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Project Detail

Skate in Japan

A group of female skateboarders, the Okinawa Skate Girls Group
Skaters in Shiga, Japan
A man watching his archival skating footage
An artist with her skateboards that she painted
A skateboarder performing
A skateboarder preparing to skate down a flight of steps
A skater turning old skateboards into woodwork
A man seen from behind watching the sunset
A man in his skate shop
An upturned skateboard in a warehouse

Synopsis

In Japan, a culture shaped by restraint and social uniformity, skateboarding has long existed at the margins - regulated, discouraged, and only now tentatively embraced. SKATE IN JAPAN observes this contested space with quiet precision, tracing a community that finds freedom through movement, expression, and play.
Moving between street spots, domestic interiors and the shifting landscapes of Kyoto, the film approaches skateboarding as both a personal and collective language. In the fluid, almost choreographic movement of skater Issei Morinaka, it reveals an expression that resists containment, fleeting, yet deeply felt.
At its centre are individuals whose lives have unfolded at the edges of visibility. Homoro, a skate shop-owner whose own practice has been altered by injury, supports a younger generation of Boardwalk skaters. Alongside him is Caba, a once-renowned figure whose life was transformed by disability, and Hide, who leads efforts to realise a long-awaited public skatepark.
As the skatepark takes shape in Kyoto, it marks a subtle cultural negotiation between tradition and change. Accompanied by an original score, the film unfolds as a quiet meditation on time, belonging and the persistence of identity.
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Details

Year
2026
Type of project
Features
Running time
80 min
Format
Blackmagic RAW (BRAW), with additional mixed digital and archival formats
Director
Steffan Roe Griffiths 1st Feature
Producer
Kimberley Anne Santos
Editor
Steffan Roe Griffiths
Director of Photography
Steffan Roe Griffiths
Sound
Ivano Milo
Composer
Ivano Milo
Principal cast
With contributions from: Yusuke 'Homoro' Arakawa, Issei Morinaka, Hideyuki 'Hide' Imai, Yamato Aketa, Shouta Sumi, Shigeru 'Caba' Omura, Hazel Cruzado, Chris Roome
Production Assistant
Lexi Budd

Genre

Asian Disabilities Sport

Categories

Documentary

Production Status

Post-production

Production Company

Kimberley Anne Santos

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