Sakura Sake Tour — Episode 5: Rolling Through Tokyo & Osaka

Words by Josh Zickert

It was our fifth and final day in Tokyo. Toshi took us on the Yamanote metro line to the University of Tokyo in Meguro City to skate a bank spot tucked along the river covered with Sakuras in full bloom. Such an absolutely beautiful setting. Two skater kids with their parents were excited to see the team light up the spot.  Fortunately Eugenia, Caroline, JJ and Five all copped clips in the first few minutes but sadly the police shut it down.

The crew ventured to Shibuya Skate Park for a proper warm up and a grassroots demo for the young rippers. Toshi and the crew slayed the mini ramp & the kids were hyped! Bonestalone closed the sesh in style by launching off a small kicker over a tall fence into a bank ramp.

Our bullet train to Osaka was scheduled to leave in a few hours so the crew split up to get souevinours, etc. Bonestalone had two high profile spots left on the hit list, so Five, Toshi, Blair, JJ, Rodrigo & I headed to Komazawa to scope a massive rail Ollie.  Within a couple of tries Bonestalone rolled away from this NBD.  It was madness!

We jumped back on the metro to Nihonbashi which is the central business district of Chūō, Tokyo. Obviously security was tight, but they couldn’t stop the sizzle as Stalone was in true jedi mode & full Cabbed the crispy marble 11 first try!  Toshi dapped him up and everyone linked back up underground.

We arrived at Tokyo Station & jumped on the bullet train for a quick ride to Osaka. Leo Takayama knew a choice sushi spot so we enjoyed a proper team dinner. We were staying in a hotel close to Teradacho Station on the O (Osaka Loop Line). The area is called Tennōji-ku which is just a few blocks from Shitennō-ji, 四天王寺, the very first buddist temple of Japen which translates to Four Heavenly Kings.

The next morning the squad met up at 7-11 for breakfast before we kicked off on what would be an absolute insane day of epic spots in the stunning city of Osaka. Leo took us to the golden natural cereal bowl spot tucked deep in a secret residential neighborhood approximately 90 minutes away. We walked along a gorgeous path lined with rose bushes and finally approached the gem in pure silence, took a deep breath & prepared for a quick, yet dreamy session.

Blair, Rodrigo & Five took their positions as Yiyo, Caroline, Bonestalone, Leo, JJ, Richie & I enjoyed the magestic colorful trannies. The pure rhythmic sounds of skateboarding were the only thing you could hear during this 10-minute heist. It was magical, that is until the police were giving us the boot.

We quickly obliged and walked back to the train knowing we got to skate one of the illest natural spots in the world.

Episode 6 will feature the the session from the Osaka's famed Herbis Plaza.