baby-bird 0 Posted May 3, 2003 Share Posted May 3, 2003 Hi! I'm new here. Just wondering as we're now out of winter season, what's the best kind of training I can do to be more prepared for skiing in the winter? I go to the gym a few times a week, but would you be concentrating on the legs mostly? Just wondering if any of you experts out there have any useful insights for me. Thank you very much bb Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted May 3, 2003 Share Posted May 3, 2003 Sking inline skating. But I just had a policeman say that I cant use them in Japan. He got really angry. Does anyone know about this subject. Link to post Share on other sites
Will Lee 0 Posted May 3, 2003 Share Posted May 3, 2003 Whatever, the Japanese tend to ban anything they`re not familiar with. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 3, 2003 Share Posted May 3, 2003 Well, I guess all the inline skates you see in the shops are for ornamentation, or is it just entrapment? baby-bird, the best 'cross-training' for you is to buy my Freebord which is on sale in the calsifieds and get yourself down some hills. Freebords are definitely not against the law in Japan. Show me the law that says 'Freebord ha notcha ikenai'. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted May 5, 2003 Share Posted May 5, 2003 SnowJapan has a previous article about this here. http://www.snowjapan.com/e/features/features-56.html It's jargon-heavy, but the advice sounds very good. Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 I was thinking about inline skating myself and would be curious to know more about 'rules'. There must be somewhere you can do it aside from roads. Where were you trying to skate when you were 'informed' by your cop, Fattwins? Hmmm, I guess there's always Sendagaya ice rink in Tokyo for the ice option. Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Quote: I just had a policeman say that I cant use them in Japan. He got really angry. Does anyone know about this subject. Why yes, I do know about the subject of police getting really angry. It really irritates me the way some cops, whether in Japan, the US, or wherever, take personal offense and then dispense burning righteous anger at your not following bureaucratic-type laws about bicycles, inline skates, parking meters. As if you were an axe murderer...well even if you were, is it the cop's job to yell angrily at you? In such cases you are seeing the skull beneath the skin of authority and control, and it ain't pretty. Some people are just driven to tell others what to do. They love being in charge, and look!--they get a uniform and gun too. They have all sorts of power over you because they are invested with unquestionable authority of the state. They can tell you anything ("inline skating is illegal in Japan") and you just have to take it, unless you have cameras and witnesses there and want to hire a lawyer. Not a lot of lawyers like to take that kind of case because (coincidentally, of course!) they often end up being harassed and audited repeatedly by the tax authorities, given several "illegal lane change" or "1 mph over the speed limit"-type tickets on the road in front of their house, and having paperwork, evidence and cooperation withheld in other cases on their ledgers. So, for example, when it is your word against theirs, they can lie on the witness stand about how fast you were driving, or whether there was a bag of pot in your glove compartment, and you lose. A police officer, LIE? Impossible, right? Unheard of. Um. "Inline skating is illegal in Japan..." Yes, I know about this subject. I've had plenty of experience with police corruption in my career as a lawyer. Some of them like to "serve and protect", by breaking laws indiscriminately, lying, withholding evidence, abusing state powers for personal satisfaction or gain, beating suspects and prisoners, failing to protect inmates from sodomy, violence and degradation like mixing human waste with their daily food and urinating through the bars into their cells, and even murdering some suspects before trial, or watching other prisoners murder child sex offenders in jail. I also had plenty of experiences with Japanese police, as a "foreigner"...like being frisked and patted down in the middle of a busy street, while wearing my suit and carrying a briefcase and standing with another business-suited lawyer ("sorry, we thought you might be a criminal...")...being held for questioning at a kouban for over an hour because I made the mistake of asking directions (as I left, "be more careful next time..." Huh? Be careful of what? Cops?)...being stopped at every corner, over and over again, by the same cops, to have my bike reg sticker checked for the nth time, then on the day my own bike was stolen, being told to buzz off because that is not an important crime and I'll never get the bike back ("be more careful with your bike next time, they are easily stolen if you don't lock them" Uh...it was locked, you idiot)...etc. etc. I don't know anything about whether inline skating is OK or not on this or that kind of street, or in this or that ward or municipality in Japan. But I do know that you will continue to have trouble with cops getting angry, because that is what a lot of them think is their job. There are a lot of fine police officers, but there are also plenty of bad apples. Let's face it. What kind of person gravitates to a job where you get a gun, badge, uniform, and a way to get away with all kinds of illegal, petty and brutal stuff? When the Berlin Wall came down a lot of ordinary folk went over to the formerly communist East Germany, curious to see exactly what kind of propaganda those commies had been printing in their history textbooks about the US, Western Europe, etc. Everyone was expecting to see page after page of outrageous lies. Actually, the commie history textbooks didn't contain any false facts at all...just true information, selectively reported. Like about white people exterminating the Native Americans, keeping black slaves...corporate corruption, police brutality, hunger and ghetto living in the inner cities, environmental disasters...the list goes on. You can find all this stuff yourself in our own daily papers, but you never expect it to be in another country's history textbook. A lot of it is pretty damning, but we pretend it isn't there or doesn't happen. Cops and the criminal/penal system are a fine example of how we avert our collective gaze from the truth. The police and prision system in the US is a terrible example of human rights abuses, police corruption and selective enforcement of laws. The criminal justice system is tragically flawed. Cops...they scare me, I don't trust them and I have oodles of personal experience with bad seeds on the police force. Have a nice day! And keep off those skates. Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Oh, and by the way... Here is a good link about getting into ski/snowboard shape during the off-season! Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 I used to ride around Osaka on skates, never had any problems with the police. In my experience, if they cant fine you for something, they wont chase you anyway. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 As an aside... apparently, bicycles are not allowed on the sidewalks... Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 I was on the sidewalk going from my class to the station. I have used the skates for years in Japan and explained or tried to explain it to the cop. It made him more angry and he just said the in your country and this country line. I gave up took off the skates and walked. I felt embarrassed being yelled at in board daylight for 4 minutes. After reseacrching it a little and with the help of my buddy OU... skates are not allowed in Japan cause they are dangerous. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Here is a link The 2 best inline vert skaters are brothers from Japan. They have been on tour for years I think over 6 years now. http://expn.go.com/xgames/sxg/viii/s/inline_vert.html Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Shout back at the police here, and make a big show of asking their name and number. It works, I've tried it. I've been stopped by the police in Osaka for riding my cross-bike (big thing, with wheels half the size of the average Japanese) on the road, and been told to get onto the pavement with it, there to ride at 35 kmph. Needless to say, all I had to say to that was 'Baaaka', and get on my bike and ride off, on the road. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 So anyone know the sidewalk cycling law. A pro-racer friend of mine told me that it's actually against the law to ride on the sidewalk (as in most countries) and that you're mean't to ride on the rode, but the big mama chari culture has turned the law to the extent that even the police ride on the sidewalk now... Cycling along the road at a fair pace, minding me own one day, and a car pulled up behind me, with the speaker on full blast and told me to get off the road. The shock nearly piled me into a parked car! Recovering enough to turn and slowly raise a relevant gesture, I was shocked to find it was the police that'd nearly caused an accident. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Would that be the gesture known as the "gaijin no nakayubi"? Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 I believe so ... Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Horns and such are more dangerous at that point I agree. A shocked cyclist is more apt to crash. Link to post Share on other sites
Davo 1 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 That sucks Fattwins-I also inline skate occasionally and can't see how it's more dangerous than riding a bike. Next time you talk to a cop though mate speak very loudly in English eg "What? What are you saying? I don't speak Japanese!" with a smile on your face. Either that or go hard on them "WTF do you want?" style as has been recommeded to me by a Japanese friend. Personally I think the dumb gaijin road is easier. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Davo I did speak Japanese to him but the guy would have gotten his way or tired to. I wont stop using my blades my local cops dont seem to mind. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 There's a funny song by Izumiya Shigeru that is a dialogue between him and a cop who sounds very similar to Fattwin's cop. For every impertinent question from the cop, he has a sharp come-back. The song is recommendation to put these pillocks firmly back in their place. Link to post Share on other sites
its-a-clock 0 Posted May 12, 2003 Share Posted May 12, 2003 I'm having a big rest now. Link to post Share on other sites
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