gkanai Posted December 6, 2021 Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 A few photos from a few stores in Tokyo recently: More images here: https://imgur.com/a/gJ0SCxu 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkanai Posted December 6, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barryj Posted December 6, 2021 Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 14 hours ago, gkanai said: stores in Tokyo Soooo envious GK you can have a walk in and fondle the merch experience! If I saw that boot and binding selection under one roof in the states I would creme my pants! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dredman Posted December 6, 2021 Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 19 hours ago, gkanai said: A few photos from a few stores in Tokyo recently: So there is more than one store with carving gear?? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kneel Posted December 6, 2021 Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 That's an impressive dollar amount of inventory for one store of carving gear alone... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deuxdiesel Posted December 6, 2021 Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 Jealous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shred Gruumer Posted December 6, 2021 Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 They get it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoffV Posted December 7, 2021 Report Share Posted December 7, 2021 That one store has more inventory than all our North American stores ever had. Dang can we make that store a VR experience so we can fondle some gear privately….. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkanai Posted December 7, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2021 (edited) There's a district in Tokyo that has a lot (probably 20+ stores, I'm not kidding) of sports gear stores (Kanda/Ogawacho area) and this was just two stores. I was on the hunt for some bib pants for the kid and didn't have time to shop carving gear but I plan to go back so will visit more stores and take better photos. Edited December 7, 2021 by gkanai 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimW Posted December 7, 2021 Report Share Posted December 7, 2021 Jealous! It has been a while since I encountered any alpine gear in a store here. They have a bigger collection than most online stores! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw Posted December 7, 2021 Report Share Posted December 7, 2021 Yodobashi Camera was kind of like that for photography. B&H NYC is pretty good, but not very close. Dumb question.. so why is it that Japan / Korea are more carve oriented? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dredman Posted December 7, 2021 Report Share Posted December 7, 2021 6 hours ago, philw said: Dumb question.. so why is it that Japan / Korea are more carve oriented? That is a really good question! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
west carven Posted December 7, 2021 Report Share Posted December 7, 2021 howdy because they are oriental … so gkanai how many more pics is there in the imgur link? my computer is too old to display that page … I would like to see as many as you have … gear porn turns me on … thanks … Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkanai Posted December 8, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 18 hours ago, philw said: Dumb question.. so why is it that Japan / Korea are more carve oriented? I don't know for sure- I think it has to do with a few things. Japan was fairly early to jump onto snowboarding, only a few years after the sport launched, since Japan is a big winter sports country. Back in the early years of snowboarding, carving was much more prominent (if you remember the old Burton PJ boards, F2 had their Speedster race boards, Raichle had their hard boots (which are now the Deeluxe) etc. And so I think carving never went out of style in Japan. There's a lot of groomed runs in Japan and while Japan/Hokkaido is now famous for powder and off piste, I think snowboard racing and carving has always had it's place. When you see how many Japanese manufacturers make carving boards (Moss, Ogasaka, BC Stream, Gray, Yonex, etc.) it's clear that the carve/race market is vibrant even with 1/3 the population of the US. 12 hours ago, west carven said: so gkanai how many more pics is there in the imgur link? I ended up posting all of the pics to this thread, so no need to go to Imgur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLN Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 On 12/7/2021 at 8:27 AM, philw said: Dumb question.. so why is it that Japan / Korea are more carve oriented? I can only think of resorts. No big mountains, lots of local resorts, with green-blue runs. Plus they somehow carving popular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big mario Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 (edited) On 12/7/2021 at 7:27 AM, philw said: The riders there have more soul and style and are not driven by image, marketing and advertising hype but that’s just my cynical, jaded opinion mario Edited December 9, 2021 by big mario 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjnakata Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 On 12/7/2021 at 6:27 AM, philw said: Dumb question.. so why is it that Japan / Korea are more carve oriented? In general, Japanese culture values technique, discipline, precision and "form" .... like in carving. You see this in the choreographed martial arts "kata" routines (now an Olympic sport!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pow4ever Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 11 hours ago, gkanai said: Japan was fairly early to jump onto snowboarding, only a few years after the sport launched, since Japan is a big winter sports country. I didn't know about that until i saw "dear rider" on HBO Max (Jack Burton). Fun fact: hello kitty have no mouth; the emotion you see are reflect of your own. Is there a reverse phenomenal in Japan? where free style is taking a back seat? or both style progressive in relative harmony? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishsurfer Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 3 hours ago, rjnakata said: In general, Japanese culture values technique, discipline, precision and "form" .... like in carving. You see this in the choreographed martial arts "kata" routines (now an Olympic sport!). Would explain the technical carving competions they run Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkanai Posted December 8, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 1 hour ago, pow4ever said: Is there a reverse phenomenal in Japan? where free style is taking a back seat? or both style progressive in relative harmony? Freestyle/park riding is also quite popular in Japan. Japan has a number of top freestyle/pipe boarders at the international level too including Ayumu Hirano who has won two silver medals at two Olympics in the halfpipe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix24 Posted January 6, 2022 Report Share Posted January 6, 2022 I bought my Gray desperado Type-R 3w from this shop recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shred Gruumer Posted January 6, 2022 Report Share Posted January 6, 2022 On 12/6/2021 at 8:37 PM, gkanai said: There's a district in Tokyo that has a lot (probably 20+ stores, I'm not kidding) of sports gear stores (Kanda/Ogawacho area) and this was just two stores. I was on the hunt for some bib pants for the kid and didn't have time to shop carving gear but I plan to go back so will visit more stores and take better photos. I just wish someone would organize a carving trip with shopping. Always wanted to ride there but would like to have a local in the know... so we go to the least crowded best carving place..... Who's in....ME... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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