Wy don’t we cover ______? (Okinawa)

Wy don’t we cover (fill in your favorite geographic locale) because we aren’t there. But if you are, we’d love to hear from you, as in the case with Davie Freeman who is in Okinawa, Japan. Mr Freeman sent some pics and a short write up. Enjoy.

From Davie Freeman:

Most of these are just of me and my friends. I am in the USAF and I’m stationed at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, the southernmost and most tropical Japanese island. Most my friends are in the Air Force as well, but we have a friends in the Army, Marines, Navy, civilian contractors, and local Okinawans. The Okinawans are a very friendly people. Very laid back. All of us have had to learn a little Japanese to communicate with them. A couple of my friends are quite fluent, I only know basics, but I speak good skatepark Japanese. “Sugoi” means cool, “obunai” means dangerous (literally – it’s risky), and “sumimasen” means excuse me. “Gomenasai” means sorry. I learned that one during my second month on island when my skateboard launched 15 feet in the air off of a wet min ramp and came down on an old Japanese guy’s leg. I looked at the kid next to me on the ramp with the best “please help me explain this look” I could make.

Mike Bourell at the skatepark in Tomigusku.

There are 14 skateparks on this island, most of them are in fact cookies but some of the cookies are pretty well set up. There are two good concrete skateparks here, but no vert ramp or good pools. The closest thing we have to vert is a 6 1/2 foot tall ramp near the air base I am stationed at. It is made out of orange plastic and it flexes when you skate it. The coping is either slick or sticky as hell and hanging up on fakie rocks is something you really have to work to avoid. Easily the sketchiest riding ramp I have ever skated but after dozens of solo morning sessions I love the damn thing. We call it Banana Ramp because for the longest time I thought it was yellow as I am color blinded.

Davie Freeman at Haebaru Skatepark near Naha, Okinawa.

Davie Freeman at Haebaru Skatepark near Naha, Okinawa.

Mike Bourell in Tomigusku

Jason Douglas at Camp Courtney Skatepark.

The last one is my favorite. I took it at Haebaru Skatepark. He was just some random local kid who spoke a little English. When I saw that I laughed my ass off and asked if I could take a photo of his skateboard he got confused. I could tell that he had no clue why it was funny and simply thought that was how you spelled police. Made my day.

Local at Haebaru Skatepark

If you go on youtube and type in Okinawa Skateboarding you can find a couple of good videos. Start with Volcom Okinawa Demo and click around from there.

Locals at Ginowan and Shinto Shin (aka Shitty Shin) feat. Akinori Janaha

Akinori and friends at Haebaru Skatepark, which was featured on the cover of TWS a little while back, sometime last fall I believe. Jake Duncombe backside flipped a “gap” there.

Gushikawa Skatepark. Sai Tetuhara(probably misspelled) is the first and last skater in the video. He rips.

Anyways, give me two weeks and I’ll get you a bunch more photos of the local skaters and skateparks. It’ll give me a good excuse to visit some of the parks I don’t normally skate.

Ok Davie. Sounds like a good idea.