An awesome opportunity came to our doorstep, a first look and first stateside interview with Japans riding crew T19 . You can get a sense of their spirit and inspiration for this culture. Inspiration can come from anywhere in the world and can come in any form, riding alone exposes one to various information during the experience. Discover what a hamburger symbolizes to T19, its an amazingly honest perspective on the US culture. Get to know them better, read below.
Otaki, John, and Kaori
What is T19?
In the beginning, it was just a circle of friends. Back in '84, there werent really skaters around in Tokyo except for us (Mino, Skatething and me) then we were just saying we should have a team called T19. Dont we all do that when we were kids? To have a team or some sort with your buddies? Then way later in '92, we started to make our own boards as a company.
スケートボードチーム、最初はね。’84、オレとミノ、スケシン、その他東京のストリートでスケートしている奴らは本当に少なかったんだけど、みんなで"TOKYO 19"ってチームを作ろうって話になったんだ。子供の頃にみんなやるでしょ？その後’92年にスケートボードカンパニーとしてデッキを作り始めた。
Who are your team riders?
Akira Ozawa, Saluda Masanori, Jessie Kawada, Yoppy Egawa, Akeem Nishimura, Chaka Sasao, Kentaro Tanaka, Kix Naotoshi, Ryutaro Fujii, Zizo Kitamura, Singo Iwasaki, Tani Yuma, Tommy Tadashi.
What does T19 stand for?
We just like to create a scene in Tokyo. To make skateboarding a rigid street culture in our city is still paving its way. And we'd be to happy if we can share our local characteristic diversity with the rest of the world.
東京のスケートシーンを作って行きたいんだ。まずは東京でしっかりとスケートボードを根付いた物にしたい。まだまだこれからだと思うよ。その東京スケートボードの世界観を世界に発信できるようになればうれしい。
Kaori and Otaki
Otaki, when did you get into riding and how?
At the age of 10. Me and 2 other friends of mine pitched in to buy one skateboard after seeing my bigger brother started to skate. On top of the board which was about 7 inches long/made out of glassfiber, there was of course the stars and stripes graphics. The area I grew up had the steepest hills around. So the only thing we used to do was to go up those hills with tictacs then down hills on the way back.
10歳のとき。1歳上の兄の友達が始めたんだ。それを見て友達3人でお金を出し合って1台のスケートボードを買ったんだ。その7インチぐらいのグラスファイバーの板のトップグラフィックはもちろんスターズアンドストライプスだったよ。ボクが育った所は東京の中でも一番坂の多い地域だったんだ。チクタクで急坂を上ったり、ダウンヒルばかりしていたね。
Kaori, how is it being the only woman around all these guys as team manager?
Whether or not I am the only woman, managing kids and projects is a challenge like everything else. There are always surprises and something.
若い子たちをまとめるのは大変だけど、大変な分だけ得る物が大きいわ。イベントがあるたびに、ハプニングとサプライズがあるけど、それを楽しんでいるの。
How long has T19 been around?
T19 the crew or just a bunch of heads been around over 20 years. And its been roughly 16 years since it became a company.
T19のやつらは20年くらい東京にいるよ。メーカーとして始まってからは16年だね。
There is a lot of riding videos on YouTube. Do you have more information about your team?
Now we have web site. www.t19skateboards.com but also check our YouTube channel, http://uk.youtube.com/ridewizpride. Please come visit.
T19 YouTube Channel
Do you plan to get into more than "streetlife?", maybe gear, street fashion?
Well, we've been shooting and editing videos here and there around the clock but it hasnt been actualized recently. At the same time, we've been going snowboarding and shooting vidoes for Burton's promotion. Its time consuming. But we'll get something out there for sure specially skate video. Also, Singo's second signature board has been just released. To tell you the truth, I'd like to do well with our sales with the decks.
ビデオは常に撮っているし編集も続けているけどなかなか形にならないでいる。2月からburtonのプロモーションビデオの制作をしていてみんなでスノーボードを楽しんでいたよ。もう少し時間はかかりそうだけど必ずスケートビデオを発売したいね。SINGOモデルの2作目も出来たしデッキをたくさん売りたいね。
Whats worse getting hit by car door or people?
Its a chicken shit to hit a car. You just be thrown in the air and hurt yourself. But you certainly must avoid hitting other people.
車に当たるのはどうでもいいことだよ。自分が吹っ飛べばいいからね。でも人に当たってしまうのはぜったいに避けなければ行けない事。
Do you plan to ever tour in the US? Will you let us know?
We dont have a plan to do a US tour in the near future at the moment however, yes of course we would love to do that. If we do so, I want Jessica to be our guide.
いまのところは無いね。もちろん行きたいけど。行くならjessicaにガイドしてもらいたいな。
You have a hamburger tank, what is the hamburger for?
It was created by Skatething at the end of the year 911 tragedy happened. Like how you guys were bombed by the terrorist, we've been assaulted by American culture. Hamburger is an icon of America. To us its larger than the Statue of Liberty in a symbolic way. We added the wings of dog town to that and put it on top of Allan Gelfand's tank!
スケシンが作った。911事件の年の終わりに。僕らはスケートボードにやられちまってんだ。つまりアメリカにやられちまっているって事。ハンバーガーはアメリカの象徴なんだ。自由の女神よりもね。そのハンバーガーにDOGTOWNの羽付けてALLAN GELFANDのタンクに乗車させたのさ。
Your T19 bars were a GREAT success at Fatlace and sold out so fast! Do a lot of your skaters ride bikes too?
Almost all of our riders ride bikes. 17 out of 15 ride fixed gear. Cars, motorcycles, we just love riding things.
ほとんどのライダーが乗っているよ。17人中15人はフィックスギアに乗っている。車やモーターサイクル、みんな乗り物は大好きだね。
Will you grow your fixed gear goods or concentrate more on skate goods?
Skateboard goods are and will always be our prior products. Singo's new model will be released in june. Its gonna be the Skatething's most heart putted design of all!
もちろんスケートをメインに考えて商品構成しているよ。スケシンがデザインしたシンゴのモデルが6月には発売される。彼のデザインの中で一番気合いが入った作品だね！
What would you like the U.S. skaters to learn about the T19 skaters and the skate/fixed gear scene in Japan?
Im very happy about the fact that T19 had gotten lots of attention because of this bike movement. I'd like to thank whoever has interest in what we are doing before anything. And what pleased me the most out of this is I was able to connect with those people through the movement or just bike itself as a tool which is much popular than skateboard. I would like those people who had discoverd the joy of riding bikes or learning tricks to also discover the joy of skateboarding on the same level. And I feel like it is our duty to let them experience that. Paradoxically, riding bikes convinced me that skateboarding is the coolest street sport. And I have a feeling many skaters out there are feeing the same!
今回のバイクムーブメントでT19がとても注目されるようになった事はとてもうれしいことだ。注目してくれている人たちにまずは感謝したい。自転車と言うスケートボードよりもはるかにメジャーなツールを通じてたくさんの人と巡り会い、T19、そしてスケートボードに注目してくれた事に一番よろこんでいる。フィックスギアバイクで走る楽しみやスキルを得る楽しみを知った人たちにスケートボードの楽しさを同時に伝えたいし、ぼくらはその使命を背負っていると感じている。実際、バイクにのることでスケートボードが一番カッコイイってことも再認識したんだ。多分スケーターはみんな同じ事を感じているとおもうよ！
Get more of T19
their site T19skateboards.com
their photo web gallery
their videos on T19 YouTube Channel
T19 bar photo via. Fatlace
remaining photography and videos courtesy of T19
Thank you T19 for letting iDR get an exclusive inside look of who you all are and what you are all about. As mentioned above, the movement is incredible isnt it? We're grateful to be connected in any shape or form; it allows us to think greater, look wider and discover beyond what is in front of us. We hope to see more of the crew ride the streets here in the US.
だれのすべてであり、何完全にあるかiDRがについての独占記事の内部の一見をありがとう得るようにするためにT19。 前述のように、動きは信じられないいではないそれか。 私達は感謝しているいかなる形においても接続されるために; それはあるものがを越えて私達が私達の前により大きい考えることを可能にし、より広く見、そして発見する。 私達は米国の通りここに乗組員の乗車の多くを見ることを望む。
