OPERATION: BANCHA
BY BILLY RUNAWAY
The day after the cylindrical insanity of
operation "CHAYA," I sat in Crazy Otto's Diner,
trying to quell occasional bouts of over-vertigo
with a #3 special and Otto's coffee-black and
stormy, as usual. My nervous system was beg-
ging for a fourth cup when the waitress
appeared to inform me that a man in the corner
booth had picked up my tab, tipped her gener-
ously and asked her to deliver something. She
handed me a plain, legal-sized envelope, gave
me a look between total confusion and utter
disdain, filled my cup and went her merry way.
An examination of the envelope's contents
revealed one round-trip air ticket, one credit
card, a new passport and a sheet of Japanese
washi paper with the word "BANCHA" scripted
In kanji. I never imagined the benefit of two
years of post-graduate Japanese studies at Yale
would surface in this line of work, but stranger
things have happened. I swallowed my fifth cup
of Joe, received a standing ovation from my ner-
vous system and began to wonder if they would
be serving decaf in first class...
The authenticity of my new passport went
unchallenged and I soon boarded JAL #002.
non-stop for Tokyo. My previous passport was
still in the hands of Asian authorities, the unfor-
tunate result of a gross misunderstanding dur-
Ing a vice squad raid in Shinjuku.
The trip over could very well have passed for
an episode, of "The Thrillseekers." A near-fatal
encounter with air turbulence gave many pas-
sengers a first-hand look at the roof of the
plane. Applying the motto from my formative
years as a Boy Scout. I was wearing my seat-
belt, but my bottle of '79 Veuve Clicquot La
Grande Dame (which wasn't part of my forma-
tive years as a Boy Scout) met with a tragic fate.
Shortly before we touched down at Narita, an
exceedingly beautiful Japanese girl clad in a
black leather kimono approached and offered
some tea. I politely declined but she insisted
saying, "This is a very special tea, made from
the Japanese BANCHA leaf." She served the
tea, bowed politely and left. I noticed a phone
number engraved on the bottom of the cup. K.T.
definitely has a flair for theatrics.
Once in Narita, I cleared customs, reclaimed
my gear, tracked down a phone and dialed the
teacup phone number. A girl answered, indicat-
ed she had knowledge as to my location and
Instructed me to chill. Minutes later I was again
In the presence of the "Tea Girl" from the plane.
She had divested her kimono in favor of yet
another black ensemble. Before I could say,
"Why do they always wear black?" I was
whisked away to the outskirts of Tokyo, where I
was briefed on the fine points of my "raison
d'être in Japan. A Japanese operative wasted
no time in divulging the main objective: I was to
chronicle the exploits of a visiting group of
American skate pros and intervene if a diplo
matic snafu should occur. Since the "galjins" in
question were currently unavailable for com-
ment, I was taken on an all-day-turned-into-all-
night tour of Tokyo with some local skaters.
66 THRASHER MAGAZINE
SOS
VANIN
船糖:十工作的
SKATEBOARD CHARIZA
第23回
STRUCTURE
MIS
After covering an endless number of bank and
street spots with Isamu, Hayasaka and the
crew, I was "onaka ga suita" and ready for some
serious Japanese cuisine.
Forget super resolution video equipment, high
technology, and economic philosophy-the
Japanese beer garden is a concept that the
American would be wise to emulate. Found on
the roof of every major department store in
Japan, these outdoor nirvanas are just what the
doctor ordered after a long day at the office.
After some squid in chili sauce and a little
karaoke, I was ready to sample Tokyo nightlife.
The other Americans were ready, too, and after
a brief reunion at their motel we were en route
to Roppongl. Among the familiar faces were
Christian, Kevin Staab, Eric Nash, and Gator,
along with Sergie Ventura and Z-Boys
Watanabe, Acosta and Sterbins. Bicultural
skater/surfer/artist/photographer Nisi got us on
the guest list at Gold and we soon found our-
selves among some of the strangest (and gayest)
people in Tokyo succumbing to vogue-itis. We
concentrated on the credit card beer machines,
made small talk with the few worthwhile
females and vowed to procure some help for the
next night's clubbing.
Day Two: This was the day to do work and/or
get paid, depending on your status. The visitors
watched eight of the twenty-three locals exhibit-
ed the fine art of making the cut in Funabashi's
Japan Open Summer Skate Championships.
The Osaka skaters demonstrated the good effect
that a park in your backyard can have as they
skated into four of the top eight spots. The
Tokyo posse was also in effect, nabbing three of
the top eight spots. The other finalist was wild
card "gaijin" Keith Stephenson, who claimed to
be in town for the emperor's wedding ceremony.
only to be seen later sporting Grace Jones' sig-
nature in several strategic bodily locations.
With that in mind, we approached Keith and
inquired about our chances of receiving a tour
of Tokyo's best after-hours clubs. He was glad
to oblige and a few short hours later we found
ourselves at a pre-club bar in Roppongi, featur-
Ing drinks from around the world. Staab seemed
to be especially fond of a drink called absinth,
which is illegal in several countries and tastes
like a cross between rubbing alcohol and bat-
tery acid. When the bar tab reached the crisis
level, we paid up and headed for Zipang, home
of Tokyo's beautiful people. With a ratio of sev
eral girls to each guy and free refreshments, we
could not lose. I crawled out of there at two,
leaving everyone in full-rage mode and George
Watanabe beginning his second round of
assaults on every female in the club...
Day Three: If you could only make the contest
one day, this was the one. The final day is
where reputations are made, myths are dis-
pelled and fortunes are won or lost. I was barely
awake by the time the streetstyle demonstration
started, but the skating soon opened my eyes.
Sergie Ventura stole the M.C. duties from the
retard that had been hired and got everyone
hyped for Watanabe. George sublimated his
previous night's sexual drive into a fine display
The bombardier of a
Boeing B-29 checks
his sights before a
run over Japan, 1945
of street skating, busting out a large frontside dis-
aster on the big quarter, a blunt on the small
quarter and a nollie up and over the platform
box. Jimmy Acosta followed George while the
crowd chanted, "Z1 Z!" Jimmy slashed frontside
grinds on every possible part of the course. Butch
Sterbins annihilated the bank-to-wall ramp with
some severe frontside slashes and a completely
mental try at a body jar on the 5-foot plus verti-
cal. Gator continued to please the crowd with
frontside rocks on the big quarter, handrails and
Ngoho-type side tailslides down the small quar-
ter. The final street demo skater was perennial
crowd favorite, Christian Hosol, blowing minds
with liens-to-tail on the large quarter, huge airs
over, off and around the other quarter pipes,
some long manuals and trademark G-turns.
After a BMX demo, the pro ramp finals got
underway. Fifth and fourth spots went to Ascot
Park locals Takeil Shousaku and Kanemoto Elda.
In third was world traveler and now Tokyo local
Keith Stephenson. Second and first spots were
once again dominated by the Osaka boys, Omura
Shigeru ("Caba") and Noda Toshluki.
After the pro contest, it was the visiting
Americans' turn to show what was up. Sergie
Ventura sat out the street demo but redeemed
himself on the ramp with massive frontside ollies,
50/50s-to-fakle, mute gay twists and frontside
liens-to-disaster. Staab was up to doing big
stalefish and backside airs, frontside rocks and
fakle ollies-to-Smith grind. Eric Nash busted big
backside ollies and way long frontside Smith
grinds and lipslides. Gator went off with lofty and
loud Madonnas and body jars, ollies-to-fakie and
fakle ollie stalefish-to-tail, just to name a few.
Christian had designed this ramp and it showed.
He was all over it with Indy nose bones, huge
stalefish, 5-foot Indy gay twists, and rocketing
frontside slide-n-rolls. Throw in a final McTwist in
which his helmet flies off and you've just wit-
nessed someone who has mastery over the chaos
of a skateboard. Once the applause died down,
people headed en masse for the Tobu beer gar
den in preparation for one final kanpal. I joined
in, relieved to have another assignment behind
me and a beer in front of me. As I handled the
bottle, I noticed a word scribed on the backside
of the label: "PUNGI." Here we go again.
Amateur
Japan Open Streetstyle Results
1) Yonelsaka Junosuke
2) Satou Kametsugu
3) Yoshida Toru
4) Ken Williams
5) Salto Masao
Pro
Open
1) Noda Toshiuki
2) Omura Shigeru
3) Keith Stephenson
4) Kanemoto Elda
5) Takell Shousaku
1) Kawamura Satoshi
2) Ishihara Kazuaki
3)
Ozawa Akira
4) Harada Ugou
5) Yoshida Takeshi
Opposite Page: Ten seconds over Tokyo, Sergie
Ventura tags a tuck-knee slob at the Japan Open.
Above: Tomoyuki Sano climbs the walls at a
Yokohama skateboard party. Center: A Super-
fortress bomber jacket. Left: Getting all freaky
stylee, Yoshihito Kawada on top of a frontside grind
at Yokohama.
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