Z-Boy Returns

Modern skateboarding is a blatant contradiction in terms: fiercely aggressive and expressive yet increasingly mainstream; both individualistic and conformist at the same time; highly organized commercially but uncontrollable in its ethos. Whichever way you look at, the sport has left an indelible mark on urban youth culture despite society's lingering perception of the sport as a reckless and pointless pastime. Skateboarding has become a multi-million dollar industry that shows no sign of fading into insignificance.

Before the evolution of vertical skateboarding (known as "vert" in skate language), where the board challenges the steepness of the incline and eventually becomes airborne, the sport was still regarded by many as a fad. The aerial moves that have developed in skateboarding have also influenced its first cousins, surfing and skating, as well as windsurfing, wakeboarding, sky surfing, and inline skating. And while the popularity of street skating has increased, vertical skating is still the yard stick by which a professional skater's ability is measured.

The pioneers of vertical skateboarding were a bunch of young, hard-nosed surfers from the desolate urban jungle of the boundaries between Santa Monica and Venice Beach, Los Angeles, otherwise known as "Dogtown." Nurtured and by local surfboard, Jeff Ho; renowned artist, photographer and writer Craig Stecynk; and Skip Engblom, the team started using their surf down-time to skate, and soon started copying the radical styles of their favorite surfers.

The team would launch the careers of two of skateboarding's biggest legends: Tony Alva and Stacey Peralta, who have been recognized as prime candidates for any future skateboarding hall of fame. Alva's stellar ability (as well as his wild man image and up-setter attitude) and Peralta's marketing intuition set them up for highly successful career paths. For the others, with the lure of lucrative sponsorship deals from the fledging skateboard industry, the team split: either cashing in, self destructing or simply walking away.

One of those who sampled the fame and fortune was Kagoshima emigre Shogo Kubo, whose fluid style and power gained the respect of the team and those who understood the extent of new ground being broken. Apart from disrupting all stereotypes of the non-assuming, clean-cut image of Japanese immigrants, Kubo was one of the first skaters of Asian descent to make an impact on professional and vertical skateboarding. Kubo was recently in Osaka and Tokyo for the opening of Dogtown and Z-Boys, a hyperkinetic, award-winning documentary that retells this defining era in skateboarding history. When the documentary's producers were tracking down the original members of the team, they "accidentally found" Kubo in Hawaii. In a sport dominated by big egos and attitude, Kubo's laid back and carefree attitude underlies his wish to give back to the sport what he got out of it.

"As you can see in the documentary, we talk a lot about style. And that is what it's all about for me. It is great to catch up with a lot of the people I use to hang with. I don't really have much contact with the people from those days. This is what the movie is about for me, the chance to come out here and meet a lot of the skate and surf community. While I am not involved deeply in the industry, I am still into surfing long boards and I skate a little. I have a steady job importing Japanese food, and while I still have my line of skateboards, that's just the icing on the cake, as far as money is concerned anyway."

©Glen E Friedman Kubo then...

Definitely, the Z-Boys idea of fun was a lot more radical than your average Los Angeles resident. And when a drought forced suburbanites to drain their swimming pools, the original Z-Boys discovered that the natural contours of the pools provided a static solid wave - more urban concrete to assault. Kubo and the other skaters would hunt out vacant pools like urban guerillas.

"I can go on about it but there seemed to be an energetic vibe when we rode together. As to why we were so progressive, it is mainly related to how we surfed and lived. Many of the earlier skating styles were based around surfing moves pulled off by Larry Bertlemann (legendary Hawaiian surfer). We progressed from riding banks to swimming pools, which ramp skating comes from. What we want people to understand is what skateboarding is now comes from what we were doing at that time."

...and now

Despite Kubo's decision to reject a "professional skateboarding career" -- an option that he does not openly regret -- he is still recognized as one of the most exciting skaters of the era. "I don't have anything against any of these kids who want to go out and make a million dollars but I never got into skateboarding to have some kind of "career." It was all about having fun. Sure, there were definitely opportunities for us but what are you going to do when you're still that young. Also, there were a lot of people wanting a piece of you, a lot of potential to get ripped off. Really, it was all about having fun. My father was always on me to go out and find a real job. I do regret that I didn't make better business decisions when I was younger."

Including the Watanabe brothers, Peggy Oki, Lester Kasai and Wally Inoue, Kubo is the first of many Japanese Americans who have gained prominence as skateboarders. The most gifted and tragic being Christian Hosoi, whose abilities took vertical skating to another level in the 1980s. Hosoi's affiliation with hard drugs led to his incarceration on drug trafficking charges. Kubo is acutely aware of the hedonism that led to the demise of some of his close friends.

"Christian's in prison right now, and everyone has to pay for what they do. Drugs have had an ugly presence in skateboarding. I have seen others go down and it's not nice but it's all about taking responsibility for yourself. As for being Asian, it is nice to come to Japan and see that people know who I am. (This is somewhat of an understatement: one Osaka skateboard store has created its own shrine to the skater with Shogo Kubo signature decks plastered across the wall - strictly not for sale).

For an outsider sport, skateboarding is still closely linked to white, middle-class suburban culture, and it used to be relatively unusual to see minorities skating. The Z-Boys were truly multi-cultural, actually more a culture created by themselves.

"Back in the 70s, the image of a long-haired Japanese American was not really what the magazines were looking for. Asian Americans are supposed to be conservative, and I guess I look a lot different today from what I did in those days. Mind you, it's changing. Recently, I did an interview for an Asian American culture magazine and other skate/punk magazines, which shows the respects I get now, and a lot of younger people are learning about what it was all about. It's great to see all the enthusiasm in Japan as well."

Dogtown and Z-Boys at amazon.com VHS DVD Soundtrack Book Links www.z-boys.com Official movie site Movie controversy

Skateboarding has a strong but fledging following in Japan that is weighted towards associated fashion and music. With the lack of skate parks, local government backing and space, skaters are limited to street skating in confined areas where there is no potential danger to others.

Unfortunately, local officials take it upon themselves to determine what is dangerous and not, so skate sweet spots are often covered in ominous signage. According to local Osaka skater Naoki, the salaryman finds his identity in bonding, position-specific team sports like baseball, so free spirited individuals can find their fun in less constricting activities like skateboarding. Based on the enthusiasm at the Dogtown premiere, skateboarding in Japan has a diehard legion of fans and shows no sign of lying down and rolling over like any other "fad."