When it comes to blending art and sport, Japanese athletes represent

Master Blaster

Jan 22, 2014

Japan has fared pretty well in the realm of professional sports these days with more and more Nippon Professional Baseball players popping up in the Major League and the recent rise in men’s and women’s soccer.

Even on the streets young Japanese people are pushing their bodies to the limit and creating awe inspiring athletic dance routines and working their way onto the world stage. The following are four such people, Taisuke Nonaka (B-boying), Yohei Uchino (flatland BMX), Kotaru Tokuda (freestyle football), and ZiNEZ (freestyle basketball).

Starting at the tender age of eight with the Cool Crew Jr. & Papa, the Nagasaki native has head-spun and locked his way to hip-hop dancing success. Now 24 and dancing under the name B-boy Taisuke, he has a fair number of television appearances surpassed only by his championships won both at home and abroad. Here are some highlights:

Late last year at the Red Bull BC One World Finals in Seoul, Taisuke gained some further attention taking on France’s Lilou. Although suffering a narrow defeat, he still won the respect of breakdance fans worldwide.

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It’s generally agreed that the greatest Japanese flatland BMX rider is Yohei Uchino, affectionately called Ucchie, who has competed around the globe and earned the top honors in Voo Doo Jam 2008. Let’s take a good look at his signature move, the Ucchie Spin:

http://youtu.be/y1QQVYdHgdM?t=52s

Flatland BMX goes so fast sometimes it can be hard to appreciate the precision moves that can go on in a single trick. Luckily, Uchino’s official website offers some tutorial videos in slow motion. Feel free to try them out yourself if you’re not afraid of breaking your nose.

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Born in Aichi Prefecture, Tokuda started practicing at the age of 13. He had picked up the book Nike Freestyle Football (rhythmic gymnastics with a soccer ball) and never looked back learning to balance and juggle a ball with meticulous precision. At the age of 18 he won his first Red Bull Street Style National Final and participated with the Japanese national team in the following year’s world competition.

A short time later Tokuda (who performs under the nickname “Tokura”) earned back-to-back championships in both the national and international 2012 Red Bull Street Style competitions. Here’s a battle from the national final against Nao:

Here’s a more recent exhibition of Tokura going it alone. Make sure you have the volume up so you can see how well he times his moves to the beat of the song:

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Moving on from freestyle football to the lesser-known freestyle basketball and – according to his website – the only world champion of the sport ever, ZiNEZ. The 23-year-old half-Japanese-half-Canadian has performed internationally with his dizzying display of dribbling that would give him several dozen traveling violations in an actual game. Here he is giving a brief demo at a live show:

If that weren’t enough, ZiNEZ’s skill-set combined with his doe-eyed good looks have landed him several modelling gigs for the likes of GAP, Sony, Nike, and Uniqlo. Here’s a more polished video on the streets of Tokyo as locals do their best to pretend they don’t notice him: