Origins: The Photo That Named the Japan Air Skateboard Trick
Re-purposed from TW Snowboarding. July 2015.
This one came ready-made from our good friends over at TW Snowboarding (Ed note, TW Snow was absorbed into Snowboarder, and the article has been lost to the digital netherworld). They did the leg work for this article, so I just wanted to repost it here for any skateboarders like myself who tend not to spend much time on snowboard-related media. Unlike many of the deep investigative skate nerd mysteries we tackle here at Origins, this one is as clear-cut as they come.
Tony Hawk explains: “There was a TWS article with a feature on Japan around ’84. The first spread was a huge picture of a Japanese guy doing a tweaked mute air with the headline “JAPAN” above it. We had never seen an air like that and immediately started calling it by that name because the magazine layout almost named it by default. Someone should find that issue.”
The dudes at TW Snow did just that. Here’s what they found:
TWSNOW: “Well, after leafing through enough pages of old TransWorld SKATEboarding issues to make our thumbs raw, we found it. Memory can be a slippery thing, and it turns out the trick appeared in the February 1985 issue, and the photo is the little inset, not a spread. Otherwise, Hawk’s recollection is spot on, and the unknown Japanese skater’s unique tweak on a conventional mute grab laid the foundation for what will forever be referred to as a Japan. Inspired, Hawk began to replicate this move, and his lanky build accentuated this tweak like no one else could. Shortly after, two shots of Hawk ran in the August 1985 TWSKATE, immortalizing the grab and name forever.”
Big thanks to the dudes at Snowboarder for digging up these pages. Big thanks to Tony Hawk for helping cement one of the raddest tweaks in the book. And thanks to the unknown Japanese ripper for giving birth to the Japan. If you know the mystery skater in the OG photo, hit us up. Otherwise, maybe it was just another Animal Chin sighting.
Update: 11/30/16: Mystery Solved!
A day after we posted this article, Slap Pal ‘Happenstance,’ aka videographer/filmmaker Brett Nichols, solved the mystery. After sending an email to Hidehiko Fujiwara, the owner of Japan’s first skate shop in the early ‘80s—California Street Skateshop in Tokyo, incidentally still open today (Go support them!)—Brett got this message back within a few hours:
“His (The mystery OG Japan air skater) name is Philippe Mentone. He is Japanese/French, Born in Japan. The bowl is Musashi Skatepark at Westside Tokyo, City of Kiyose, Tokyo. But Skatepark is already gone long time ago in the late '80s. Photo is by NISI (Masanori "Devil man" Nishioka). Yeah, It's great history of Japan.”
—Hidehiko Fujiwara
Brett also learned that the photographer NISI, who shot the photo of Philippe, passed away in 2014.
Masanori Nishioka aka Nisi
Nisi passed away on 7/23/2014 , 62 years old. He had diabetes. Lived in Surf town Shounan area, Kamakura, Kanagawa. Originally from Kouchi, Shikoku, he was a pioneer skateboarder, surfer, writer, photographer and oil painter. He made lots of Japanese skate media: Ollie magazine, Nation magazine, Cyxborg magazine.
Rest in Peace, Nisi.
As far as the OG Japan grabber, Phillip, Brett is still checking around to see if anyone can locate him. He did work at the French embassy in Tokyo, but other than that the trail is cold. We will keep you posted if we manage to track him down. In the meantime, thanks for indirectly giving us one of the coolest grabs in the books Phillip. And thanks for solving this, Brett and Hidehiko.
Follow up interview with Philippe Mentone here!
Follow Brett on Instagram: @brettenichols and check out his project Pathways.
Follow Hidehiko on Instagram: @california_street.
Previous nerdology:
- Gonz and Hawk: The Origins of the Stalefish
- The Photo That Named the Sadplant
- Origins of the Stalefish Follow Up
- Skatenerdstarmaps: Kenter Canyon with Eric Dressen
- Skatenerdstarmaps: School Q
