The purpose of this video was supposed to be to portray Myanmar in a different light from the usual perspective of human rights violations and conflict. The filmmakers spend so much time talking about the negative aspects and whining about being lonely in a foreign land that they kind of fail in that aspect. Also it ‘s like they’ve got a bit of a Messiah complex, but that’s not quite it. Maybe a bit of a colonial mindset…. Whatever… thes guys are young, their hearts are in the right place and it’s shot well. At least they are thinking. Just turn down the voiceover. Fair Warning: There’s not really a lot of skating in this video. – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip. [Source: CNN GO]

A German cat named Tobias Megerle has commissioned traditional wood carvers in Mombai, India to make ornamental skateboards instead of furniture for a change, and boy do those sorry guys look miserable. He plans on showing them in an exhibit at a gallery called the Loft at Lower Parel. Megerle said he had been fascinated with the craft but wanted to find a way to showcase it that wasn’t so stuffy and boring. Here’s why he chose skateboards: …the good old skateboard. In Mumbai — though almost completely unknown — the skateboard is, in many places, more than just a piece of sports equipment. It’s an entire lifestyle that’s created around it, a unique music style, special clothes, whole skater-parks. So that’s a heads up to all our, uh… Indian readers. [Source: CNNGO] – Thanks to Eric Cherry for the tip.

At long last we’re finally shipping some substandard manufactured goods to China instead of receiving them. The Fanling Vert Ramp in Hong Kong being perpetrated by American Ramp Company. It’s prefab concrete, which I gotta say kind of makes sense to me. I mean, if you’re going to build a concrete vert ramp, prefab might be the way to go since uniformity is more desirable than creative artistry, assuming they have the skills to set it up right. Look at the size of those vert panels. This thing looks like a beast, although at that height it’s going to seem narrow. – Thanks to Chad Balcom for the tip.

Ending 2010 on a classy note here with this pinup poster of the Japanese pop group called AKB48, which near as I can tell from the web site has something to do with the fact that there is apparently at least 48 girls in the group at any given time. I ‘m not even kidding. It’s crazy, it looks like they have different shifts of girls. Sometimes there are like five girls in a video, sometimes fifteen. They have team rosters. Maybe it’s a competition, or whatever it is, I think my failure to comprehend goes deeper than just not understanding Japanese. There are 48 girls in the group. A lot of them have bikinis, but only six of them have skateboards. [Source: 76ers]

I love watching videos from the Far East Skate Network. They sweat skills and poop creativity. Keep watching, because just when you think you know their next move, they throw a curveball. – Thanks to t Skate D for the tip.

Nissen is a girls clothing brand in Japan. This commercial is airing in Tokyo. That’s all I have to say on the subject, except thanks to Jeff Thompson for the tip.

Homeless folks inhabiting Miyashita Park in Tokyo are understandably upset about the fact that their local government has sold the park out from under them. Apparently there were no public hearings or notices before the sale to NIke became final. NIke has plans to turn it into a well-landscaped skate plaza. The park has a sizable indigenous homeless population that will likely be displaced, and they’ve gained some support worldwide, but it seems to me that everyone is pissed off at the wrong people. Don’t get pissed at the people who bought your home for a bargain, get pissed at the bank that foreclosed on you. According to a short video about the situation, Nike refuses to respond publicly to anyone concerning the park. Not the greatest public relations plan, but maybe it’s geared towards some sort of Japanese culture hook that I’m not hip to. Watch the vid after the jump. – Thanks to 100% Talkboarder for the tip. [Source: The Smoking Section]

If they’re going to make all our skateboards, they might as well learn how to ride them. There’s a new Camp Woodward opening up in Beijing China. Woodward Beijing celebrates a grand opening on May 15th. Among other facilities, they’ve got a street plaza built by California Skateparks.

I just got back from a trip to visit the guys at FELEM in Japan who are a Japanese skateboard distributor out in the Sashima County of Japan. It’s a 1 hour train ride on the Shonen-Shinjuku Line from Central Tokyo (Shinjuku) out into the middle of the Japanese Country.

Some novel street action from Nippon. Looks like clips from a longer video. I’m going to draw comparisons to some of the Richie Jackson footage or maybe this other Japanese action. I found this on the blog of the guy Harvest who did those cool sculptures made out of old decks. Anyone care to translate?