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In a novel (published around 2009) a person suggests to search several abandoned buildings and this is how the other person responds:

-- で? おれといっしょに廃墟を探検しようっていうチキチキツアーのお誘いか?

I struggle to pinpoint the meaning of "チキチキツアー". It feels like a reference to something (a book / tv show / a music band?), however I did not manage to find anything in google that would make sense in this context. Another thought: it might be an imitation of a sound, like clock's ticking.

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The ultimate origin of チキチキ is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968; チキチキバンバン in Japanese). The "Chitty Chitty" part was somehow reused in the name of the Japanese adoption of Wacky Races. See チキチキマシン猛レース (1970). The program became popular, and many parodies were created. Since then, Japanese people started to vaguely recognize チキチキ as a prefix randomly added to things related to races, competitions or "going forward", hence チキチキツアー. Today, チキチキ has no specific meaning except that it makes the name sound like a variety show on TV.

See also: 「チキチキ」の意味と使い方・語源

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  • Wow, that's quite an origin. This explains why I got confused by the sheer variety of search results. Many thanks for the comprehensive explanation, this was very helpful!
    – Sisyphus
    Jul 6, 2022 at 12:56

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