The cool, wild and powerful movements of rhythm-heavy hip-hop dance are gripping the body and soul of ever more Japanese children and young people.
For several years there have been commercial lessons offered and hip-hop competitions held around the country. Since April, though, this pastime that has swept the world since emerging from African-American culture in New York in the 1970s has been included as one of the genres of the nation's new compulsory high-school subject of dance. The other types of dance kids can choose from are folk and creative.
Yet ironically, considering that mainstream turn of events, popular hip-hop and other young people's dance clubs are increasingly being driven out of business as police crank up their enforcement of previously overlooked laws and regulations.