Above: Akachi-kun hardflips a hard rock sculpture in
Shibaura, Tokyo.
Below: KARL BRUTSAERT (feeble transfer).
Age: 17
Skating: 4-5 years.
Home: Hails from central New York (Ithaca). Came here in
September, fuckin' love it.
Spot: Like to skate CVS and in front of WFO back in Ithaca.
Japan: Japan's real nice for skating; the security guards and
policemen are super nice and polite. They don't fuckin' tackle
you or arrest you like in the States. Plus the weather's a lot
better than in central NY. Tons of sick spots. Dope honeys,
the whole nine. Thanks to all the Tokyo skaters for being cool
to the newcomer.
TRANSPORT
"Going skating" wherever means anything from starting up the car and driv-
ing down a maze of freeways to walking out the door and pushing ten or fifteen
minutes. In Tokyo, a skater driving probably has the family car for the day-
usually a nice late-model sedan (in white or black). Skating with Japanese pros
usually means meeting whoever has the car and driving around to a couple
spots in a day, if traffic isn't too bad, and if everyone can remember how to get
to wherever they want to go; tons of Japanese cars have Global Positioning
Systems.
For the average skater without a car, i.e. most kids, a session starts with a
train ride of anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour to one of the main
spots, where they'll usually stay since the closest other spots probably aren't
close, and/or too dark or crowded. The local neighborhood push-and-skate-
or the bike-and-skate-is always an option, too.
KIDS
Skateboarders in Tokyo are mellow, calm, and relaxed, proportional to how
much the rest of Japanese society is rushing around. You almost never see any-
one yelling or throwing their board, people getting snaked, or any one-upping
heroes. Sometimes we'd see someone pull a trick and right after, everyone else
would try the same thing-but it was about being impressed, and wanting to
learn the same thing too, and not showing anyone up. Also unlike the States,
you won't find skaters reading too much into any of these things if do get
snaked or one-upped. People are serious about learning tricks and getting bet-
ter at skating (especially younger kids) but they don't seem to take the lifestyle
of being a "skater" (whatever the hell that is) seriously. And that's a good thing.
Skating-wise, kids lean towards the tech end of things, but not
without variety. Some kids we talked to told me about their
friends who "skate East-style...wallies and stuff...but I'm all
about LA." But when we met the "East Coast" guys, one of
them was kickflipping over planters and doing frontside 180°
fakie 5-0s, and the other was crooked grinding a handrail. Hmm.
Right: ALEXANDER LEE CHANG
(stair and pole ollie)
Age: 23
Skating: 9 years
Sponsor: World and DVS Shoes (through Kohshin),
Cream Graphics, Aqua A Branch
Japan: It's really cool that, for everyone skating in
Japan, either as their hobby or as a job, they're all
skating because it's fun. Plus it's good that every-
one here in skateboarding gets along really well.
Enjoy skateboarding.
70 THRASHER