While Japan’s fairly strict demeanour and love of rules has kept a lid on exponential growth, things are now changing, and changing fast. As you’d expect there’s long been a governing body, the ASJA (All Japan Skateboard Association), which has been making sure everyone has well organised fun since 1996. This, as well as the numerous successful Japanese skate brands has not created a huge scene however due to the fact that concrete skate parks are in limited supply outside of the main cities and the streets are severely off limits. Still, the interest and potential is huge.
As skate journo and frequent visitor Steve Cave says, “Who knows, but with so much concrete in and around Japan’s mega-cities and young people looking for a reason to be, there’s no doubt skateboarding’s there to stay.”