BATSU X ROSE STREET A GLOBAL SKATE SHOP CONNECTION
As skateboarders our connection is universal. You can go anywhere in the world to connect, learn a new language, and make friends for life. We are blessed with this connection to our community, locally, nationally & globally.
This story’s origins began Nov 2019 during our opening weekend of Rose Street. It was our second day open, a Sunday. Slow as molasses. I was questioning my existence and if opening a shop was a good idea. 5 mins before closing a minivan pulls up, 7 Japanese cats pop out of it like a clown car. I’m thinking, yo what is this?! Turns out it's Yuya Sato aka Yuumac from Advanced Marketing Japan. They were on a distro tour, and they got word from Dan Drehobl to come and check us out. They all agreed that this was one of the best shops they saw on their tour. I took this visit as a good omen.
Since then I’ve had numerous Japanese shops pull up to check us out and I feel so honored when they do. To travel 5500 miles and have us on your schedule to visit, to me, that’s the utmost respect.
My respect and admiration for Japan runs deep. My mother Fung-Ching (of Chinese descent), aka Kyoko, was born in Yokohama and raised in Yokohama's Chinatown. Her father was a chef and he moved to Japan to teach Chinese cooking. My mom later moved to Hawaii where I was born, and where my pops worked for PanAm Airlines. When I was little we'd take trips to Japan like 2-3 times a year.
I have memories of attending my mom’s art shows in Tokyo and visiting my uncle at the jazz club he was part of—Junk Club in Ginza. Drinking glass bottle Sprites and collecting toys from Toy Park Ginza is still fond & fresh in my mind. Fast forward to my adulthood, working and running shops in New York City, where I discovered a deep appreciation for Japan’s embrace of skateboarding and streetwear culture.
Yumacc and I stayed in touch and he introduced us to Batsu, run by Yoshiaki Endo, a friend of his. Batsu is Yuumac’s hometown shop located in Kashiwa city in Chiba prefecture. Batsu mirrors us with the same values in skateboarding, culture and brands. We kept in touch and traded shop tees through Covid, talked about what’s happening in both scenes, what works, what doesn’t etc.
It's 2023, and Fay and I take a family trip to Japan where we got to visit Batsu skate shop. Batsu, probably about 500sq ft of space, holds so much more than a skate shop. It holds history, charm, style and is a torch for lighting the future for skaters in Japan.
I got to spend some time with Batsu, and this time an idea was born to one day collaborate on something meaningful. Batsu insisted on drawing up a logo with Tokoya Suzuki, a 3rd Generation Barber by day, artist by night. Tokoya, a friend of both Yuumac & Yoshiaki, is a humble man, and he cranked out the logo with meaning and pride.
In 2024 Yoshiaki introduced me to “Skateshop Communication”, an IG account to start having more skate shops connect & collaborate with ideas and events. At the same time Noah visits Batsu on a trip with gifts from us to exchange and spent time skating which grew into new friendships for Noah.
And in 2025 we finally start getting this thing off the ground. It’s been rocky for the both of us and the industry. But things pop off and spark fire to get things going. Noah landed an opportunity and spent 3 months interning for Sabukaru, an online magazine in Tokyo. This led to us to send Kyle G & Parker to join Noah to build content and spread the message of Skateshop Communication.
This isn’t just a product collaboration between two skate shops. It’s the idea of sharing the same ideals of pushing skateboarding within both of our respective scenes with style, art & grace. To show the global community our solidarity of protecting and growing skateboarding. It’s a message of hope and friendship meeting along a crossed path.
Lastly, a thank you to Justin & Jay at Vans, and Nook at Volcom for supporting us to get the boys to Japan. This kind of support goes very far and honestly without them we wouldn’t have gotten to this point. Sometimes the ROI isn’t in just supporting sales, but in supporting scenes created by skate shops. With this collaboration both communities have grown globally.
Peace love and be kind to each other – Sean