FUKUOKA -- The Fukuoka Prefectural Police are tightening their crackdown on illegally modified motorcycles and reckless riders as the number of complaints regarding noise and perceived safety rises.

When the Mainichi Shimbun visited the Chuo Wharf Cruise Center at Hakata Port in the city's Hakata Ward, where cruise ships from around the world stop, several motorcycles with young riders began to gather and emit heavy engine noise. Officers from the prefectural police's Hakata Rinko Police Station, who were policing the area, demanded the riders stop to examine the exhaust noise with a measuring device. One officer said, "The volume is above the standard level, so it's a violation."

It was shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 23, the last day of a three-day weekend. An 18-year-old high school student from the prefectural city of Kurume received a blue traffic ticket, given for minor violations, for faulty maintenance. She said, "I just replaced it two weeks ago with a silencer a friend gave me. I wanted to stand out by making a loud noise." She added in an innocent tone, "But we don't blare or call out like a biker gang."

Another 18-year-old high school student, who came with the woman, had also removed the silencer from the maker's original exhaust system. He said, "It's cooler to ride with loud noise." They explained that people gather at the cruise center and enjoy showing off their two-wheelers to each other.

A 25-year-old company worker from Fukuoka's Hakata Ward, who was test riding his new motorcycle, revealed, "Some people come here to practice because it is wide and has corners."

In the crackdown that lasted until the early hours of the following day, the prefectural police identified 11 cases of faultily maintained motorcycles, seven of which concerned exhaust noise exceeding the standard level.

According to the police station, there were just two reports about noise from motorcycles and other vehicles in the area around the cruise center in 2022, which increased to 12 in 2023 and 24 so far in 2024 as of September. Reports to the 110 emergency number have included, "Several motorcycles are going the wrong direction with their license plates covered and it's being livestreamed," and, "Motorbikes are running noisily."

Among those who answered that they do not think public safety is good in a Fukuoka Prefectural Government annual questionnaire, for the third consecutive year since 2021, a plurality selected "because I see cars or motorcycles running with loud noise or recklessly" as the reason.

The prefectural police will conduct crackdowns multiple times every month, mainly on weekend nights when noisy vehicles tend to gather, and take measures such as having the lights outside the cruise center turned off after 11 p.m. Meanwhile, there have reportedly been posts on social media that instantly spread information about crackdowns to evade the checkpoints.

Hakata Rinko Police Station's traffic division chief, Yoshiharu Ota, commented, "There are many cases of people illicitly modifying their vehicles lightheartedly and with no sense of guilt, however modifying them to make loud noises is illegal and has been cited as a factor in the deterioration of public safety in the prefecture. We hope that people will follow the rules in order to make Fukuoka a better place."

(Japanese original by Yuki Kurisu, Kyushu News Department)