Skateboarding is a big deal in Japan and like most skateboarders in the world, Japanese artist Haroshi had a pile of broken decks lying around. Too attached to the boards to toss them in the trash, he collected his boards and unless he breaks a few boards a week the ones of his community and turned them into sculptures and accessories such as necklaces and key chains.

I found this picture by following a trackback from Sk8.net. It’s from tumblr user djmascotboy, and you can see it larger here. This Rocky kid has good taste in female companions and bad taste in knee pads. Actually, I think he’s sharing shirts with his girlfriend. Those look like Indy 215’s he’s sporting. Update: Checking back in over a decade later and I was able to figure out this is called Sukebo Rocky By Motoyuki Asai, and it translates to “Skateboard Rocky!”

TR853-1™ is a “street artist” form SIngapore who, among other things, puts up these small stencils of skateboarding figures. I think these are most interesting when done in a temporal context. Some of them appear to float mid air without any reference until they are seen at the right time of day or night with the correct accompanying shadow. Another cool thing about TR853-1™, aka Trase is that he’s got the artwork available for free download, so you can make your own. I love stencil art, it’s been a long time since I dabbled. I have a hard time believing he’s doing these pieces in Singapore though, considering their harsh stance on chewing gum. I can’t imagine what would happen if he got pinched mid-stencil. Check out some of his work. – Thanks to Mike Buckley for the tip.

For some reason that translation made me chuckle. What work? What translation? Some German speaking guy was supposed be visiting Nepal for two years, so he made himself a miniramp. He was going to keep in his back yard until he opted for a more altruistic approach and decided to build it at a local athletic club so other people could use it. Since he was in Nepal, he couldn’t just “go to the DIY store and buy a suitable timber.” Something in the following German language sentence actually translates to “the DIY store.” Hier in Nepal kann ich leider nicht einfach in den Baumarkt gehen und mir das passende Holz kaufen. He made the structure out of bamboo and mango wood. I’m not sure what the top ply is though. He got an online skate shop called All You Can Skate to donate some boards for the local kids. Success! he got to skate it for a two weeks and then had to leave Nepal for some reason, he doesn’t go into the details. And it’s a slow comical process translating the web page 300 characters at a time through iGoogle. Interesting construction methods.I wish he’d gone into more…

More skateable architecture. A little bumpy perhaps, but who’s complaining? Good thing I had ths one in the can because I’m calling in sick to S&A today. Enjoy the Henderson Waves bridge if you are in Singapore. They are lenient on gum chewing, so I’m sure this spot is not a bust. Not a Singapore local? Head on over to Designboom. – Thanks to Alex Shults for the tip, via Sleestak.

Or the same one, I can’t speak Japanese. Actually, probably a different one than MVP’s Louie. He doesn’t use the cheater binding made out of a shoe. – Thanks to Stephanie Murdock for the tip.

I don’t know whether the architects are cooler in Europe and Asia, or the people with the deep pockets have more progressive outlook. Why doesn’t any of this stuff get built over here? The Aphalt Spot is in Tokamashi, Japan. Head on over to SpaceInvading to get the pics. Bonus walk through vid after the jump. – Thanks to Sk8 D for the tip.

Most skateboards are made in China or Mexico these days, so it’s only fitting that a Mexico City performance of the Chinese National Circus would feature fire jugglers riding skateboards. I may be full of it actually, this might be video from Brazil or Spain, I can’t tell. You can watch it after the jump, but there isn’t much to see. – Thanks to Sk8Norcal for the tip.

Well, it’s a sculpture of a helicopter made out of skateboards, except the front is a big skull. It’s part of a Japanese show called Harvest put on by NEW YORK – TOKYO. There’s an opening in New York on the 25th of March.

The Skate Zombies series of vinyl toys by Japanese designer Tsuchiya Shobu. They go by the names Bone, Mummy, and Mosquito. They are ten inches tall and come with what looks to be a detachable skateboard. Expect to drop about $80. $80???? The tooling process must be pretty expensive for a small run, otherwise we’d be selling GVK dolls, errr, I mean figures. [Source: Lost at E Minor]