Part Two- Osaka: Double Live Gonzo

Up early in the morning to hop on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka. This thing is almost the fastest train on the planet and makes the delightfully scenic trip from Tokyo to Osaka in just under three hours. Shit, the transportation system in Japan is just too insane. It was super nice weather when I got to Osaka, and I was stoked because I thought the rain might have followed me. It didn't.

My man Junji Murata met me at the train station and we immediately got on a train to go to where my hotel was in Shinsaibashi. Junji is a friend of APB from a few years ago when he came to Hawaii to attend and film his sister's wedding. Junji found himself shopping down at the old APB location one day and Chad randomly asked him if he wanted to go skating. Junji was more than happy to tag along with Chad and a crew as they went to the north shore to skate Steve's and a few other spots, and he also documented the entire day on video, the results of which became a episodes of his Goldenroad travel skate video series. Two Hawaii episodes and also a seven part road trip that Junji and his homies took to the U.S. mainland are viewable on his website SOUNDBOARDING.NET and the Hawaii episodes are also watchable on the video page at DOWNWITHAPB.COM

The next day I got up early and cruised around the area near my hotel, which is in the Minami (South) area of Osaka. Ame-mura, or American Village is a crazy section of town where all the crazy kids hang out and rock the wildest gear, and that was where I roamed around and waited to meet up with Junji for the day of shredding ahead.

Junji and I finally met up and we rolled out about an hour outside of town to a crazy skatepark that was on the eastern edge of Osaka at a place called Shijonawate, kind of close to the city of Nara. Takashi, Shogo, and a bunch of Junji's other homies were already at the park when we showed up, and we had a super fun session at the gigantic park, which resembled a huge wave pool with it's blue ditch-like banks of all shapes and sizes. I thought the place was a natural spot like a ditch, but it turns out it is a proper skate park and you can really get your groove on at this place. Hella surfer style going down in this piece! There were a group of crazy little kids that were stoked to see Junji filming and they were more than happy to mug it up for the camera with all kinds of antics, shit was hilarious and the kids were all so funny and cool. This park was extremely fun and we stayed there for hours.

On my last full day in Osaka, I slept in a little to rest my old ass bones and then ventured out to meet Junji and Shogo for a nice day in Brazil! Well, the name of the spot is Brazil, or as the locals call it, Blazille. It's located in a huge park that was the grounds for the 1990 World's Fair Expo and there is a section where there are gardens dedicated to certain countries and areas of the world, Brazil being the theme for the garden/jungle setting that the spot is located at. You know this place from the Fourstar video, it's the 3/4 pipe looking overhang thing that Mike Carroll does that ridiculous backside ollie on and Eric Koston pulls a frontside ollie to lien grab while holding on to the wall in between eleven and twelve o'clock, just fucking bananas.

Anyway, Brazil gives the Settsu Bowl some serious competition as my favorite spot of the entire trip, I mean I could have stayed there for hours and hours and not have been bored. Takashi did a super high ollie to fakie and Shogo popped the cleanest frontside ollie and I laid back in the jungle cut playing skate paparazzo, taking flicks while Junji filmed. But when I was skating, I was trying my hardest to channel the power of Carroll and Koston and I managed to throw down some over-vert one wheelers while doing my best to adjust to the crazy difference between the transition side and the pump side, where you can ollie the channel like Koston.

After a nice long and juicy (that's what she said) sesh at Brazil, I had to go to the Umeda district to meet up with my other ex-lady's co-workers for a nice sushi dinner, which was incredible by the way. My ex-girl in Osaka by the way, total and compete bitch, but her friends are awesome! They were super stoked on the omiyage I brought them from Hawaii, and they hooked up dinner which I can assure you was not cheap.

With a belly full of gourmet sushi and fine Japanese beer, I was ready for the night time session with the crew, and I met up with Junji, Takashi, and mister K.D.-san over at another famous Fourstar spot, the nearby Herbis Osaka. Herbis is that white brick spot with the tit-looking igloo thingy and the bank to wall pillars that Mike Carroll does a switch wallride on. Insane, considering that this place is really hard to ride if you have harder wheels, the bricks are difficult to get speed on and hard to get used to.

We rolled around Herbis for an hour or so, my board went into the water not once but twice, and it was some of the most disgusting water I have ever seen in my life. There are a large number of homeless people at this spot and lord knows what kind of nasty bodily fluids and ruckus lives in that filth. My board sure knows what kind. It got completely, and I mean completely submerged in that shit. Normally that would have been session over, throw that shit in the gutter and go get another, but I was in the middle of the last session of the trip, and I wasn't about to go out like that!

I salvaged my vessel and managed to ollie over the igloo, which is not as easy as Brian Anderson and Rick Howard made it look by kickflipping over it, I assure you. My man Takashi executed a perfectly popped and caught pop shove-it over the igloo and I immediately rewarded him with several gummy lemon sours, which happen to be my new favorite Japanese candy, next to Crunky bars, but that's a whole different story. My man K.D. hucked a fine boneless over the hip and then we proceeded to the bank to ledge next to the spot that runs into a busy street. The bank to ledge is where Mark Gonzales ollies up the curb and then goes up the bank and nosepicks the ledge in the Fourstar video, and it's way harder to skate than it looks. You have to book it down the road in the middle of a crowded street in between traffic lights and taxis, and then ollie up a curb to get to the bank, and then once you're on the bank, ollie up to the ledge to try whatever trick it is you're trying. Holy shit, this thing was a fucking battle to just 50-50 grind, let me tell you. It took me pretty long, but I finally did a frontside Smith grind on it, and even though it was on the sketchy side and I normally would have liked to try it again, I was more than happy to take that shit, as it was less than 50 degrees and I was tired a fuck by then.

That was the last thing I was able to skate in Osaka, and the next day I woke up, checked out of my hotel, did a little last-minute shopping, and finally hopped on the bullet train back to Tokyo, where my flight home was leaving from. The trip was so insane, I can't even fathom how much fun I had in Japan. Yeah, it would have been really memorable and cool if I had a chance to make the trip with a crew of friends, but in the end it worked out awesome all by myself. I got to meet so many cool people and see so many amazing things, you really need to make a trip to Japan if you haven't had the chance to yet, there's more to do there than you can possibly begin to imagine. And if you're going to be skating? Forget about it. There are soooo many crazy spots and the skaters there are all super humble and cool and will welcome you like a brother.

I want to extend personal thanks and give much respect to everyone who showed me around and hung out and skated with me during the trip. HUGE domo arigatos to Masa and Miko, Masa's homies that skate super good whose names I have forgotten, GOMEN!!! PhiWiSpot, Rip, everyone at Burton, Miyuki, Junji, Soundboarding, Tha Osaka Vibe, K.D.-san, Fuzenna, Takashi, Shogo, Kenji, Yukihiro, Mitsuhiro, all the Takashimaya crew, all the cute little Shijonawate skatepark kids, the Osaka police for their weirdly kind way of doing business, Masako, Kayoko, Tokyu Hands, Yebisu beer, All sushi, Takoyaki balls, Crunky bars, Gummy sours, Transworld Japan, and everyone and anything else that makes Japan the best country in the world. NIHON DAISUKI! Ja mata ato de!