Japan has exploded into the wider consciousness of the skateboarding world in recent years. Whether through the internet-busting antics of Gou Miyagi, the Far Eastern Skate Network’s distinctive and innovative video output, the lore of the Osaka Daggers or the domination of the women’s contest circuit, Japan is a bigger part of skateboarding’s cultural soup than at any time before now.
Within that context, it was perhaps inevitable that Red Bull’s world-cruising Drop-In Tour would rock up in the land of the rising sun having already blazed a trail through the US and Europe hitherto. August 2023, therefore, saw a grip of our international skate squadron assemble to put on two ballistic skate demos in the cities of Tokyo and Osaka and hit the banks, railings and assorted street furniture we could find along the way on a 500 kilometre whistle-stop tour of this fantastic country in the height of summer.
The demos at Tokyo’s Murasaki and Osaka’s Tiger Rack skateparks bookended the journey with a lot of excited Japanese skateboarders getting the chance to be up close and personal with Zion Wright, Ryan Decenzo, Torey Pudwill, Margie Didal, Alex Sorgente, Jake Wooten and Max Habanec in both cities, where a lot of new friendships were formed, autographs signed and stokage freely distributed in a tour that seems sure to become part of Japanese skate history. Watch all the excitement from a wild skatebarding roadtrip across summertime Japan up above.
The Red Bull Drop-In Tour continues: but where to, next?
#redbulldropintour #japan #skateboarding
Production: Ira Ingram - Speed Wooble
Photography: Anthony Acosta & Kenji Haruta
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