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Clockwise from left: David McKinney
used every inch of the tiny Tokyo trade
show street course, including the ceiling, on
this blasting poo grab. The kids went
apeshit for Dave Mayhew and his half-Cab
noseslide to nollieflip out. Literally apeshit!
Arcade was in Japan, and T-Bone Olson let
the dogs out with a 360° fly-out to flat.
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"What are we doing?" I would often ask after fifteen or so minutes of
standing around with no purpose. Our hosts were usually not very forth-
coming with information.
"What are we waiting for?" I'd ask. I think I embarassed Dave
more than a few times. A grizzled tour veteran, he was content to do
nothing a lot more than I was. Plus he has those big headphones
that block out noise.
More than once, we had a grown woman running after us while we
went street skating. The first time was with Yuki, our first caretaker,
when we were in Osaka. I don't know if she didn't want us to get lost or
what, but she would jog behind as we skated around looking for street
spots. I felt bad, but she was always smiling once she caught up, so
maybe she didn't really mind. The second time was with a woman shop
owner who, between hustling after us from spot to spot, regaled me with
stories about when Lester Kasai stayed at her house or how great her
shop's mini-ramp without coping was. I'm afraid I wasn't very nice to
her, and I feel bad about it as I write this.
People in Japan wear surgical masks. I guess it's to prevent sickness or
allergies, but it's kind of spooky. It's like there are legions of amateur
surgeons riding the subways. I saw one guy smoking around his mask.
June bought us all masks and I took pictures of Dave and Kanten wear-
ing theirs. Some teenage girls saw me taking their pictures and got very
interested because they thought they were movie stars. After Kanten
pulled down his mask, one especially eager gal put him in a bear hug,
squealed, and refused to let go. It didn't help that Dave kept saying
"movie star" over and over.
The skaters we met in Japan were all very friendly, and there were a
few who were very good. They kept giving us small gifts and there were
lots of handshakes and smiling. Dave did the most ambassador work
and had a ball teaching his new Japanese friends to sing South Park
songs and perform the many intricate San Diego handshakes. They had
a really great time. Hell, we all did.
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