There is a name for it: Tsurikawa
Thanks to HachirokuGTV who sent me a link to a blog containing nothing else than pictures of straps and introducing me to the term Tsurikawa!
Tsurikawa (???) literally means strap:
Tsurikawa (strap) standard
To use the word you would normally say something like Tsurikawa ni tsukamaru which means Hang on to the strap.
Of course we all have seen these straps hanging on the Bosozoku styled cars:
Tsurikawa on Bosozoku car
These straps are well known to indicate the ride height of the Bosozoku cars.
It was adopted from the buckets hanging behind cement trucks. They prevented those trucks from spilling cement on the ground while driving. Those buckets were hanging just an inch above the ground and someone thought it was a good indicator of the ride height! 😉
Tsurikawa (strap) modern style
Well, I did find a lot of different straps on the Tsurikawa blog, but I did not find any pictures of them in use under a bosozoku ride… What I did find was the blogger going wild with some of the straps and all different variations on how to hang on the strap! 😀
What I did find was this very cute Tsurikawa I would love to have dangling under my car:
Tsurikawa (strap) cute style
Sorry for the crappy layout, but the blog only posted smaller images of the Tsurikawa!
If you want to browse all the great Tsurikawa used in Japan (and Budapest), please visit this blog:
Japanese Tsurikawa blog
I need a crap load of those, whats the best place to find them!!
some exactly like these ones
http://blog-imgs-30-origin.fc2.com/t/s/u/tsurikawa/IMG_0332.jpg
You can buy them on auctions.yahoo.co.jp:
http://search.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/search/auc?p=%A4%C4%A4%EA%B3%D7&auccat=0&submit=%B8%A1%BA%F7&alocale=0jp&acc=jp
the problem is that they dont ship to united states very often and sine i can’t read Japanese that well its hard to actually use the site, i do have an account on there though, do you know how to order stuff off that site?
I used two companies in the past. Aazuma Trading was a bit more expensive in handling but they surely did deliver the stuff in excellent condition and used good packaging materials. 🙂
You can find them here:
http://www.aazumatrading.com/
There are several other, including individuals living in Japan, but I have no idea how good they are…
I am looking for an Authentic Japanese Metal Ring Tsurikawa.
I am in the USA. Where can I procure one or two of them?
Thanks in advance