I leave my girlfriend’s apartment and catch a train to East Broadway. I text some skaters to see if anyone’s free this weekday afternoon, but no responses yet as I ride the escalator up to Canal. I have things to drop at mine anyway, as I skate past Labor where Jason sits out front gripping a Bobby Worrest twin tail. I thought he was working today so hadn’t messaged, but he’d called out so this is great timing. I salute Terwilliger and Corey gives me 12 cash from Dollar Stories sales, then I dropstop at mine while Jason affixes his Tensor trucks and red Darkstar 53mms.
Nate’s down to session so we skate up to link. His block is recently paved and sunlight shines bright. I hang my fleece and drawstring backpack on stoop newel then start skating flat. Kentaro steps out in RedRum Doggpound hoodie en route to work. As I pop tricks I can feel my glasses slipping off my face. I’m wearing a loose turban beanie and wish I had my glasses strap. I tie my phone cord to fashion one that doesn’t really work. I feel good skating and don’t want these loose glasses to distract from the session. I think my strap is on my desk and I might have time to go home and back before Nate has even come down. I’m telling Jason my plan when Nate steps out, so I tell the boys I’ll be right back and skate to mine. I can’t find the strap and struggle to decide which beanie to wear with my blue and purple outfit. I try a white Bronze fruit beanie and blue/red DQM “Fuck Luck” beanie, but neither feels quite right. As frustration grows, I find a maroon fuzzy Opening Ceremony balaklava, which I use as a headband to affix my glasses tight and return to streets.
Back at Nate’s flat, we debate TF West or TF. Nate says there’s a new ledge at TF West. He passed hours at TF the other day, with so much shit there it’s annoying to try skating flat. We push Delancey west, then decide we might as well skate SoHo Curbs. We arrive and Nate pulls out the two orange barriers to block traffic down Lafayette. I land my first three heelflips and feel good concentrating on basics under 50 degrees of fashion week sunshine. My tailslide draws a compliment so I thank and introduce myself to Ari, who is sticking bluntslide frontside fingerflips out. I take off my sweater as session heats up and say what’s up to Cambana passing on his lunch break. Cozy and some others pull up and hold down a bench. After maybe an hour my knee starts to feel aggravation so I take a seat along the fence. Nate brings a six pack of Stella and offers me a bottle. I haven’t drank this month until I say sure, and cheer with Nate, Jason and Cozy. Nate hasn’t heard from Marc in ages, but I find myself thinking of him when I see a Japanese part at the top of Thrasher:
Part begins panning past three old televisions teasing clips on a deskspace stacked with physical skate media and a custom Tightbooth video game system in the classic Nintendo style. Inserted cartridge indicates Ryuhei Kitazume’s 13 Stairs video game as synthetic title music plays and we enter an 8-bit version of Tokyo. Round 1 at the 13 stair shows Ryuhei stick double heelflip attempt as documentarians and onlookers share energized encouragement. Second try leads to cops coming as our hero kickflips away dodging arrest. Third go precipitates another slam, at which point 5lack appears and offers motivation. A fist bump leads to video game energy boost, now fourth try shows the pop and flips then fades to black before impact. “Are you ready?” asks title screen.
Camera rolls over white square plaza bricks to catch up with Ryuhei wearing a du-rag under green bucket hat and baggy blue on black garm over white Dunk lows. He back smith grinds black marble ledge, pops outs into nose manual on the stage he would have run into, then nollie flips Tightbooth deck graphic out. 5lack introduces himself on the track in Japanglish and quick shrouded shots indicate this is partially edited as a music video in the Guilty style, with 5lack as the Fedaralz to Ryuhei’s Peter Smolik. Next clip starts with the same back smith popped into nose manny, no flip out this time as line continues with noseslide nollie heel while 5lack begins verse. I can’t tell if 5lack’s speaking Japanese or using the n-word occasionally throughout this song, but sartorial and sonic choices show clear homage to black American culture. Titling shows Ryuhei holds Chapter 15 of this Lenz III production and one may recall Ayahiro Uratsuka’s Chapter 12 part appeared on Thrasher two weeks ago.
Hardflip over four stair and sidewalk appears twice, in approaching angle then frontside scan. Ryuhei pops into switch tailslide on park ledge over tree pit, drops down to continue switch front tailing before flip out to regs in Oski Dunks and voluminous khakis. Backlit rappers mug on beat then a second passing angle redisplays this switch dropslideflip. In a white du-rag and purple hoodie, frontside flip down a long low five appears twice as well.
Ryuhei resembles Emmanuel Guzman wearing a windowpane flannel as he 360flips into nose manual. I see Joey Pepper in his cheekbones as Ryuhei pinches a flatbar front crook like Jamie Foy over 20+ feet. He’s wearing a black bandana du-rag under a backwards Nike featherlight cap, gigantic green polo and his griptape is from a company called “Dobb Deep.” He reperforms front crook pop over then continues line on the next flatbar with backtail flip out to fakie.
Nollie heel noseslide nollie varial heel out to regs is a ledge single, then switch heel nose manny fakie front shove takes Ryuhei across a pad to drop. He 360 flips a flat gap to land on narrow marble bench in manual. Again, music video cut to ghostface rappers then Ryuhei appears in tech vest to back tail along ledge over five stairs heelflip out to fakie. Next come the attempts before covershot front blunt. An elderly passerby likes what he sees and I feel like the skateboard to Japanese non-skate culture does have visual similarity to a samurai sword for the feet, as Ryuhei wields front blunt across ledge past planter, then slices back to regular for overhead drop absorption. He fakie ollies into switch nose manual into fakie 360 flip out. Next clip follows same course until his fakie 360flip continues whirling into a fakie 540 flip. Switch heel down Sega Mae stage block hypes the homies.
Nocturnal approach shot in following line resembles Los Angeles Department of Public Works, but it’s Tokyo ledges receiving fakie ollie switch front nosegrind first trick, second trick switch front 5-0 switch f/s flip out in a trapper hat with straps bouncing for a regular frontside flip finisher. Nollie front heel introduces the next line which again shows Ryuhei’s switch front tail facility as he switch front bigger spins out. He double angle nollie back heels a four flat five at night as brassy beat hits like a Clipse song. Something in his triangle of sadness resembles Tyshawn and not just because he’s wearing a black du-rag with white stitching while holding crooked grind spanning Tiago distance. Front blunt gap out invites a crustier re-interpretation, then multi-level brick staging receives a couple ledge tricks to manuals. Ryuhei slams his board onto the ground in adrenaline release as friends embrace him. He pops up twice before locking into third level front crooks, taking backside drop down three as masked enforcers arrive.
Friends drinking beers control traffic as Ryuhei puts in work on a gap to back smith shown with infrared Tightbooth editing technique. One of his clique flashes gold tooth smile. Thrasher calls Ryuhei’s nollie heelflip ender one of history’s best, and all I have to add to that is it’s cool how his front right foot kicks back to allow nollie lift so he catches heelflip with his nose higher than the tail and 13 stairs. “Straight Up Shit Is Real. Go Shred. Never Take Control” reads his Tightbooth shirt’s back graphic. The first two statements are self-explanatory, but the third bespeaks a particular mindset where skater’s land reclamation is temporary by design. Ryuhei has the skills where intricate technical mastery tempts well within foot reach, but a relentless self-challenging idealizes the skate spot as an active liminal space to be touched but not taken, a respect for urban grandeur that recognizes a skate rat’s ecosystemic role. More Shin Okada than Gou Miyagi, Ryuhei takes 90’s street tech purism past cosplay into savant-garde styling befitting the LENZ3 BOX SET [LIMITED 300] Blu-ray+SOUNDTRACK 3LP+Book COMING 2.18 to commemorate this occasion.