Which came first for you, punk or skateboarding?

I think punk rock came first. Both punk rock and skateboarding came into my life around junior high. Everyone around me was listening to The Police or Duran Duran, though those might’ve come a bit later, but I was never really into that mainstream music culture.
Around that time, a friend of mine, a Noh performer, asked me, “Do you know punk rock?” He said, “I think you might like it,” and that was my first encounter. I was drawn to the speed and intensity.
I knew about metal and had listened to some, but the style just didn’t click with me. I listened to major bands like The Clash, but at the time, I didn’t think they were intense enough; it didn’t feel like the kind of punk I was looking for (laughs).

You were more into hardcore punk.

Yeah, I started getting into more underground stuff. In Japan, I went from bands like The Stalin and The Mods to gradually more minor ones. I listened to a lot of hardcore back then.
Around the same time, skateboarding came into my life too.

Did you meet the T19 crew at a punk show?

No, we first met at a skate park.

Was O-san (Hiroshi Ohtaki) the first person you met?

It was 03 (O-san) and Mino-kun (Tatsuya Mino). They were always together. They’d show up at Musashi Skate Park (Kiyose) after school, still in their school uniforms. They totally reminded me of the Blues Brothers.

Even Shin-chan (SKATE THING) said he thought those two were foreigners at first (laughs).

I think I was in high school then. They used to come to the park after school on Tuesdays or Thursdays. On my way home from school, I’d always look out from the train window at the park to see who was skating that day. I wanted to make friends at the park.

Were those two open-minded?

Yeah, just said “Hi,” and I asked what days they usually come, and they told me they come on Thursdays. So I started going to the park on those days too.

Skaters have that welcoming vibe.

Eventually, we started going on Saturdays too. Back then, the really good skaters would show up on Saturdays and Sundays, especially Sundays, and it felt a bit intimidating at first, but over time, we became a regular on Sundays as well.

What deck were you skating back then?

It was Powell Peralta, Ray Rodriguez. But it didn’t have any concave. I wasn’t thinking about concave, but I picked it because of the graphic. Later, people told me I should get one with concave, so I switched to Mike McGill model.

What year was that?

This was back in the ’80s. To give you a context, I started out playing baseball in first grade in ‘70s. I dreamed of pro baseball player. The batting cage I used to go to also had a skate park. I’d go there for batting practice. Then I saw the skaters, with bright yellow wheels, orange helmets, and RECTOR pads in bold red and blue. Not dull or muted, but super vivid colors.
Those images really stuck with me. After I quit baseball, it resonated with me so much that I had to start skating.
My first deck was Alva, then I got a non-wood Kryptonics board, and after that, the Powell’s Ray Rodriguez. 03 was riding one that is rare now - Powell’s Beamer. And Mino-kun was riding the Powell’s Ollie.

I heard you and NEEYAN (Nihei Hisakatsu) were the first riders when T19 started?

We were sort of all doing it together. Take a look at this photo (TOP photo Yamada is doing a handplant in black and white), the T-shirt is T19, the deck is the T19 Yamada model, both designed by Mino-kun. I’d love to bring that design back someday. That photo means a lot to me.

Where did you meet Shin-chan?

At a punk rock show at Rokumeikan in Meguro. After the show, six or seven of us went to Yoshino-ya to grab a bowl of Gyu-don to eat. I think that was the first time.

Was he rocking a mohawk?

I’m not sure, but I remember he was wearing black pants with bleached spots. His hair was a kind of mohawk, and he had on a spiked leather jacket—he looked super cool. His influence doesn’t seem to appear on the surface as much as it should, but he has always been one of the influential figures among us at large.

Did O-san and Mino-kun not go to the show?

We all started going together. It was a lot of fun.

What about Tetsu?

I met him during my college years. That was around the time we were all getting into the nightclub scene.

Around 1988, I think.

I think you introduced yourself as “Takei from Space Shower TV” (laughs).

Maybe during the Beastie Boys tour coverage. Around that time, you were skating with O-san and Mino-kun, and also doing ceramics on the side.

After graduating from college, I worked at the Japan Pottery Club by Togo Shrine in Harajuku for about four years.
I was teaching many adults there, and at the same time, I learned many things from many people there.

So, were those mugs you gave to Tetsu from that time?

Yeah, I made many of them to distribute to participants of an event there.

Pieces like this definitely need to be preserved. I’d love to see those spray cans work as well.

Yama-chan used to come pick me up from school, or I would go to his college, then we’d head out to skate.

We did that a lot.

You’d be smiling and skating till morning; that was so tough. You even drove me home sometimes. So you went to the US in ’94, and now you’re a professor?

I was first hired as an assistant professor at Knox College in 1998. In 2003, I was hired at the University of Minnesota, where I became an associate professor in 2008 and was promoted to a full professor in 2015.

You are a professor. In the beginning, I asked you “Who are you?” But now I see you’re both a professor and an artist.

I usually identify myself as an “artist.” It’s like a scientist who teaches at a university.

Got it, it’s like an artist teaching at a university.

Since moving to the US in ’94, I’ve done lots of shows and projects, but when Ted Barrow wrote a review of my show at the Walker for THRASHER magazine, it meant so much at the personal level. I never would have made it based on my skating alone.

This really feels like the culmination of your journey. Skateboarding laid the foundation, and now you express yourself through art. Just looking at your work, it stands apart.
Those T-shirts with phrases like “TODAY IS TOMORROW” and “YESTERDAY IS TODAY” from that time, I hope Tetsu reissues them. I saw those during the pandemic, and they really resonated with me.

What about flyer-style designs? Not printing at all? I’d love to make T-shirts.

These are flyers for my temporary projects. I used a Xerox copy machine to produce them. During the pandemic, I did a public space installation called “Waiting.”

That installation is the reason why I wanted to do this interview in a tatami room today (laughs).