Speed Tribes is a collection of twelve pseudo-documentary short-stories, each describing a few days in the lives of young people in Tokyo. The book was written in 1994 with the stated intent to show that Japan is not just the polished and polite paradise of its official portrait. While Speed Tribes is about ten years old now, it is still quite up to date and the adventures of Izumi, the Yakuza bookmaker, Tats, the biker, Dai, the motorcycle thief, Choco and Emi, the porn stars, Keiko, the clubbing girl, Hiro and Yoshihara, the Todai students, Kazu and Hiroko, the drug dealers, Tusk, the hard rock singer, Ozaki, the right-wing fanatic, Jackie, the bar hostess, Moto, the Shibuya small-time criminal, and Snix, the high-tech geek, could happen here every day all over again. Excellent read about contemporary Tokyo.