Skate Rant

(by Takaya)

Hi, this is a Skate-Rant, not to be confused with a Skate-RaMP.

As Caroline mentioned, we live in Tokyo.
And I guess that around town, you could collect your fair share of "No Skateboard" signs.
Such as this one :

Or this one (nicer - more flowers) : 

I'm not sure about regulations but I guess it's better to be careful on the road and also on the sidewalk, especially at night. Also I noticed that when passing in front of Koban (police box) or Police station, you will certainly have a reaction. My advise : just step off from the board, say Yes and move on.

Today, in our neighborhood there were actually MenInBlack and more police than usual. I was cruising on a temporary pedestrian precinct (commercial small road which is closed to cars on sundays). A nice policeman was standing just at the corner of the street. 

I saw him - he saw me. And boom, I got the verbal notice just when I over-skated outside of the pedestrian zone. Fair enough.

Coming from the country which started the global trend for the Kick Board / Razor back in 1999, I'm not sure I get the rationale. Unfortunately Kick Boards seem as dangerous as skateboards to me, the main point being that kids/adults rarely use full-protection on Kick Boards. You won't see me on a board without hand or wrist protections.

I won't discuss the motorized bicycles which are not differentiated from bicycles as far as regulation is concerned... full-helmets should be required.

Plus, from what I've seen, surf does not carry a negative image...

Anyway, thanks to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor and Empress for making this experiment in "limits of long-boarding" possible (Yes, I could argue that Long Boarding is more quiet as tires are softer etc...). I'm sure that was not what they were headed for today but well, thanks anyway.

Picture taken by Mathurin

By the way, the first time we saw the Empress wave out of her car, we were really caught by surprise literally in front of our house and it turned out to be quite exhilarating.

So that's my rant : let the long-boarders cruise. We mean no harm for anyone, the carbon trace is reasonable and it's a great relaxing exercise.

This one too, by Mathurin

"Shaka"