Beach scenes

MCLEOD:  Ah, a Japanese summer. Surf, sand …

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Decorated trucks on road

… and serious truckin’.

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Music

01:19

MCLEOD:  They're known as decotora – the weird and wonderful decorated trucks that ride Japan’s highways.

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Music

01:39

Takeshi driving

TAKESHI:  Truckies spend more time in their trucks than at home, so it's about making the space and the exterior that they can enjoy.

01:45

MCLEOD:  Takeshi Iwaki is a proud owner and today he’s heading to Kanazawa city for a special get together.

02:00

Group of decotora

Music

02:07

MCLEOD:  In 40 degree heat decotora fans flock to a car park to indulge their love. Truckies spend tend of thousands of dollars adorning their machines with artworks and spangles.

02:15

Music

02:27

Taskeshi and McLeod look at truck

MCLEOD:  Takeshi Iwaki believes the painting on his truck protects him against road accidents.

02:34

TAKESHI IWAKI:  I’m protected. It’s a painting of the seven gods of good luck having fun at sea on a dragon ship.

This is a depiction of them playing at sea.

02:43

Decotora  gathering

Music

02:56

Fuyuki shows truck

MCLEOD:  Nearby is a famous truck owned by  Fuyuki Kyoso. When he delivers fruit and vegetables across Tokyo his beautiful wife is watching.

03:14

FUYUKI KYOSO:  My wife, my wife. I love, I love, I love my wife.

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Fuyuki with wife and daughter

We are one flesh even when we’re apart, wherever we are, wherever we work.

MCLEOD:  This hopeless romantic says he

03:31

Chandelier in truck

fell in love with decorated trucks watching a movie as an impressionable child.  

03:43

FUYUKI KYOSO:  When I was young there was a movie called “Truck Guy”… a Toei movie.

03:48

Movie clip

It was “Truck Guy and his First Star” with Bunta Sugawara.

I was influenced by it when I was a child and I wanted to recreate it when I was an adult.

03:58

Music

04:09

MCLEOD:  The movie spawned a real life truckie love story, with Kyoso as the lonely samurai-style driver behind the wheel. 

04:15

Kyoso beside truck

FUYUKI KYOSO:  I love my truck. I love my “Ayahime-Maru”.

It's almost a part of my body. It's like my family.  I love my family and it's the same as my family.

04:25

Truck gathering

Music

04:36

MCLEOD:  From the saccharine, to tributes, to wartime conquests, many of these fantastical images were created by one man.

04:47

Tatsuaki painting trucks

In a peaceful village nearby the modest, self-taught Tatsuaki Hashimoto is hard at work.

04:58

TATSUAKI HASHIMOTO:  It’s best when I can amaze people. Then I’m happy as a painter.

05:06

MCLEOD:  Hashimoto never stops painting. There’s a backlog of commissions, with owners eagerly awaiting the results.

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TATSUAKI HASHIMOTO:  I like dragons.

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Tatsuaki by truck

My paintings are very Japanese in taste.

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Tatsuaki painting truck

MCLEOD:  Around these parts a Hashimoto on the side panel is a real status symbol, but it’s on the inside where drivers live like kings. 

05:35

Chandelier in truck

Music

05:43

Kyoso and family in  truck

MCLEOD:  In his luxurious cabin we catch up with Kyoso relaxing with his wife and daughter.  

05:48

FUYUKI KYOSO:  My daughter owns a truck too. It’s not here today, but the Princess Seren already exists in this world.

05:54

MCLEOD: Yes, you heard it, this 3 year-old owns a 2-tonne decorated truck. Here’s a picture of it in a magazine. All she has to do is wait a few years. Then, like Dad, she’ll be hittin’ the road.

06:02

FUYUKI KYOSO:  I could go all over Japan with my daughter, working… I’ll be sitting in the passenger seat, my daughter will be driving. We’ll go to the market and work together. I’ll be really happy if that happens.

06:15

Trucks light up

Music

06:30

FUYUKI KYOSO:   As the asphalt cools, the real show begins. But these flashing beasts can’t hang around too long. They’ve got to keep on the move -- their oh-so-cool drivers have an image to maintain.

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Music

06:49

Credits:

Reporter: Shane McLeod

Camera :  Jun Matsuzono

Research : Yumiko Asada

Producer : Kerry Brewster

Editor : Garth Thomas

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