NIWAMICHI
SKATE PARK
with
Shine Hikaru 【Eng.】
Words by Stinky Eagle, Photos by Masahiro Yoshimoto
February 15, 2026. Niwamichi Skate Park in Yokkaichi City, Mie Prefecture, officially closed its doors. The park was originally built as part of a temporary urban development experiment. It was only supposed to last one month.
But things didn’t go as planned — in a good way. The scene grew way bigger than anyone expected. Because of that energy, the city decided to keep the park alive for about three and a half years, right up until redevelopment began.
For this issue, we asked Mie’s leading skater, Shine Hikari (SOUTH TREE skateshop) — one of the key people who worked hard to keep the park running — to share his honest thoughts.
— If we were to carry this social experiment skatepark into the next project, what do you think is most important?
[ The “Success” and “Failure” of a Skatepark ]
First of all, if we want to carry this experiment into the future, we need to keep sharing what we believe were its successes and failures — the good parts and the bad parts — with the city officials, local residents, and the skateboarders of this area.
We want to build on the new ideas that came out of this project and pass that knowledge on — not just to the next urban development here, but to other regions across Japan that are struggling and looking for solutions.
If you’re going to build a skatepark right in the middle of a city like this, it has to be more interesting than the existing street spots. It needs sections that are fun, creative, and truly addictive. If it doesn’t spark excitement or give people a sense of hope, they simply won’t use it. That sense of vision — and how you move with it — is more important than anything.
Lately, we’ve seen a lot of new parks being built, but people end up disappointed with the sections. Some parks require helmets at all times. Others suffer from poor management. We hear about these negative cases way too often.
If the mindset is just “it’s better than nothing,” the park won’t even last three years. And in the end, it just becomes a waste of public money.
[ About Management ]
During the social experiment period, researchers and city officials handled things like locking up every day, so there were no major problems. Even after the experiment ended, many locals voiced their hope that the park would reopen. Originally, the plan was to start tearing it down the day after the final event. But instead, the city decided to leave the park standing until the next phase of redevelopment began.
After that, on holidays, weekends, and during long school breaks like summer vacation, an older gentleman dispatched through the city’s silver staffing program would come to unlock the gates. Of course, that meant labor costs, so the park stayed closed on weekdays. We went to talk with the city many times for the sake of the users. But there was no additional budget available, and sometimes the focus was only on the negative behavior of a few skaters. Still, it felt like such a waste to keep it closed. People would travel from far away and not be able to skate. Local kids, finding it locked, would end up skating nearby, get yelled at, and then come to me asking for help.
It was a public park run by the city. I always felt it should have been managed better for the people actually using it. At the end of the day, though, it’s simple. Skaters follow the rules, and the city just doesn’t lock the fence (laughs).
When a park isn’t used, trash piles up, rails start to rust, and ledges fall apart. It really makes you wonder what “real management” means (laughs).
[ Rules and Etiquette ]
When it comes to rules and etiquette, it really depends on the location and the area, so enforcing everything strictly is tough. But the reason rules matter is exactly because we want to skate as freely as possible.
This particular spot had a lot of history. Before the war, it was a fighter plane runway. After the war, trees called “kusunoki” were planted there as a symbol of peace. Since many of these trees grow along the median strip of a road in the middle of the city, people were really careful about not damaging the plants and avoiding fire hazards. That’s why smoking became a hot topic, with the city and nature lovers pointing out issues in detail.
But there weren’t really any designated smoking areas nearby, and there weren’t many no-smoking signs either. So a lot of people just didn’t know, which caused problems. I even heard things like, “We can’t open on weekdays because of smoking etiquette issues.”
That conversation actually went on longer than the park discussion, and I don’t even smoke, so yeah, it couldn’t have mattered less to me (laughs).
If you really want to make a big deal out of smoking, then we might as well go to war. Anyone smoking inside? I’d just blast them away with a powerslide (laughs). Seriously though, if it was that big of a problem, why not just put out some ashtrays? So I went ahead and put them out myself—multiple times.
We spent what felt like forever talking about things that could’ve been solved in a minute, which almost made me lose it—but honestly, I was kind of enjoying it (laughs). If you really want to separate smokers from non-smokers, then don’t bother lighting up the holiday decorations—just put more ashtrays around the city! Even for picking up trash, the area in front of city hall had the most cigarette butts. The dirty kids were picking them up and smoking them too (laughs).
[ And Then There’s the Trash Issue ]
The trash issue back then was handled mostly by our local kid Yuga—he was still in high school and had that leader vibe, basically keeping the younger crew in line. When adults were making a fuss about garbage, he didn’t argue; he just went ahead, bought trash cans himself, set them up, and took it upon himself to clean up. Along with the other young locals and various people, he handled it in a super cool way, so trash wasn’t really a problem at the time.
Honestly, if anyone was tossing garbage, it was probably more the adults than the kids. And, well, those types are the ones whose ollie landings are always crooked, who freak out over a minor scratch, and who seem completely oblivious to everything around them—including their own knees (laughs).
Personally, I kind of treat trash like part of the section. If a can rolls into just the right spot, I might go for a tail bash. So I don’t think the people picking up trash are automatically heroes—but the ones who litter? Yeah, that’s just gross. Still, no need to make a big deal out of it; crows will carry some of it off, and you can always just pick it up yourself.
Back in the old Wakamiya park in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, it was so filthy I didn’t even want to fall—so my trick success rate actually went way up (laughs). But Niwamichi? That place was just too nice to need any trash.
— What’s Needed for Skaters and the City to Coexist?
City officials usually handle the everyday business of running a town. But when a skatepark suddenly pops up right in the middle of the city, just hearing about it can make some people uneasy. There’s a lot of bias, too. Many of them think, “Why do we have to make a park for these ‘wild’ kids who’ll just trash the city? Why should taxpayers foot the bill?”—and honestly, a lot of people just don’t feel like dealing with it.
Those who are out in the field a lot, seeing the city’s issues firsthand, probably want to handle things properly. But many others, stuck in office work all day, don’t really feel that way.
When there’s a risk of problems, they’d rather not touch it. If something goes wrong, no one wants to take responsibility. Those fears and overreactions build up, and the result is… doing nothing. Nothing gets done. Making rules in that kind of environment doesn’t really solve anything. In fact, rules often turn into new problems, which then just create even more issues. I guess you could say it’s partly human psychology at play.
When you’re trying to coexist with people you’ve never had any connection with before, people often say, “Try to see things from their perspective”. But honestly, just being nice and trying to understand them won’t cut it. Not at all.
What I realized is this: instead of standing in their shoes, "I try to make them stand in mine". That’s the mindset I bring when I deal with them.
This project started with zero connection to the city. We didn’t know them, and they didn’t know us. There was no trust at all.
Most of them didn’t even know the first thing about skateboarding. To be honest, we were questioned like we were under investigation. Every move was doubted.
So the first thing we did was listen. We heard them out, answered every question without running from anything. And at the same time, we slowly tried to pull them into our perspective — to get them to stand where we stand. Little by little, we let them feel why we were so hyped about this. Once they started to sense that excitement, I think a lot of their fears faded. And that’s when motivation started to grow on their side too. I also realized something: when you turn an argument into a discussion, the way things get across changes completely. And that makes all the difference.
We didn’t have time to fight. The only option was to work together.
On top of that, we were seriously short on time before the project had to launch. There was real pressure.
But at the same time, I had confidence. I’ve been skating in this city for years. I know these streets.
That gave me the belief — and the calm — that we could see it through.
I kept thinking about how many spots I’ve built over the years.
Just like what I’m doing now with SOUTH TREE — there were barely any skaters, nothing there to begin with. And still, I’ve kept creating something out of nothing. New parks. Shops. Business models. And more than that — new connections, new energy, real growth. I’ve done it again and again. So yeah, I knew I could definitely do it this time too.
But yeah — I definitely messed up on one thing. I put so much time into this project that I ended up a few million yen in the red (laughs). My own shop was almost gone because of it. Honestly, I was saved over and over again by the distributors and the brands around me. I owe them big time. At one point I was thinking, “If just a few hundred people come buy skateboards, we’ll be fine.” Yeah… it wasn’t that simple (laughs). Pretty sure all those customers ended up at M—Sports (some big chain shop) instead (laughs).
But if a place is created for people, or if a place already exists, I think we should give more back to it.
That’s really all I wanted to express by building this park. Skaters like us, who skate no matter the environment, can definitely do that. With that in mind, I always faced everything head-on. Even through all the meetings we had, I never once stepped back.
The reason is simple: I never asked anyone to build a park for me. Because of that, there was no need for any hierarchy. That’s exactly why we could speak as equals — and why I’m truly glad we were able to make it happen.
I’m really glad I got to skate at Niwamichi Skate Park, even though it’s gone now, with so many people from the local community. Not just other skaters, but residents, city officials, staff, and even the mayor were genuinely happy. On the last day of the event, my friend’s dad broke down in tears and hugged me.
Even Jake Johnson gave us praise.
Just by building a skatepark, so many amazing things like this can happen — it’s truly the best.
Big thanks to PANCAKE for the interview. And yes… I’m eating PANCAKE tomorrow.
