It could be when you’re sad after making a mistake.
The feelings or events that make you grow are different for everybody. Among all, having a heart broken is a popular one for sure: It makes you want to become a better person. Losing someone or something definitely needs to happen for growth, and you cannot avoid it.
For this article, Pixie, who runs a bar and airbnb in Bangkok, Thailand with his girlfriend, talks about what he has learned from his many heart broken experiences.
Some people like to change their lifestyle constantly, and some people like to stick with what they already have. In today’s world, it’s harder for the latter because the world is changing so fast that you’re expected to adapt a little at least. But it’s always the best if you can keep your style.
There are a certain amount of skaters who seem to have a complaint about the way of skateboarding exists now in Japan. The beauty of skating is somehow lost with new perspectives of it, often seen as a sport rather than a culture. It’s making huge changes influenced by society and other events; for example, street skating is getting more and more restricted. Because skaters always have expressed themselves against what society wants them to be or do, they tend to find their own style and rules to live with. It’s harder to keep the skate culture as it is.
However, skateboarding has gotten a good impact as well. After the olympics, they recognized the need of skateparks so that a lot of new ones are currently under construction everywhere. Also you can buy skate gears from your favorite skate shops, either online or in store anytime. For those of you who want to have run a skateboarding business, there’re more options and chances to go success. Even if you miss the old school of skating, you should be grateful for what society has brought in.
SNS might’ve changed the role of skate videos as well. It used to be common for skaters to make their video part, in order to get sponsored from skate brands or some sort. But now, anybody can easily record videos on iPhone and go viral. There maybe some skaters who became famous because of the short videos they post on Instagram.
We’re here to introduce a Japanese girl skater, Sayaka, who is about to have her video part soon. She has close to 40,000 followers on Instagram, and is popular all over the world for her skating. It seems like she’s successful getting the attention, but her dream is further in the different direction. What does it mean for her to appear in a skate video? For this article, she talks about how she got into skating and the future she envisions.
Sayaka started skating when she was in college. Before then, her passion was playing the trumpet for a long time. One day, one of her friends had started working at a sports shop, and she bought a skateboard there. They both started together, but Sayaka got into skating more and more. There’re a lot of people saying that going to a skate park alone as a beginner is scary, though there was never a thought like that in Sayaka’s mind: She started going to Komazawa park by herself. Youtube was a great source to learn basic tricks from, and it was no problem. But she quickly became friends with people at the skatepark. There’re many chances you can start a conversation at skateparks, even if you are new and practicing alone by the edge of a fence.
There were not many girl skaters back then, and that’s what made Sayaka grow as a skater in a way. Even now, girls who skate with boys seem to get better than those who don’t. She got the most out of the environment, but there were some jerks too. Now that she thinks about it, it could’ve been one of the fuels; one of her skater friends told her that her “boring” life is literally showing in her skating. Of course she’s still mad at the person.
Sayaka used to have this idea that she had to be the best at everything when she was in school. But then skateboarding changed that, because she learned that it’s okay to celebrate every time she got close to achieving goals, in this case they are skate tricks. She realized that it’s more important to enjoy the process, not the result. As she practices, she’s gained confidence in herself.
After college, Sayaka had worked at an apparel store and gotten promoted to a store manager in 2 years. She felt that there was nothing more she could do, so she quit and traveled the world. English wasn’t her strong suit, but she was able to communicate through skating. You can still share happiness and other emotions without saying a word. That’s how she made friends everywhere.
It’s a sure thing that Sayaka has impressed many people in and outside Japan by her skating skills with the style. Moreover, she has occasionally contributed to the girl’s skate community in Japan as well. She became a part of Nike SB dojo team in 2019, and worked as a staff at the first skatepark owned by Nike SB. “GIRLS NIGHT” was a weekly event where only girls and trans people could come and skate during the set up time. The event was successful every week and eventually led to a one day event called “GIRLS SKATE FESTIVAL”. During the time when more and more girls started skating, those events helped expand the girl’s skate scene.
Finally Sayaka is taking a step forward to one of her dreams; making a skate part, at 9th year of skate life. A domestic deck company, Lesque Skateboards has supported her through it. For this video, she is committed to only using the clips she got during the day for two reasons: One is that it’s a “Welcome” part and it should be bright as the beginning of starting something new. Another is that the riders of Lesque, Ryo Motohashi and Kenya Okuno both express lightness and smartness through skating. It’s challenging because it’s getting harder and harder to skate in the street, especially in a city like Tokyo. Street skating at night is a way to escape from the cops or security guards.
It seems like Sayaka has been getting enough spotlights for herself, but why does she want to have her skate part? She answers to the question, it’s a dream that she wants to be a skater ,whom skaters would be like “Oh yeah she fucking shreds!”. And it’s always gonna be judged by skate videos. She’s hoping to have her full skate part one day.
When you need a skate gear, there’re a lot of options you can choose from: your favorite skate shops, franchise skate shops, or online. In Japan, there are currently about 400 shops that sell skate gears. The two big reasons why Skateboarding became popular here are because of the olympics and the covid-19. In fact, it has been almost 80 years since skateboarding arrived in Japan, and not many people know the history of it.
Not many people can pursue one thing all their life and become successful. Those that can, make a history and contribute to the future. Their energy is only focused on one thing at a time, so that it will be quicker to achieve it. Though it is hard to do so for some people. According to astrology, Aries and Capricorn seem to be good at sticking with what they decide to accomplish. On the other hand, some people can naturally develop interests in different areas. You don’t have to look for one thing you can be good at, because you might not be born for it. It’s okay to wok on multiple things at a time too because that could create a new thing or thought. Not only respecting difference in colors of skin or sex, but more importantly accepting different types of personalities is also about diversity. Knowing who you are as a person will help you make decisions easier.
Hiromu is a skater who runs his hair salon & store in Harajuku. For this article, he talked about how he manages work and skateboarding, and how skateboarding has affected his life.
There are various ways that people express themselves. Communicating with “words” would probably be the first thing everyone can think of, but that’s not the only one; singing, writing, dancing, painting, and of course skating are also great ways. Some of you might be wondering what expressing yourself means. It is to let the world know who you are so that you can engage your energy with others. In modern society, “words” are seen as the best tool to communicate with, in order to meet new people, or to have a successful business. But, the world should be where not everybody needs to speak well because that is not the only way to communicate with others.
For this article, this skater that is great at showing his thoughts by designing and skating talked about how he became who he is, and his own way to communicate with people.
Convenience store food is easy, cheap and decently good. But the worst part about it is that it’s not as healthy as most of you think. Those bento boxes, pastries and fried food are full of food additives; they are substances that are useful to preserve flavor, enhance taste. Not all of the kinds are promised to be safe because some may increase cancer risk, and have DNA damage. Consuming small amounts of food additives may not be a problem, but you should still avoid them because it is hard to detox out of your body in the long run.
Junk food is another unhealthy food that is high in calories with lesser nutritional value. But there is a skater who makes healthy burgers with no food additives. His name is Tsuyoshi, who runs a burger restaurant in Kobe with his wife, Meiko. For this article, he talked about the beginning of his skate life, and the homemade burgers he makes.
You drink coffee. But how do you drink it? Some may buy a cup to work at a cafe, others might pay a little extra to enjoy the experience: there’s this kind of coffee called “Speciality Coffee”, it uses light roasted coffee beans and tastes sour like wine and tea. The deep roasted coffee beans used to be common since the world wars, but now since farming environment has improved, there is no need to over roast the coffee beans for good keeping. It is required for specialty coffee to be in great condition and consistency in all the process from the farm to serving. They see sustainability and traceability as important qualities that makes good and safe coffee to drink.
Those skilled roasters and baristas can attract unique customers who are looking for special coffee. It’s very interesting that the taste of coffee can change depending on who roasts or who makes it. From that perspective, it is similar to skating because the same tricks look different for each skater.