Japan is known for its manufacturing of vehicles, amazing food, Mt Fuji, square watermelons, crowded cities, beautiful castles, advanced vending machines and of course Mario Cart.
Before COVID-19 shut down all international travel, I was lucky enough to travel to Japan for a couple of weeks with an open schedule.
I wanted to find the best skatepark in Japan and I was willing to travel the length of the country to discover a hidden gem.
I did all my research online before I left, I searched the web for hours looking for skateparks, there isn’t a great directory where you can find all the skateparks in Japan so I had to reach out to skaters on instagram and twitter to find out where they skated.
I flew into Narita airport near Tokyo I stayed in a hotel that was close to the Yamanote Line - Pro Tip, if you stay in Tokyo, you want to be near this train line.
It was the middle of August and it was extremely hot, 37 Degree Celceus most days but being an Aussie from Brisbane this didn’t worry me too much.
I decided to hit up the local parks in Tokyo first. I had to jump on a few connecting trains, smashed a banana latte from the vending machine, strapped on my skates and headed a couple of klms east to Trinity skatepark using my phone for directions.
The skatepark had a little skate shop and even sold Inline skating gear, which was cool to see.
I thought because it was an indoor skatepark, that it would be cool but that was not the case. The ramps were covered in a white surface that is extremely hot on your wheels and my wheels exploded.
I had some backup wheels so popped them on and finished my skate.
There was a vending machine outside of the park that I visited many times to try and hydrate myself.
I couldn’t bear the heat anymore. My head was thumping so I called it a day.
