The Squad Skates Japan | Red Bull Drop In Japan Tour

Japan has exploded into the wider consciousness of the skateboarding world in recent years. Whether through the internet-busting antics of Gou Miyagi, the Far Eastern Skate Network’s distinctive and innovative video output, the lore of the Osaka Daggers or the domination of the women’s contest circuit, Japan is a bigger part of skateboarding’s cultural soup than at any time before now. Within that context, it was perhaps inevtiable that Red Bull’s world-cruising Drop-In Tour would rock up in the land of the rising sun having already blazed a trail through the US and Europe hitherto. August 2023, therefore, saw a grip of our international skate squadron assemble to put on two ballistic skate demos in the cities of Tokyo and Osaka and hit the banks, railings and assorted street furniture we could find along the way on a 500 kilometre whistle-stop tour of this fantastic country in the height of summer. The demos at Tokyo’s Murasaki and Osaka’s Tiger Rack skateparks bookended the journey with a lot