Traffic Skateboards — Blog — Traffic Skateboards

Revisiting one of our favorite moments from 2019.

Traffic Skateboards team hits Japan. "After watching and re-watching Hiroki’s part in Traffic’s, 'Look Left' it only seemed logical we needed to visit Japan. The spots, the vibes, it all made perfect sense, so I assembled the crew… Joining me would be Ricky Oyola, Kevin Coakley, Luke Malaney and George Haunschak. It was settled. Flights booked, accommodations reserved, passports dug up, and we were off. A quick 15 hours later we made it. Despite our disheveled appearances we all breezed right through security. Habuchin from Big Wing Distribution greeted us with beers and a big “Kampai!” We later learned this would be a regular and always welcomed occurence. Excited, we all threw our boards down when a horn honks Habuchin shouts, “Look Right!” We all jump back dodging the speeding cars. Oh yeahhh, they drive on the other side of the road, duh. Gotta remember to Look Right… Look Right? A lightbulb went off and I knew the name of our next project."—Pat Stiener

Visiting Tokyo is essentially like visiting the future. This was made apparent right away when we all used the airport bathrooms. If I could take one thing from Tokyo back with me to America it would have to be the heated toilet seats. They’re so warm and inviting it really makes the whole experience a lot more pleasant. The technology didn’t end there, leaving the airport on the bullet train made me realize how slow and inadequate our trains are back in the states. Hmm, maybe I’ll leave the toilet seats and take the bullet trains back with me.

As we sped smoothly at 200 mph it started to sink in that we were in a far away land in a far away time zone. We decided staying up and pushing around the city was the best way to prevent the dreaded jet-lag. Seeing as we were tourists in a new world, Shibuya seemed to be the destination of choice. It’s basically a cooler version of NY’s Times Square complete with Owl Cafe’s, Love Hotels, and endless amounts of bars or Izakayas. Habuchin guided us through the streets as we weaved in and out of people in a maze of neon lights, only stopping for beer and snacks. Tokyo is famous for it’s convenience stores and vending machines. We quickly learned the three pillars of Japanese fine dining… 7-11, Family Mart, and Lawsons. Open 24 hours a day with an endless selection of strange snacks, noodle sandwiches, corn dogs (American dogs) and all stocked with cold beer and free Wi-Fi. I don’t think we ever passed one without going in, but the real star of the show was the onigiri, or “rice triangles” as we called them. Triangular shaped balls of rice wrapped in seaweed with various fillings for only a dollar fifty. Sign us up.

*Hiroki Muraoka, Kilty McBabpipe. / Photo: Reyes*

Our first night in Shibuya was starting to wane, but Habuchin had one more stop in mind. He mentioned hitting up Beat Cafe, we were all super tired so the idea of some coffee sounded good to us. We rolled up to this building that was tucked away at the bottom of a hill, with just one door and no signs or anything. Interesting I thought… The door opened and we were greeted with cigarette smoke and a DJ playing Echo And The Bunnymen. We all looked at each other and quickly decided this was way better than coffee. We felt right at home in this Tokyo dive bar, but eventually the mix of beer, rice triangles and delirium finally started to settle and we decided it was finally time for some sleep. Beat Cafe was the perfect way to end the night.

The next day we awoke on our Japanese mats slightly sore, and super early. Still not adjusted to the time difference, we felt like some vending machine coffee was in order. With caffeine flowing through our blood we were ready to find our tour guide Hiroki. Hiroki Muraoka is our fellow Traffic warrior and Tokyo legend, his nickname is also “Beer Machine” so needless to say he fits right in. Locating Hiroki proved to be easier said than done seeing as none of our phones had service. Going off screenshots of Google maps and our own guesstimations we finally rolled up to Hiroki and Habuchin. They greeted us with Family Mart chicken and Kirin beer… do as the locals do I suppose.

*Kevin Coakley, nosegrind. / Photo: Iseki*

Skating through the streets of Tokyo your head will dart left and right taking in all the amazing architecture. Every push you take is another incredible spot, but stop to skate and you’ll get about five minutes. Tokyo soon turned into a giant cat and mouse game, and we were up for the challenge. Each spot a new level, get in and get out was the main plan. If you see a security guard coming send a distraction, “What, I can’t do that here? Sorry I’m an American, Sumimasen!” would get you an extra five minutes. If all else fails, bow and leave because you know you’re coming back for more.

Being chased around the city all day can build up quite the appetite. Which is perfect because we were always excited to see which Japanese dish was next. Well almost everyone was excited, the lone vegan of the crew Kevin had some difficulties here and there, but when worse came to worst he could always point to a photo of french fries. One of our favorites of the Japanese cuisine was the ramen, and Habuchin had just the spot for us. We awkwardly made our way down a steep narrow stairway and into a darkish red room with a wall of private booths. You know that movie scene where the prisoner sits down face to face with a visitor and they talk to each other on a phone. It’s just like that, except when you sit down there’s no phone just a window covered by a curtain and some napkins on the table. Next thing you know the window slides up and some anonymous hands push out a delicious bowl of ramen. No distractions, just you and your noodles, the best part is they even had a vegan option for Kevin.

If you’ve seen anything about Tokyo it’s usually the shot with a sea of people all crossing the street at once. Or the images of people packed into trains like sardines. Those visuals are all too accurate and make skating during the day very difficult. So our new strategy became taking it easy in the day and striking at night when there were less people. It worked like a charm, the streets were practically ours. One night a spot we had been eyeing was finally free, and we decided to go for it. We rolled up cameras on and George boardslid through this kinked hubba second try. Everyone was psyched, beers were raised, and the moral was high. George wanted one more though, so he rolls back up, gets set up and takes off. He hits the ledge and immediately sticks. Boom! George is tossed head first into the ground. Stunned, we all walk over—his head is cut up and swollen, but he’s taking it like a champ. We clean him up in a Lawson’s bathroom and carry on. We notice George is a little loopy but he still seemed alright. That was until he started repeating himself… I ask him if he remembers the slam, “What slam?” George asks. Ok, it’s time for the Emergency Room.

*George Hanuschak, post clean up. / Photo: Pat Stiener*

Habuchin, George, and myself jump in a cab to the Hospital while the rest of the guys continue on the skate mission. After some translating and paper work George was on his way to the cat scan. Habuchin and I decide to hit the local Family Mart for some squid jerky and cold beers while we wait. As we head back into the hospital we see a nurse and she assures us George is doing fine. Next thing you know George is being wheeled out to us freshly bandaged up. By this point it’s about 2 a.m. and we’re the only people in the hospital. All three of us are sitting there alone when George asks Habuchin, “So can we just leave?” Habuchin looks around for a second pauses and says, “Yes leave now fast!” We rush out the side door hit the streets and skate away.

We link back up with the crew at another spot and everyone’s relieved it all worked out. Well, almost everything… I look around and realize Ricky is missing. Apparently they were at another spot trying to film a trick when the cops snuck up and surrounded them. Everyone ran, but Ricky was the last one out and they nabbed him. Great I think, what now? It’s 3 a.m. and the trains don’t start running again until 5. Everyone agrees Beat Cafe is the answer. The streets are empty as we cruise towards Shibuya. We arrive and open the door, the first person we see is Ricky sitting at the bar. Turns out he did get away, and without any trains running he came to the same conclusion we did. Great minds think alike.

Check the full article at Transworld Skateboarding here.

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