Longboarding trough Japan

[Tetragrammaton]

Hello to everyone, my first post here.

Early july, a long planned and anticipated project will begin. I'm going to skate trough Japan from Sapporo to Fukuoka solo and unassisted with only the absolute neccesities in my backpack. 3 months, around 2000 kilometers on longboard, sick hills, sleeping in tent, abandoned houses and such.

Got any tips? ("Don't do it" is not an option.)

I have a couple of questions right of the bat, I'd really appriciate if someone could shed a little light on following issues:

I've never talked with anyone who rides a longboard in Japan, how are the roads and the asphalt around there? What about the general attitude towards longboarding? How easy it is to find equipment on the road, I mean do they have skateshops that sell for example bearings and wheels for longboards or do I have to lug every sparepart in my backpack from Finland?

[kiba]

Hello to everyone, my first post here.

Early july, a long planned and anticipated project will begin. I'm going to skate trough Japan from Sapporo to Fukuoka solo and unassisted with only the absolute neccesities in my backpack. 3 months, around 2000 kilometers on longboard, sick hills, sleeping in tent, abandoned houses and such.

Got any tips? ("Don't do it" is not an option.)

I have a couple of questions right of the bat, I'd really appriciate if someone could shed a little light on following issues:

I've never talked with anyone who rides a longboard in Japan, how are the roads and the asphalt around there? What about the general attitude towards longboarding? How easy it is to find equipment on the road, I mean do they have skateshops that sell for example bearings and wheels for longboards or do I have to lug every sparepart in my backpack from Finland?

Wow dude, that's a big undertaking. Japan is awesome! I know that there are some skate shops in Japan, but you should plan out your route so that you will stop at a few of them. Pavedwave (a member here on this fish) has skated all around tokyo back in 2007.
He made a record of his ride there at this website: www.pavedwave.org
go to RIDES then scroll down till you find the 'lost in tokyo" entry

Also, I think there is a thread called Okinawa. You could ask the guys on there if they could help you out.

[BeebOH]

I'm currently on Okinawa a small island south of the "mainland". Unfortunately I'm not quite sure just how different the roads and attitude toward longboarding are in mainland from Okinawa...but I do know that you should be slightly more cautious with the drivers there.

Things can get a little sketchy

Also, as Kiba said you should check out the Okinawa thread, I'm sure that some of the other riders there may have some accurate information on what it's like in mainland.

[Archy]

I was in Japan for the summer like fifteen years ago. Didn't skate at all, but from what I remember the rural roads (and especially the rural mountain roads) can be narrower (and have less or zero of a shoulder) than similar roads I've seen in Europe or the states. Narrower and gnarlier and less forgiving than those cliff-edge Swiss roads. Things may have changed. Who knows. But it might be a good idea to closely examine your route in aerial photos to avoid some of the more teeny tiny dangerous stretches. And look for a thread someone posted last year about dh in Japan. There were some pics of some crazy little roads.

In the cities I bet you'll be fine. I think I remember bike lanes everywhere.

Also, you might want to pm Xgecko. I think he posted something recently about skating in Yokohama.

Sounds awesome. Keep us updated when you go. Good luck!

[SoCalBiz]

there's a lot of nice paved roads all throughout japan,
i wish I could join you on your journey man.
if you ever need anything once you get to around Tokyo,
i would gladly give you a hand.

[Tetragrammaton]

[SoCalBiz]

nice,
let me know with what your in need of and I can order them in advance.
i can have some time off of work for that.
i can meet you anywhere in the kanagawa prefecture and the tokyo region,
and if your in need of shoes that are larger than what you find in japan theres a few stores that i know of. just let me know your preference

my email is
micheal.hughes@yahoo.com

email me anytime and if you have any questions.

[wafflesole]

my advice is to get over to SkateFurther - Index page and sign up.

In the last year alone there have been solo trips acorss china, aouth America, ireland, the uk and lots more are in the works.

Get on the site and look through some of the threads, there's heaps of helpful threads, kit lists, best equipment and board reviews ets.

nat

[Tetragrammaton]

Ok, the plane leaves tomorrow and the adventure is finaly about to begin. Needles to say, I'm absolutely hyped.

Check out my blog here

Skate Japan 2009

[Archy]

幸運を

10babelfishes

[fender]

Ok, the plane leaves tomorrow and the adventure is finaly about to begin. Needles to say, I'm absolutely hyped.

Check out my blog here

Skate Japan 2009

Hey dude. If you happen to make it to the Tokyo area on the 15th of July, PM me. I'm visiting Japan at the moment and have contacted a local longboard crew here. They'll be taking me to some hill in Chiba on that day for some DH. Good luck on your journey

[SoCalBiz]

oh whaa!?!?!?!?!
i know chiba has a lot of good hills but its a little ways for me,
is it worth it?

[fender]

oh whaa!?!?!?!?!
i know chiba has a lot of good hills but its a little ways for me,
is it worth it?

It's alright. The guys at Tokyo just sessioned small spots. The roads are narrow. There are very little cars but if one just comes around a blind corner, ur screwed. I wouldn't go all the way there just for the hills cuz it's in the middle of nowhere. There are some very nice hills at Atami and the area is also a nice vacation spot so there r other things to do there besides skate, like surf.

[Tetragrammaton]

I found Tokyo area rather flat compared to the northern parts of Japan like Hokkaido which was awesome. Sick hils after Aomori aswell. After Sendai towards Tokyo, the terrain really flattened out although at that point it was more of a blessing than a curse.

Sign on top of a hill somewhere after Aomori