Lost In Translation — The Alluring Difficulty of Skateboarding in Tokyo

Legos not Lagos

Tell another visitor the truth about street skating in Tokyo and the response is between an eye-roll and defensive denial.

The truth: Tokyo is [deep breath] …not that good for skateboarding.

Ok, wait! Don’t start yelling! Are there spots? Yeah, there are. Are there tons of incredible skaters from there? Yes, a lot. Is there a vibrant skate scene? Yes, yes, and yes. Does it have quite literally the friendliest, most amazing locals on earth? Good God, a million times yes. Tokyo has incredible skateboarding culture, but when you find yourself a tourist there, you soon realize this previously unfathomable truth: you’re more likely to come home with five expensive jackets you don’t actually need, rather than five tricks you’re happy with for a video.

This past October was one of those great groupthink travel moments where many diverging crews all happened to be in Tokyo at roughly the same time (a la that one January when literally every New York skater was in Barcelona at once.) As we’d cross paths with newcomers, the following interaction became commonplace.

“Have you guys been skating a bunch since you’ve been here?”

“Er, um, not really, no.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s um…kind of hard to skate here.”

Cue the “You guys are probably just hungover everyday,” or worse, the proverbial “We’re more ‘core’ than you” subtext that assures the denying party will have an easier time being productive in Tokyo than you have.

Until you run into them the next time, and they concede to reality.

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Skateboarding & Color Coordination — A Retrospective

A #NYFW Special Report

Words & Interviews by Frozen in Carbonite
Photo Collages by Requiem For A Screen

Skating writ large prides itself on a “no rules, bro!” ethos. #Menswear, an entity with which skating has become increasingly intertwined of late (via Vogue Skateboarding Magazine, etc.), has all kinds of rules. No black belt with brown shoes. No wearing white after Labor Day. One’s tie can’t go past one’s belt. Skating has no such faux pas — except for MAYBE brand-mixing — i.e. one can’t wear a Venture shirt if one is skating Indys or Vans socks if you’re wearing Nikes.

But what if I told you that skaters have curated their own sartorial code for decades — painstakingly color-coordinating their shoes, shirts, hats, and even spots? However, the modern-day thrift store aesthetic has left color-coordination by the wayside, even as color-blocking seemed to make a comeback last year, or some shit. So, in conjunction with New York Fashion Week, enjoy this retrospective of color coordination while you’re waiting to get into the Wang party or whatever.

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Summer Slump

QS office in the middle of the summer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Buried somewhere in the backlash, Bobby put together a really great part for Riddles.

Congrats to fuckin’ Drewwww for becoming Hjalte’s teammate via subtle announcement. Here is his Paych part even tho Johnny peaked with Space Heater.

New one from Antosh and the Vancouver boys.

Tennyson Corporation put together a Mike and Quim Cardona 411 remix video to tug at your heartstrings (that nollie shove, varial flip line…) Our NY Revisited remix of Quim’s clips still gets brought up as many people’s favorite piece of QS #content, and remains one of this website’s proudest moments — probably because there are few skaters as infectiously inspiring in their footage as Quim. Thanks man ♥

“He’s not a bum, it’s crazy.” Paul Young posted Bronze’s raw footage from those couple weeks when the entire city of New York was coincidentally in Barcelona together. Just as a context for how utterly insane Barcelona is for skateboarding, Clearout (#QSTOP10 extra tweaked back smith clip), a two-week old video entirely filmed in the city, avoids almost every single spot from the Bronze clip.

TWS has a rad piece on the invention of the nollie flip, circa 1990.

A couple new Puleo clips in this commercial for German Nieves’ company, Paterson.

“What if you’d been told, on the occasion of Fully Flared‘s premiere nigh ten years ago, that Anthony Pappalardo’s part would provide a primary guiding light for the shoe supplier’s next full-length video — would you have believed it?” Boil the Ocean reviews Lakai’s latest video.

“Is this like a Seinfeld thing, where there’s no story?” Trick link: Anthony Pappalardo interviews Gino Iannucci. Gino is also now on Instagram. Everyone caves. Except Max Palmer and Stuart Hammond.

Respect for sticking the 360 flip in the security guard’s face, but so confused as to why there is an Australian video called Deadass.

Best nollie heel noseslide gets a free board.

Correction: Colin Provost’s impossible should have been in last week’s QS Top 10.

Spot Updates — 1) Not sure how recent this is, but the Philly step(s) under the Williamsburg Bridge on the way to Alligator Ledge are no more. The school installed rails running down the middle of them. 2) Here are a couple photos of the skatepark being built on 114th and 1st Avenue via neighborhood correspondent, Tron Jenkins. It is set to officially open in March of next year.

Quote of the Week: “If Pontus ever has a heart attack, I’m definitely sending my sponsor me tape to Frog.” — Hjalte Halberg

Most adorable intro to a part and top 5 most steez switch back tail ever. Thanks for all the drinks James :)

Out of the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope

kingobamamural

YO, massive shout out to the crew, politicians, shops and community in Providence, Rhode Island, on getting an approval to turn an underused corner of their downtown into a full-on block of a skate plaza. Let this be a precedent for cities across the U.S.

Also congrats to the boy Sean Pablo on going pro

“If they didn’t name me Genesis then my dad would have named me Jubilee, from X-Men, who was a girl. That would’ve been very funny. I’m glad they named me Genesis.” Sex mag (sure) has an interview with Genny re: growing up, DANY, etc.

Zered is on Alltimers, and has a new part out to reassure you of his decade-plus status as the east coast’s most productive pro, and the king of the worst spot in Queens ;)

“It’s still the same if I just don’t let myself become too jaded and reclusive. There are still endless possibilities.” Huck has a feature with Jerry Mraz, who they apparently dubbed “The Batman of Skateboarding.”

The ender of Pat Gallaher’s Insano part is insano. Great part :)

Josh Kalis and Mike Blabac talk about the state of the plaza in 2017 + other things, and The Muska reveals what was in his backpack all those years. Get well soon bud.

Antosh and the Canadians have a new one out on TWS.

“We decided to make the game more fun so that’s why it was never a realistic simulation of skateboarding. That was key to the success of the game.” Ironic that the reason maybe 50% of the people now in their late 20s started skateboarding was something intended to be an unrealistic simulation of skateboarding. Jenkem has the oral history of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

Keeping a real skate shop open in 2017 is God’s work ♥ Thank you to all who do.

Rodrigo TX skates Three Four Up Three Four Down, T.J. does a bunch of crazy shit, and lol that there’s security standing at the bottom of the bank in every clip ever gotten at the Roosevelt Island Monument in this link to a clip with 54k YouTube views.

Boil the Ocean re: Lil Wayne’s proclamation that skateboarding is a better feeling than sex with an actress while her movie is playing on a screen in the background.

Canal uploaded a 30-min 2016 Year-In-Review compilation of Instagram videos.

A bit of street skating + a Maple tee in Quim and Freddy’s Portland, M.E. visit.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Isaiah is the second funnest player in the NBA.

Quote of the Week: “Only three things are keeping me sane in 2017: cocho, hucking, and the boys.” — John Choi

Shirtless Kebab

lotti

Everyone who saw this IG post and thought “Ja$onwear” was correct.

“Cliché may be gone, but the elan, the esprit de corps, and that certain je ne sais quoi that made the brand so fuckin’ dope live on in the various manifestations of EuroTech that permeate the continent. Indeed, the upside to living in a dystopian futureworld is the ability to—via the ‘gram, natch—to view the quotidien of Stalin, Macba, HDV, République, and Jarmers in real time.” Frozen in Carbonite gives us the most comprehensive and heartfelt eulogy for Cliché yet, by focusing on the brand of skateboarding that it helped bring to the world stage: Eurotech™.

Unsolicited links to Cliché-related QS remix videos: Lucas Puig, J.B. Gillet.

T.J. does a pretty wild kickflip over at Pyramid Ledges, and has an entry for the “Run and Gun” contest over on the Berrics.

Bobby will be the titleholder at the spot for years to come, but Trent McClung came through heavy at Three Up Three Down for his new Venture part.

Two solid clips from the LurkNYC crew: “Mean Streets Volume 7,” and “Playground Casino” for Hotel Blue. Kinda been wondering when someone was going to hit the rail and do the quick wallie in front of NYU on W. 3rd…

The Passport boys with one of 2016’s best “Summer Trip to New York” clips.

“I didn’t have a pager, I was just a skater.” Jenkem hung out with Quim Cardona at the new Astor Place :( aanndd part three of the “Right Coast” tour with Quim and Freddy stopping over in Boston is also up on Vimeo.

“Putting on a fedora to go skate is like bringing a guitar to a session; it’s clear that you had other plans for the day that didn’t include skating.” Ripped Laces looks back on skateboarding’s regrettable fedora era

“Ciberwave 2” is the new video from Humidity Skateshop. It’s supposed to bubble :)

Boil the Ocean re: Guy Marino and Eric Koston’s new company.

Chill iPhone clip from the crew behind the Heaven’s Gate video.

Adult Rappers is a good hour-long watch about dreams and what happens to them when you grow up. Not hard to imagine a lot over overlap with skateboarding here. Shout out to Dave Dowd for the recommendation ♥

QS Sports Russell Westbrook Desk: This must’ve been, uh, disorienting. #MVP.

Quote of the Week: “Instead of ‘Skater of the Year,’ there should also be an award that’s just ‘Best Skater,’ where it’s been Ishod for the past five years.” — Leroy Holmes

Good place to start every morning from for the rest of the week ;)