Roots in the Underground , Flowers in the Overground , QUCON's goal .

section of TokyoAt the time, Kacchan (Minami) said he wanted to take pictures of me, so we decided to go out and shoot, and I think it was our first session at a spot called Meriken Park in Kobe. We had the feeling that we had been friends for a long time. Kacchan not only skateboarded, but also made skate videos, which is the same thing I do, so we both knew the process of skateboarding, and we had been down the same road.

MINAMIThat was in 2006. We alternated footage of "Night Prowler" and "LENZ" that day.

section of TokyoI don't think I had any.

MINAMINo, no, no, no, I think it was like Osaka Vibes never lost. I was young (laughs).

section of TokyoThat's been deleted from my memory. Maru-kun (Shintaro Maruyama, an original member of Evisen) was a skater I didn't want to lose to, but I don't think I was that competitive with Kacchan. Kacchan has more of an image of a producer, so it's not like we were competing with each other.

MINAMIMaru and Shinpei both have the same thing. They are both silly, funny, and incredibly serious about skateboarding . Not only do they have the same vibes, but their love for skateboarding is very close. I thought it would be great if we could do something together, so I asked them to work on "Evisen" with me.

section of TokyoKacchan had been saying he wanted to start a deck company for a while, and I was like, "Do it, do it," but I never thought he would actually start. Everyone wants to start their own skate brand, but it's hard to do it. Most of the time, the idea just disappears. But Kacchan said he was serious and wanted to do it with Maru and Shinpei. I wanted to respond to that, so I decided to quit my previous deck sponsor and work on "Evisen" together. I had always wanted to send out information about Japanese skating from Japan and make people around the world gasp in surprise, and I thought we could do it.

MINAMISo in 2011, "Evisen" was in full swing, and we started touring together and shooting footage. Shinpei was producing "LENZ II", so we shot that in parallel, and we all focused on "LENZ II" as well.

section of TokyoWhen I was first approached by Okada-kun, who was working on this project, I thought it would be interesting to do something outside of Harajuku and Shibuya. I thought it would be interesting to do something outside of Harajuku and Shibuya, and that was Toranomon. . I wanted to do something new because of the unique members. Taro Kodama, another "QCon" member, traveled around the world and noticed that every city he thought was good had a skate park and skaters, and that skaters were cool among the people he met. In front of MACBA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, Spain, skaters can freely skate on the beautiful marble plaza without being threatened by the security guards. Skaters from all over the world gather there and there are sessions every day. We wanted to do something like that here in Japan.

MINAMIYes, that's right. Me and Shinpei have been watching the Japanese skate market from the end to the present, and we know the core of the market. We know the limits of the traditional skater's way of doing things. We had already done what we wanted to do with "Evisen" and "TIGHTBOOTH," so we thought we needed to take a different approach with "CueCon.

section of TokyoAs the conversation progressed, the idea of collaborating with Hiroshi Fujiwara's "FRAGMENT DESIGN" came up. Mr. Fujiwara had been checking me out for about 6 years and liked me a lot, so I thought it would be great if we could do something together someday. What made me especially happy was that he was able to articulate what he liked about my skating and my work better than most skaters. He also understood the difference between competitive skateboarding and street skating. I think that's why we were able to collaborate. The story of skateboarding in its purest form is a story centered on the U.S., even if you look at it on a global level. . Basically, in America, the way of thinking about skateboarding is different, not only for skate companies but also for the general public. It is obvious that there is a deeper understanding of skateboarding. But in Japan, there are far too few people who understand skateboarding. But we have to accept this as reality, so in order to create a good situation in Japan, we had to think of a unique way to do things in Japan.

MINAMIWe make creations that attract the attention of people in various fields, not just skateboarding , and then we give it back to skateboarding. That is our first priority. . What we are doing may be mass-oriented, but the fact that we have created a park in this way will remain as an achievement. We may be able to add another park in a different location. . Our goal is to create a good environment for skaters as a result.

MINAMIEven my closest friends asked me if I was okay. . I've had people say to me, "Oh, no, it's not okay. . It's really difficult in Japan. Everyone, skaters and non-skaters alike, are very serious, and there is a tendency to live life the same way as everyone else.

section of TokyoBut I have to convince those people to move up, and I see skaters not being able to skate freely in Japan anymore.

MINAMIIf that was the case, we chose to take the lead. Whenever we were in doubt, we would ask the skateboarding gods (a.k.a. "skate gods"), "Is this the right thing to do? He answered, "Go ahead and do it. And he told me to keep on doing what I was doing (laughs).

section of Tokyo. This time is just an opportunity, not a goal. With the members of "QCon" together, we can really do a lot of different things, and we plan to continue to set new things in motion.