Must Watch! Pop Jam edit FT Shuichi Osada, Eiji Kataoka, Moto Sasaki and Takuji Kasahara !

POPJAM EDIT !! from jimalog1985 on Vimeo.

You may have seen Eiji Kataoka’s no handed backwards g-turn photo that was doing the rounds on the net this week. Well here is the edit! Shuichi Osada, Eiji Kataoka, Moto Sasaki, and Takuji Kasahara all drop new tricks in this Pop jam edit! Japan is destroying it right now! I’m going to have to watch this to take in what happened! Enjoy flatlanders!

23 thoughts on “Must Watch! Pop Jam edit FT Shuichi Osada, Eiji Kataoka, Moto Sasaki and Takuji Kasahara !

    • Osada has been one of my favourites for a long time! Thank you Jimalog for this one. What I also love about this, is the variety of styles between each rider. Each rider so creative in there own way, thats what beautiful about flatland. And when you put together like this. Winner! Very psyched on this!

    • Great comment by Bobby Carter on the vimeo page –

      “I hereby claim that this edit marks the beginning of the new era in flatland. Globally speaking, in 2013, Japan is now fully center stage. Not solely based on one or two stand out individuals, but also on the sheer amount of riders on a path to becoming “super pros” in comparison to other countries. Moreover, the paradigm (as seen in this clip) seems to be that everyone is doing different tricks according their own personal style, a stark contrast to the previous 5 years of flatland in general…”

  1. “Moreover, the paradigm (as seen in this clip) seems to be that everyone is doing different tricks according their own personal style, a stark contrast to the previous 5 years of flatland in general…”

    Thats the first thought I had regarding this edit Bobby, four friends riding together with all totally different styles. Really good to see. Japan as you say is leading the way, so many riders on the path to becoming “super pros”.

    Bobby you’ve spent a lot of time in japan, what do you put that down to?

  2. I can only speculate why they have some many riders, probably due to multiple factors.
    Here’s my incomplete list:

    1. Japan has around 130 million people all concentrated into a an area the size of California.
    USA has about 300million people. So If you took the entire scenes California, Arizona, Texas, New Orleans, Florida, and unknown riders across the southern half of the US, and put them in Cali, that would be a lot of riders that can interact and get the energy going because of the high concentration.

    2. Japan has a good train system. It’s easy to get around, you might have to pay, but its fairly easy for riders to meet each other. You don’t need a plane or a car like the US.

    3. USA is a car culture while Japan is a bicycle culture. It’s not considered “uncool” to be riding a bike around town above the age of 16. So regular people getting into bicycle activities is fairly easy.

    4. Flatland got fully organized before street, with KOG. Japan didn’t have so many skateparks, so BMX is symbolized by flatland. Street is slowly growing there though.

    5. Outside of Japan, we watch KOG pro finals, but if you attend in person, you’ll see that It’s a 2 day event and most of the time is spent on the AM class. So it’s main function is a structure for Ams to participate. (Imagine 3 KOGs in California in one year! North, central, and south. That’s a lot of “big” events for a small area.)

    6. As for everyone doing different tricks, I really don’t know why… “General” japan culture is to put the group first above the individual. You would think that this would cause everyone to ride the same, but since the beginning it seems that no trick goes to waste over there. You’ll find all sorts of bike set ups and different tricks from different eras and no one seems to be ridiculed for the styles that they decide to pursue, new or old. (Contrast that with the western world where there’s a lot of “flatland religion” about right and wrong with brakes vs. no brakes, touching the tire, scuffing, seat height, and so on….)

    • @Bobby – So many good points Bobby! What you said about the focus on AM’s, is so important. Always having that next generation of rider (s) coming through the ranks, we see videos almost monthly from the SpaceArk flatland schools. And we see kids like this – https://www.flatmattersonline.com/takumi-isogai-10-years-old-no-touch-run-kog-round-1 that have a chance to shine on the big stage at KOG. As we have all said Japan has taken over, and with their structure in place and all the points you raised Bobby, I don’t see that changing for a long time. This edit makes me want to go back and tour the country.

  3. @Big E
    Seems like the place just happens to have the “natural” elements to foster a good flatland scene along with some help from dedicated riders.

    Another tour of Japan might be in order!

    • @Bobby – Yes seems that way! Always thought it would be sick to have like roadfools type of deal go down in japan, with a variety of riders doing their thing. Document it. It would be crazy. Have some narrative in there. Sponsors of the riders “could” contribute” to make the trip happen.Boom.

  4. Anybody out there want to contribute to a road trip through Japan?
    We need plane tickets, filmers, hostels, and rail passes. Who wants in?!!

    Hit me up via e-mail – bobby (at) diversiontv.com

  5. Has to be someone interested in this Bobby, with your editing skills, and record in making killer videos. This would be an amazing project! Select your riders, pitch the proposal to a number of sponsors see who bites….

Leave a Reply to Flatism Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*