24
japan
It is always nice to hear what some of
the travelling Pro skaters have to say
about the different skate scenes all
over the world. In Mid October Steve
Caballero and Rodney Mullen had the
good fortune to spend a week on a
whirlwind tour of Japan. We had the
good fortune to tag these two jet set
skaters for an account of their day to
day activities. Here is a summary of
first Cab's and then the Mutt's
thoughts on the skating and skaters
of Japan.
WHERE'S RODNEY?
by Steve Caballero
8/16 12:06 PM I arrive at San Francisco
International 15 minutes before our plane
leaves Rodney comes running in: "What
happened?" "I was getting my visa"
Rodney puffs. "Visa? nobody said
anything about a visa" Just then the ticket
lady exclaimed "You can't go to Japan
without a visa!" well that was that,
Rodney split and I wait for micke Alba to
pick me up for a ride into Japantown to
score the credentials.
7:30 PM Me and Micke go see JFA play
a cool set at the Mab, meanwhile Rodney
is almost to Japan. Not a good start but
get there.
8/17 1:30 PM I catch a long boring
flight to Osaka, Japan. By this time,
Rodney is just waking up the next day at
5:30 am, 16 hours ahead of me. Rodney
is picked up at 9:30 by Yuji Ikeda and
whips over to a demo at Castle Skate
Park and Sports Takahashi in Osaka. He
meets up with the person who made the
whole trip possible, Mr. Hase, president
of Hasco Enterprises. Rodney demos all
over the park with 15 skaters following
him all around. Lots of people turn up at
the store demo to watch Rodney fip,
spin, turn, twirl and kick his board around
8/18 6:00 PM Rodney's exhausted and
I'm just arriving at the airport where Mr.
Hase is there fo greet me. It's on to the
hotel to rest up. Rodney's on his way to
Ise where we will demo the following day.
8/19 6:15 AM Mr. Hase saw me onto a
fast train ride to Ise; when I arrive no one
is there. Not knowing where to go, nor
any Japanese, I just sit and wait. Finally
a blue car with giant posters on the sides
with me and Rodney on them pulls up. "I
wonder if that's them." I was stoked. It
was Yuji. I thought he said Eugene, so we
kept it at that. In 15 minutes we arrive at
Shima Marine Garden Skate Park.
I jump out of the car looking for Rodney
who comes trotting up with a soft drink in
his hand, and says "Welcome to Florida."
It was true, hottest and most humid place
I've ever been. We also meet Kaoru
(Rastaman) Mizobe and Furukawa
"Kame," two famous Japanese skaters.
Everybody was so nice, 2 little kids,
Kenichi and Noda, would buy us cokes
whenever we were thirsty, almost too
nice.
Cab at Kiyosl
Rodney
DUPA
SKATE ZI
TOYODA
IN
U.S.A
¥200
A NASTY ON
Kang or
STREETS CE
upside down.
at Kiyosi
SLIDE
DUWN HILL
RODNEY MULLEN
STEVE CABALLERO
IN JAPAN
Poster
Kaoru (Rastaman)
Mizobe
Isamu Skate Board Park
イサム社
While a little contest was going on me
and Rodney walked down to the beach
where there were about 500 boys and
girls surfing on small to non existant
swells. We wanted to go in but had to do
some more skating. Lots of photos and
video action.
4:30 PM We took off on a four hour drive
to our next destination with a stop for a
"Chinese" dinner. We weren't too keen
on Japanese cooking just yet..
ISAMU SKATEPARK
8/20 9:30 AM Right when we arrive at
Isamu Skate Park in Shiga about five
carloads full of skaters come zipping up.
The park is a good "learning how to
skate facility with a big snake run into a
deep bowl, a freestyle area, a ditch
painted all different colors and an okay
halfpipe. I must have drank 8 cokes in an
hour it was so hot. Took a lot of photos.
and then went out for a great dinner with
Rastaman and a couple of local girls.
Rastaman got his name cause he's so
into Reggae music.
EARLY RISING SUN
8/21 We got up way early. Too early. I
couldn't get over the time change. It was
off to another demo at Sports Valley
Amusement Park in Kyoto. They have a
plexiglass ramp set up in the middle of an
amusement park with some weird "rides."
Rollercoasters that you pedal yourself!
"Escape from Alcatraz" in which you
have 5 minutes to crawl, jump, climb and
run through all these obstacles without
getting caught by some light triggered
sensors and "The Big Wall" sort of a giant
rope ladder that you climb up.
We all autographed the ramp and
interviewed for a television crew. I had to
show the hostess how to skate the ramp
but she was screaming every time she
stepped on my skate. It was embarras-
sing. Me and Rastaman hit a disco back
in Osaka that night, I throw in a couple of
back spins when Herbie Hancock came
on, they love break dancing.
SO LONG RASTAMAN
8/22 Me and Eugene drove to an indoor
roller rink that had a couple of ramps set
up inside while Rodney stayed behind to
demo at several different stores. Later
that night Rastaman came by with
Furakawa "Kame" and some of his
friends. Kame had me and Rodney
cracking up all night, he's a funny kid. I
said goodbye to Rastaman because it
was the last time I would see him. He's
the coolest. We get to bed about 3:00 AM..
FAST TRAINS AND RAD SKATERS
8/23 6:30 AM I don't know how we got
up but we're on a bullet train to the next.
demo in Nagoya. The bullet trains haul
ass at 180 mph and are packed with
people. Everybody uses them. The ramp
is in front of a skate shop and there are a
couple of Japanese skaters that tear it
pretty good. The T.V. news crew shows
up and takes a bunch of footage.
Japanese skaters are kamikaze, they
don't believe in the word "bail" I mean,
they try to stay on anything. They're rad!
By late in the day I'm tired. I never skate
everyday all day. I've noticed about a
million camera shops by this time,
tomorrow we'll have time to shop.
8/24 Back on the bullet train and on to
Tokyo. Rodney does a big demo in front
of Murasaki Sports Store and we film a
big press interview, autographs, lots of
questions. Here's where Rodney takes
over the journal
Continued on page 27