MUni & Trials on Japanese TV

Hi,

Just thought I’d share a funny and somewhat weird filming experience I had over the last couple of days, for a Japanese TV show called Junk Sports (Fuji Television).

It was really cheesy but pretty fun because I had to act a bit (very badly!)

Over the last 2 episodes Junk sports has been featuring Keigo Arizono, the current world biketrials champion, going about his daily life but doing everthing while riding his bike, including shopping, some stunt riding around town, and basically just riding around and and jumping over people and parked cars and structures, etc.

In his latest adventure he travels to Vancouver, where he “accidently” runs into me riding trials in downtown Vancouver.

I initially view him with “suspicion” as he’s supposed to be treading on my turf, so to speak, and I take him around to show him some hard stuff to ride on. We do some of urban and beach-log riding in downtown Vancouver, and then I take him to the Vancouver North Shore to show him some hardcore freeriding.

In the end however, we become great friends in the story and ride into the sunset together on the Lions Gate bridge, a landmark bridge in Vancouver.

Anyway, it was really fun despite the cheesy mainstream TV factor, and the show reaches about 15 million people per episode, so hopefully it will help a bit with awareness of MUni in Japan.

Kris Holm

i hope someone will put it online.

Nihongo de hanashimashita ka, or did you speak in english?

How was the weather during the shoot? Wet or dry?

How did Keigo like North Shore?

It was wet, but not raining. Keigo doesn’t ever ride on trails (just trials) so he was pretty shocked at the Shore at first, especially on one high ladderbridge we went to. However, being who he was he rapidly adjusted and we had a great day together.

Nothing we did was super high-end riding because the director cared more about scenarios and dramatic shots than technical difficulty (because the audience isn’t going to understand the technical part anyway), but I’ll see if I can post something if I get a copy of the show.

Kris.