Lost in translation: Flip goes to Japan - skateboarding in Japan

Thrasher Magazine, August, 2002 by Michael Burnett

AS RIDICULOUS AS IT SOUNDS, IT SEEMS that skateboarding is dying in Japan. That's right. While the US is choking on skateparks, skate shoes, skate games, skateboarding monkeys, Pay-Per-View skate spectaculars, Dogtown and Z-Boys and every available inch of concrete covered with little kids bailing kickflips, sales in Japan are mysteriously slipping. While a quick shot of hot death might be just what the SoCal scene needs to get ail this skate stopping in check, it's hard to think it could actually be on the wane, especially in the Land of the Rising Sun where American trends are sucked down like Skittles.

I think the spiked belt has got something to do with it. The Japanese are very fashion oriented, or more precisely, almost entirely fashion oriented. And they hate the spiked belt--absolutely detest it. While it's seemingly been added to the required-materials list for California high school students, I only saw one kid with a spiked belt in Japan, and there's a pretty good chance he was unpopular with his peers. Modern skateboarding has nothing to do with spiked belts, but as the hip hop influence has recently cabbage-patched from the forefront, the Japanese seem to be losing interest in an activity that no longer necessitates maxing, swarthy slang and highly technical pants.

The last time I went to Japan, we were at a demo and the host directed my attention to an older skater dressed in tightish jeans and a quilted flannel. "That is, uh, Japanese John Cardiel," he told me.

The dude was terrible. He was my age and was causing quite a stir with his exaggerated slashing and deliberate use of the "gnar" face. Everyone clapped and laughed as he struggled with some early grab airs and lien to tall sits. He wore a foam truck stop hat and if you squinted hard you could almost imagine he was Cardiel, albeit an Asian and slightly retarded one. The fact that he was also sponsored by Axion, and wearing a sweet silver pair, did little to help his disguise. It was so bad it almost made me wish I was the Japanese Alan Midgette and had retired 10 years earlier.

That's the Japanese sensibility: fashion before function, to borrow some '80s wisdom. They pick up on some of what's going on, but some crucial elements are always lost in translation. Or so it's been said. But even assuming all this arm chair cultural analysis is accurate--that Japanese skaters are more concerned with shoes then stunts, hair style over air style--it still doesn't explain why the world's first showing of the mind-meltingly anticipated Flip video was to a half-empty room of kids too scared to even clap.

Poor promotion was likely the culprit.

"There's tons of skaters in Tokyo!" Geoff kept saying. Regardless, the few that turned up for the first two showings seemed only mildly interested, By the third premiere we had hit up the keg and did whatever we could to let our polite hosts know it was OK to let their hair down and go ape shit. We should have brought the Japanese Dave Duncan with us.

"If you see something you like, let 'em know about it!" Duncan-san would say. "I can't hear you?!!!"

We decided all they needed was a little guidance in the art of video appreciation.

"Fuck the Germans!" I yelled, invoking the video's original title. "Whoo-haahhh! Haahhhhh!!!"

Geoff threw a handful of chips.

"Whoo-hoo!" one of them finally offered.

"Yee-hahhh!" I continued. Boy, was I lit. Soon enough they warmed up and were having a ball, whooping and hollering as the boys flew by on the screen. Turns out they were just a little shy.

The premiere, which was the impetus for a short Japan trip, was planned months prior. Therefore, Fred informed me the video shown was actually only a rough edit. They would be filming for another month for the final product. Seemed good enough to me.

Actually, the schedule wasn't that rough, but with only three days in Tokyo including a day of premieres and two demo days, it was going to be a challenge to squeeze enough crooked grinds out of the dudes to assemble a satisfactory article. On the distributor-provided itinerary, the only free day was marked with "Interview and photos with Transworld Japan. Maybe handrail?"

Sure, I was thinking maybe handrail, too...I just didn't have the nerve to put it on paper.

Fortunately it was the fearsome Flip team I was dealing with. Geoff, Mark, Bastien, Ali, Tom and Tom's friend Whalid were the crack force. That's right! Penny's back, nah' sayin'! And he's on the wagon and team' it up! Boulala, too, was in fine form having toned-down his chemical regimine to keep his mind and body limber. Seems the Pissdrunx have had their fun and are slowly wandering home from the bar-back to their first mistress, sweet lady skateboarding.

The first demo was at Wicked'Z skatepark and the boys pretty much freight trained in and demolished the joint. Even the local hero didn't have a chance (although he made a valiant effort, working through his in-park hammer program, over and over), as Bastien and Mark gave the fiat bars a much needed clinic in the science of stoke. Boulala displayed his big air abilities with Japans, chicken wings, stales and the kickflip melon over the super-kicker. Mark even had a special surprise when he was reunited with a female admirer from a previous visit. She was nice as pie and had a sketchbook full of Japanimation drawings of Mark and the Circa team, whom she met prior. The drawing of videographer Lee DuPont was especially good, although she was steadfastly unwilling to part with it. Sorry, Lee. I tried.