Until recently, when discussing different types of skateboarding, it was natural for our minds to wander to the United States. After all, it has been the birthplace of “skating” since Stacy Peralta transformed the minority sport into a market and an object of worship. But a country that normally frowns upon the sport’s public display, and even bans it by law in many areas, is wreaking havoc on the Paris Olympics. He has an explanation.

Skateboarding speaks Japanese. It’s no longer new. In Paris, it was confirmed that the Japanese had “surpassed” the Americans as the standard-bearers of the best skateboarding. Why? For the second consecutive Olympics, the Japanese team dominated street racing and from August 6th, they were able to do the same brilliantly in the park category.

Last Sunday, the world met 14-year-old Coco Yoshizawa, who returned to take gold and silver at La Concorde City Park in Paris, beating her compatriot Liz Akama, 15. The pair’s scores were well above the others.

The next day, the excitement in the men’s category belonged to 25-year-old Yuto Horigame. The boy defended his Olympic crown with a near-perfect score, narrowly beating Americans Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston. Like his teammates, Horigame and his team came to Paris as favourites after their stellar performances at the Tokyo Games.

Two years, two wins. The interesting thing about all this is that skateboarding has only been recognized as an “Olympic” event twice. Three years ago, at the Tokyo Olympics, gold medals were awarded to Japanese skaters for both men and women; the same thing is happening in Paris.

In fact, previous tournaments have been a clear indication of this. Aori Nishimura won the world title in 2021, while Tokyo gold medalist Momiji Nishiya won silver. Nishiya took bronze the following two years, while Yumeka Oda won gold in 2023. In the men’s category, Horigome and Shirai finished first and third in 2021, while Ginwoo Onodera took bronze in 2022. Japan finished on the podium in 2023, behind Shirai, Kairi, Netsuke and Horigome.

Japanese trick. At this point, there must be some information that the rest of us have overlooked. As we said, the rise of Japanese skaters is surprising in a country that does not normally approve of this sport being practiced in public, even prohibiting it by law in crowded areas and mostly limited to skateboard parks. Moreover, we can say that in addition to this difficulty, the problem of the aging population is also a factor that should be taken into account as a mitigating factor in the sport.

For this reason? Japanese culture itself seems to be a good clue. “I think we are strong because of the skating scene in Japan,” Yoshizawa says. “And also because we love each other and teach people who are lower than us.” His compatriot and silver medalist Akama, meanwhile, adds: “That’s the Japanese approach to the sport. “I think the reason Japan is so strong is because we are all so serious and hard-working, and everyone seems to be doing their best to achieve their dreams.”

Position. A few days ago, an article in The New York Times noted that another possible reason is that Japanese skaters tend to attempt difficult and complex tricks that earn high scores from the judges. In fact, Horigome and Yoshizawa performed the highest-scoring trick of the final round in their wins.

In this context, the article touched on an interesting idea. It is possible that Japanese society’s general aversion to skate culture has indirectly helped create a legion of competitive skaters.

Learn from the basics. Many Japanese skaters without deep street culture start out at skateparks, where they learn the basics early, according to Niall Neeson of World Skate, the sport’s governing body. He says Japanese people love the sport and enjoy skating together, making it a “healthy activity.”

Parks and more parks. The rise of Japanese skaters is also explained by the so-called skate parks. According to the Japan Skate Park Association, the number of private parks in the country has almost doubled since 2021, to 475. With the results from Paris, the growth can be expected to be even greater.

“In the past, Japan was 10 to 15 years behind the U.S. in terms of (skateboarding) skill,” pioneering Japanese skateboarder Junnosuke Yonesaka told CNN last week. “But the number of skateparks has increased rapidly since the 2000s, so I think that led to (the Japanese team) learning difficult skills that led to higher scores,” he said.

It’s very possible that kids in Japan don’t pay attention to Tony Hawk or Steve Caballero anymore. In fact, given the age of these skateboarders, they may not even know who these skateboarding legends are. Their idols are now gold medalists, at an age when people are just starting to learn.

Image | GetArchive, US Army Garrison Japan

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