There were many photographers among the 12 of us, and along with this being my first bicycle tour, it was also my first time doing travel photography. Here’s a list of a few of my most memorable moments: eating as many different flavored rice balls as possible, drinking kirin milk tea every day, intense karaoke sessions, being warmed by my sweat when the sky was raining down on us, having the opportunity to photograph it all, and of course, riding over 300 miles with the crew and making it to Osaka!

This is Wada – a Japanese local who rode with us during the first few days of our trip

Spoke Cards and Stickers!

Breakfast before another long day on our bikes.

Damon… and VENDING MACHINES!!

His name is Zachary Scott

Steven – YAYYY!!!

This photo is only a glimpse of his ENERGY, and the food was… AMAZING.

CJ!

Shane rollin with style

Drying our clothes that’s been drenched by sweat and rain.

Mick and his red bandana

This company invited us over for their company BBQ! And it’s also where we met…

THIS GUY! “THANK YOU!!!!!”

Nara!

John!

Local friends and bike shop owners in Osaka.

Slick taking care of business.

We began keeping a log of Marcus’s most outrageous lines – “WHERE CAN WE GET SOME BEER AROUND HERE DIIIUUUUDDE?!?”

Oh.. and this is Marcus by the way

Nic Hill!

Representing CALIFORNIA

Bathing in the river.

Smoggy Fuji

Dried fish swimming through the spokes.

Ricky

Lastly, Slick and Shane with the Frames.

Wait… a UCLA THEMED STRIP CLUB?!

Click here for MORE PHOTOS

Nic has been working like a mad man, along with the rest of the post-production team, logging footage, transcribing interviews, editing, etc., all while working on two other major films. Very exciting stuff. Here’s nic at work.

I was in the Bay Area recently to work with Nic on the art and lettering for Junkan. I had my laptop, pens, and paper which was all I needed to setup my bare bones “mobile production unit” (right) in Nic’s office while he was editing.
The first episode of Junkan has now been handed over to the visual effect department, the second episode will follow shortly. More information about release dates and screenings will be posted as we get it. Stay tuned!

Keep Rollin from Zachary Scott on Vimeo.

The amazing photographer, and friend of Tokyo to Osaka, Rip aka RipZinger showed up on an episode of Battle at the Berrics 2. For those not familiar, The Berrics is an insanely popular skateboarding website/ skatepark/ brand/ phenomena, worth checking out if you have or ever had any interest in skateboarding. Rip shot photos of the T2O crew as we were leaving Tokyo, before he flew out to LA. I think this is what he was doing in LA while we were riding to Osaka. I’m glad The Berrics has love for Rip like we do.

Also, be sure to check out the RipZinger photo book “West Americanized Tour”

EDIT: How did I miss these clips before? Rip skating!

Rip vs. Rick on crailtap.

and First Try Friday’s with Rip on the Berrics

And here’s a snapshot Rip took of the Tokyo to Osaka crew in Shibuya as we were leaving Tokyo. From the wbase blog

This was just a quick digicam shot, but he was mostly shooting Medium Format film. I can’t wait to see those ones.

“That mix is fun!” - Chad “Toy Baron” Phillips, Kidrobot

“WHAT MIX WAS THAT??????????” (actually referring to the Diplo mix) - Prof. Tom Quickel, UCLA

“Sweet Jesus, that’s smooth.” - Andrew Keh, New York Times
_

This mixtape provided the soundtrack for our van ride to the Ichinomiya Keirin races, aka 12 dudes smashed in a van. I would like to say this mix aided German Thomas’ high precision, yet super smooth, Autobahn-esq driving, which got us there just in time to see our Keirin Rider friend Yuki Kusaka win the first race.

Smooth Sailing is a special mixtape I made and distributed privately to an exclusive group of individuals. And now, due to overwhelming demand, it’s being made available to the public, for the greater good. Please enjoy the smoothitude.

Download Smooth Sailing

Photos by our awesome German driver Thomas from the Overkill Blog. Thomas stuck around and continued on from Osaka, riding solo with all his gear to Kyoto. Holding it down for the T2O crew like a true soldier. More of his photos from earlier in the trip here.

Osaka Alleycat Startline Video by @teisuke