'board or 'blades

[kotatsuneko]

was thinking of taking up one of the two around nowish to have some fun in the summer.

any thoughts on which is more fun / practical in the long run, and anyone get into any hasske doing either in nihon?

[Charles]

I don't know anything about rollerblading, but I do know about skateboarding. Skateboarding is dangerous, it has a 100% injury rate, if you skate, you WILL be injured, and sooner rather than later. I quit skating when my front wheel hit a nail lying on the sidewalk and I did a face-plant on concrete. So do you bruise easily? How quick do you heal? Is your health insurance paid up?

BTW, I am selling my vintage 1985 Sims extra wide skateboard with a Union Jack design, purchased at the original Val Surf shop in Van Nuys, tuned up by the Skull Skates home shop. It's in excellent condition, I used it for commuting short distances, not for stunts so the deck isn't all gouged up. I'll sell it to you cheap, $400.

[kotatsuneko]

i`m pretty tough, never broken any bones (except my skull that one time I joined club dead TM) hardly ever bruise either. no health insurance currently, nhs is free babe ; ]

heh a $400 board eh? well, slam city skates is only an hour or so away on the bus and am after function rather than looks..

[Charles]

i`m pretty tough, never broken any bones (except my skull that one time I joined club dead TM) hardly ever bruise either. no health insurance currently, nhs is free babe ]

Well, let me put it another way, how good are trauma clinics in your area? Because you WILL get injured. And usually it's something that never quite recovers, like knees or elbows or wrists, unless you want to wear pads, in which case you'll be considered a dork by every skater you meet.
All the really good skaters I know (and me also, who was a really bad skater) picked it up as a kid, I think you have to start at an early age to learn skating, while you're young and dumb enough to take lots of foolish risks, and you can heal quickly.
I think it depends on what you want to do. I lived in LA around a bunch of crazy surfers, they all liked stupid, risky thrills so they all skateboarded. I lived in SF near the rollerblade paths and it seemed that everyone was into blading for the exercise.

[AssKissinger]

wrists

I broke a wrist skateboarding down a big hill in Atlanta. There's still a slight scar from the street burns. Ouch.

[maraboutslim]

Let's not get too freaked out guys. I've been skateboarding for 30 years. I skated pools, had a 12' high halfpipe in my backyard in my teens, and just today, at age 36 was skating the local skatepark with my son. I charge big downhill roads and enter downhill slalom races. I wear pads and a helmet and although falling is certainly part of skateboarding, I've never broken anything or been to the emergency room from it. Sure, I know people who've been hurt and even heard of people dying. But overall the carnage has been pretty low considering all the crazy stuff we do on our skateboards! Now motorcycles...those will get you into real trouble!

No skateboarder will ever recommend rollerblades but I'll pretend I don't have an opinion on the coolness of either activity and just remind you that rollerblades kind of suck to go anywhere on because you have to take them off before going into a store or whatever. With a skateboard, you can just pick it up and walk in or get on the train or whatever. In that sense, I think it's a much better vehicle to cruise around on than skates are.


p.s. if there are any skateboarders or surfers on this board, please contact me. I need a "man/woman in japan" for my new company. I'll be visiting back to Tokyo in May so we could meet then...

[Charles]

Let's not get too freaked out guys. I've been skateboarding for 30 years. I skated pools, had a 12' high halfpipe in my backyard in my teens, and just today, at age 36 was skating the local skatepark with my son. I charge big downhill roads and enter downhill slalom races. I wear pads and a helmet and although falling is certainly part of skateboarding, I've never broken anything or been to the emergency room from it...

You wear pads.. what a dork!

My point is that you should expect to get injured, rather than expect to never get injured. If you can't deal with injuries, don't skate.

I guess it depends on what you consider "injury." You don't have to break a bone to get injured. I remember plenty of times I fell and my spine got "sprung" enough to be barely able to move for days. Then I got that road rash on my forehead, and after picking myself up off the ground, dusting myself off, considering how I could have splattered my brains on the concrete, and realizing I didn't have any health insurance, I decided I better lay off until I was insured.
I think about the worst I ever got injured skating was when I was a little kid, I knocked out my two front teeth. Fortunately they were my baby teeth and my adult teeth grew in fine. Back in those days, skates had hard clay wheels and the least little pebble would stop them dead, they were much more difficult to ride and more dangerous than modern plastic-wheel skates. I must have been insane to ride one of those sticks down that long, steep hill on a dare.

[sirwanksalot]

I lived in LA around a bunch of crazy surfers, they all liked stupid, risky thrills so they all skateboarded.

I surf every day and I skate sometimes too. I don't consider myself "crazy" and I've never been to the emergency room while doing either of those activities. Drinking and driving (even a bicycle) is more dangerous of an activity. If you're interested in skating and live near some good hills try one of these. http://www.carveboard.com/home.htm I have one and it's lots of fun.

[katakori]

good thing with rollerblading as opposed to skating: it's ok if you use pads and protections. blades are for yuppies and skate is for bad boys.

but anyway, even with protections you WILL get hurt. and it will take time to recover.

good thing is to watch skate videos when you see the guys eating concrete and hugging it. then, you decide if you're up for it or not. i would love to be the next tony hawk, but i chose to keep my bones and teeth the way they are these days...

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

kotatsu,
It's going to come down to your style, although from the sound of it picking something up for the summer, blades, a long board or as wanks said a carve board.
Blades if you are thinking of doing long distances, a long board for cruising around. The quality of the roads or paths will come into play also. A long board will handle crappy surfaces better than blades. Any sport is a risk on your body. Would recommend wrist guards for both, just because they are easy to break up and it's pretty hard to do most jobs with busted hands. Knee pads, helmets etc wouldn't be needed unless you are really going to start hitting ramps, tricks, grinding next door's cat blah blah which sounds like you wont be doing any time soon.
Whatever you choose, don't be too cheap on the cash. The quality of the equipment will affect your enjoyment eventually.

No hassle doing either in Japan, other than finding good places for it. In East Tokyo anyway. Don't remember much about Sapporo but do remember the paths are pretty wide and flat.

[Charles]

I lived in LA around a bunch of crazy surfers, they all liked stupid, risky thrills so they all skateboarded.

I surf every day and I skate sometimes too. I don't consider myself "crazy" and I've never been to the emergency room while doing either of those activities.

Well, I didn't mean to imply all surfers are stupid or crazy, just these particular surfers. They were all meth heads and generally stupid and crazy. I only knew them because my sister was married to one of them (which didn't last too long, fortunately).
Just to give you an example, I saw one of them do a spinning handstand on his skateboard, blazing out into the middle of busy car traffic on Sunset Blvd without even looking to see if cars were coming, he caused a multiple vehicle crash from drivers slamming on the brakes, trying not to run him down.

[6810]

Really it depends on what you want to do.

I skateboard in Japan, a nice heft longboard. I skate to the shop, around the ricefields etc.

Safety is all to do with what you are trying to do. As for pads etc. Better to look like a dork than to look like a dead guy.

[electrocat]

i agree with maraboutslim. I skated for over 10 years and never went to the hospital for injuries. I skated ramp and street. I jumped off stairs and slid down handrails. Sure you will get mildly hurt sometimes, as in any sport. (i was watching a golf tourney last week and the japanese golfer had to stop playing cuz he was injured). Theres nothing to fear. If you fall down and crack your head open and die.. well it was just your time.. you could have easily done the same thing by falling down a flight of stairs. Live life to its fullest.

[oyajikun]

I'm another skateboarding vet. There seem to be a few of us here eh?

The skate scene in my area (Fussa/Ome) is ripe with really nice people and good parks and backyard miniramps. If you are not a seasoned skateboarder then you should probably start off pushing around on the miniramps or flat ground. Don't feel like you have to try to throw yourself off of any stairs.

If you would like to check out any of the spots around where I live this summer, feel free to PM me. We have some gnarly bbq partys that are fun with or without a board.


If you do decide to go with rollerblades don't feel ashamed. It's okay to be open with your sexuality these days :P

[gamma-ro]

Actually... Skating at Odori Koen in Sapporo is pretty sweet. Just a few blocks west of the tower there is a bowl (if you want to call it that) which you're allowed to do whatever in/on/around/something. But to tell the truth, I've yet to see one person skating in Sapporo. Breakdancing, yes. Unicycle riding, yes. Lame ass guitar crooners, yes. Skateboarders, no.

I actually used to skate semi-pro, but ironically enough, due to an automobile accident, I trashed my left knee and that pretty much killed it. It also made drumming at live shows near impossible. While that does get me pretty upset, we were in a Cadillac that rolled and flipped, so we were lucky that we survived.

We'll be heading back to Tokyo soon, so if anyone can recommend a good skate shop, that would rule. I'll probably make a different post for that though...

[oyajikun]

Actually... Skating at Odori Koen in Sapporo is pretty sweet. Just a few blocks west of the tower there is a bowl (if you want to call it that) which you're allowed to do whatever in/on/around/something. But to tell the truth, I've yet to see one person skating in Sapporo. Breakdancing, yes. Unicycle riding, yes. Lame ass guitar crooners, yes. Skateboarders, no.

I actually used to skate semi-pro, but ironically enough, due to an automobile accident, I trashed my left knee and that pretty much killed it. It also made drumming at live shows near impossible. While that does get me pretty upset, we were in a Cadillac that rolled and flipped, so we were lucky that we survived.

We'll be heading back to Tokyo soon, so if anyone can recommend a good skate shop, that would rule. I'll probably make a different post for that though...

Look up the guys at Fatbros in Nakano. They can hook you up with whatever you need. http://fatbros.net/