Olympic gold medalist Yuto Horigome won the inaugural Uprising Tokyo street skateboarding competition on May 28, snatching victory by reeling off a mistake-free run in the last of his three attempts in the men's final.
Japanese 14-year-old Momiji Nishiya claimed her first X Games gold medal on July 24 as a youth movement swept the women s street skateboarding podium in California.
The Tokyo Olympics pushed skateboarding further into the Japanese mainstream than ever before with skaters now a familiar sight in cities around the country, but that does not mean the shift has been widely welcomed.
Awaiting its Olympic debut in Tokyo this summer, skateboarding has become increasingly popular in Japan as an outdoor activity one can enjoy while social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, but the sport s surge has not been without trouble.