license plate numbers, follow the cars home, and then start building proper cases. Honestly, the police were pretty smart about it. They waited, watched, and then picked people off one by one, often at home in quiet raids. Sometimes these came even weeks after the the illegal races. The police went after more than just the drivers, too. Tuning shops that were known to help modify the Kanjo cars like the one we've just been in, started getting police visits. If you were selling illegal exhaust systems or helping tweak their ecus off the books, you are on the radar of the cops. A few shop owners even got hit with charges for aiding illegals racing. The police were not messing about at the same time, public pressure started building. Videos of the races were all over the Internet. Flashy clips showing cars weaving through traffic at crazy speeds. People were not happy. Understandably, regular drivers did not want to get killed on their commute. And the government didn't want to be seen letting it slide. So the crackdown kept on going. Things got worse. More surveillance, more arrests, more cars impounded. More pressure on the whole Kanjo scene. Now, in a way, this was very effective in crushing the scene, but at the same time, it forced it to evolve. Many rival crews joined forces by establishing networks and friendships to let each other know where anti Kanjo measures were placed. On the highways they race. This was completely new. Before, they absolutely hated each other. Now they had to work together. And so the people still involved are the most hardcore of the hardcore. Threats of arrest don't seem to faze them. Even in a country with a conviction rate of over 99%. The police's illegal street racing crackdowns aren't just focused on Kanjo, though. There are several different underground street racing scenes and styles here in Japan. The bigger threats from law enforcement and also the crashing economy has created a new generation Amidst all of these racing styles in Japan. We plan to document as many as possible. Later that night, I head out on foot to find a building adjacent to the Loop. I want to find a high point to get an idea of the scale of this road. The underneath is huge. As I walk along the pavement at ground level, the road above looms over everything. Huge metal and concrete pillars rise up here and there to support the Loop. With the help of a local, I find a nearby building with an open door. I explain what I'm trying to do and one of the residents kindly unlocks a door from the stairwell to a small office that has a balcony. From this vantage point, I can see the Kanjo Loop wind throughout the city. It's like a huge concrete serpent climbing through the urban landscape. Suddenly, I hear the high speed gear shift of two cars driving way too fast. I can't see them from here, but I can hear them. Kanjo Zoku. Before the Loop was this neon lit racetrack for modded Civics. The road was a key infrastructure development that transformed Osaka's urban transit system. As I mentioned earlier, Japan underwent rapid economic recovery after World War II. This included a massive focus on infrastructure. By the 1960s, traffic jams had become a major issue in big cities like Osaka. Roads were narrow and car ownership was increasing rapidly due to the economic bubble. The government and private companies like Hanshin Expressway company stepped in to build high capacity elevated roadways throughout the city. And so the Hanshin Expressway system, the Kanjo Loop, began construction in the early 1960s. It was a response to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics boom and Japan's growing economy. In Osaka, planners imagined a ring road style expressway that would loop around the central commercial districts. This circular route would ease traffic by connecting various outward roads and and relieving pressure from the ground level street network. And so the Kanjo Loop was built primarily between 1964 and 1969. For the sheer scale and ambition of the project, that wasn't bad time at all. The loop forms a 7 and a half mile circular route cuts through Osaka's central areas. During construction, the Loop had to be elevated above a crowded built up city, requiring meticulous planning to minimize disruption. Surrounded by homes, roads and commercial businesses, the Loop was built on large reinforced concrete legs to fit in and around the area. Had they not done it this way, they would have had to demolish huge swaths of buildings. As it is, most of the road hovers 10 to 15 meters above ground level. It's a sight to behold. And whilst this obviously wasn't planned, the expressway is designed like the perfect racetrack for rogue Conjo drivers. Many of the curves and corners are sharp and require extreme precision driving. This makes it ideal for racing, but also incredibly risky. There are over a dozen tightly spaced on ramps and off ramps, often requiring sharp merges and quick acceleration. These ramps contribute to the Loop's notorious difficulty at high speeds. This road was never designed for cars to be hitting it at 100 miles an hour, especially with the low visibility. Pretty much the entirety of the Loop has high walls, sound barriers and narrow lanes. For the street racers, these features just add to the thrill of the Kanjo experience. The danger blows their hair back. For the 1970s, the loop was fully operational. It became a crucial part of Osaka's transit puzzle, especially for commuters and commercial vehicles trying to avoid the city center congestion. And as we know, it also became a makeshift underground racetrack. Now some people will tell you that Kanjo Zoku is dead. It's done. No one really races anymore. But that is simply not true. There are several different crews still active and some of them are even growing as they remain largely in the shadows. There are dozens and dozens of crews or teams still, but the main ones are forever remembered and refuse to disappear. Kanjozoku.com, an excellent resource on this world with first hand and second hand sources, has documented this well. They write, quote, since the late 70s there have been many, many teams that have either ran on the Loop or claim to have. Some of these teams still exist to this day, whilst others have been ingrained into the asphalt of the Loop itself and faded into local folklore, so to speak. To look at some of the established names we can speak of no Good racing formed in 1985 and that uses their ever so tongue in cheek motto of Bye Bye Police, a pretty self explanatory statement of their intentions should they be met by any form of resistance by local law enforcement. The first senior of no Good Racing said that when he was racing in his early years people would say it was no Good and it became a sort of running joke that stuck and became the team's name. Of course as the group would go on to become one of, if not the most well known group, the name took on other meanings. But we can leave that to your imagination. How about Temple racing, formed in 1978 in the Higashi Shimiyoshi area of Osaka. That's right. Teams had a home turf, so to speak, so being careful and respectful in another area of the city would mean avoiding confrontation either from another team or again the Red Siren Crew, the Police. The team name derives from the character Simon Temple from the English TV series called the Saint, a popular character used in the team's style at the time. Other names such as Warp racing formed in 1982. They are well seen across social media as the current group of players attend such tracks as the Central Circuit in Hyogo Prefecture or again Suzuku Circuit over in Mai Prefecture. But that's not to say they don't appear in the nighttime of the city in any one place. The resonation of B series engines coming and disappearing in a flash to provide just a glimpse of how many teams there are or were. Some names we can talk about are no Good Racing Temple Racing Warp Racing Late Riser Law Break Checker Top Gun Racing Magnani Racing Borough Racing Crafty Dust Fairness Fantasy Fine Formation Gachapin Racing Get Wild Hampty Joker Racing Kaiser Loop Loose Racing, Looping Mercury and so and so it goes on and on. End quote. Clearly there are many different crews here in Osaka, but they don't exactly stand around advertising what they do when they're not racing. I want to sit down with one of these major players and try to ride along with them in a proper underground race on the Kanjo loop. A friend of mine, a local, is helping us due to the illegalities of Kanjo and his strong ties to it. I want to keep him very anonymous, we'll just call him John. John has various connections with different crews across the city. City. He knows what he's talking about and he knows what he's doing. He was around in a time when Kanjo crews would have full on gang fights at various meetups if there was ever a dispute. He's old school. So John reaches out to various different crews for us to try and meet. He vouches for us. We have a history of not anybody over when it comes to anonymity and we cover underground countercultures properly. It's all good. Eventually we get a call. There are a few lads who are interested. I can't say which group it is. Why will become clear later. But we're told to head out and meet them at a garage late one night on the outskirts of Osaka. We drive over and meet a few lads in what looks like a completely normal mechanic center. Mainstream equipment, regular cars, nothing particularly out of the ordinary, and nothing that screams Kanjo. Turns out though, that this garage moonlights as a base for various illegal underground racing crews across the city. Backroom deals for banned off the books equipment take place here. The next generation of Kanjo is very much hidden in plain sight. After we shake hands and exchange pleasantries, some of the guys at the garage usher us into a room behind a row of cars in various states of rain repair. The main guy, we'll call him Himari, has an aura about him that's unmatched. He's scruffy, short, skinny, and he looks as if he's just woken up at all times. But he has this air about him that just tells you this is the guy. He doesn't even need to make an effort. It's just him. He chain smokes as he makes us tea in the back room and invites us to sit down in the chairs, which are all old repurposed civic seats. This room is decorated with old car parts, weathered racing posters and a half dozen ashtrays. The lads inside are all linked to Kanjo directly. They're super friendly and happy to help us, but they're also very cautious due to the level of police crackdown. After some chatting, tea drinking and what seems to be about a thousand cigarettes, Himari makes a phone call. When he's done, it's good news. One of the big bosses of one of the biggest Kanjo crews in Osaka is willing to meet us tomorrow night. We'll get dinner with them. They'll decide if we can race alongside them. The young guys are racing in the street today in Today. Cool. Very cool. Next week, we'll discover the surprisingly close connection that Kanjo racers have to organize crime. You've been listening to the Away Days Podcast. To watch independent Away Days document documentaries, subscribe to our channel@YouTube.com waydaystv. Y's podcast is a production of H11 Studio for Callzone Media. Reporting, producing, writing, editing and research by me, Jake Hanrahan. Co producing by Sophie Lichterman. Music by Sam Black. Sound maker by Splicing Block. Photography by Johnny Pickup and Louis Hollis. Graphic design by Laura Adamson and Casey Highfield.

Podcast Host (34:03)

This is an iHeart podcast.