In 2008 I spent 5 months skateboarding almost 5,500km across China. I have mixed memories of that trip. Memories of pure joy and memories of pure torment. But the one indifferent constant of that trip was China National Highway 312. This trans-China highway was my home for that 5 months. […]

Revisiting an old friend: The China National Highway 312

On the 15th of November 2007, I was staying at Trellis Bay in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. I wrote a blog post about how lots had happened since I last wrote a blog post, but for reasons that I didn’t divulge at the time, I couldn’t write […]

A story never told: My job as a yacht charter ...

The Asia New Zealand Foundation Leaders Network is a global network of young professionals working in some way connecting Asia and New Zealand…business, education, diplomacy, culture…many different areas are represented. I’m very happy to be a part of the network, and had the chance to travel to Xian, China, for […]

Asia New Zealand Foundation Leaders Network North Asia Hui (Xian, ...

Bustin Longboards sent me a heads up about their Longboard Portugal series. I’m not up with the play on the specifics, but I’m a serious sucker for far away places and old cities; two things this unfolding series delivers on. Makes me want to go to Portugal even more. Looks […]

Longboard Portugal

Every year the Hokkaido University Festival takes place in June. Students prepare in teams for months in advance, culminating in four days of intense festival spirit. Here I interview students about “festival magic”…the curious pairing up of couples during the preparation and excitement of the festival. This was my first […]

College Festival Magic – The Art of Love at a ...

Note: I primarily skate for transport. Therefore, the review below is from a skate-for-transport perspective (see the comment from Moony Lupis below). ———- First impressions summary PROS: WheelShields – mudguards (fenders) for a longboard – are a game-changer. Commuting by skateboard on wet roads doesn’t mean road grime on your pants, shoes, and deck […]

First Impressions Review of WheelShields – Mudguards for a Longboard

Get in and support an awesome product for keeping people who longboard for transport clean and dry – Wheel Shields: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1522548247/wheel-shields-longboarding-technology Way back in 2008, I was in western China sitting in a stifling internet cafe. I had already skated over 6,000 miles (9,600km) across the US and Europe, but in […]

Wheel Shields – get in and support a great idea

It is my pleasure to announce that by all appearances, Marcelo Gervasio Silva of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has unofficially broken my world record for the longest journey by skateboard. Apparently he started his journey in French Guiana on the 26th of January 2011, and has to this date skated over […]

BIG NEWS – Unofficial World Record for the Longest Journey ...

This is an idea that I had while skating across China in 2008 for fenders which would attach to longboard trucks/wheels to stop water and road grime from flicking up onto the board. My concept was that the fenders would be made from plastic, and attach on the inside of […]

Fenders for a longboard

At the moment, being a Masters student, much of my time is involved in the somewhat dry world of academia (www.robthomo.com). Playing with video editing helps keep me sane and the creative juices flowing. The following is an example of that; a short 1.5 minute ‘study’ using slow motion and […]

Motion DesignMotion Design

I happen to be in Vancouver, Canada, right now. I’m off back home to Japan tomorrow on a flight at the ungodly hour of 6am, but in my short time here I managed to meet none other than Mr. Aaron Enevoldsen. Aaron is well known as a protagonist in the www.longtreksonskatedeks.com sagas. In […]

My dream long-distance skate destination

From the first ever ‘micro-adventure’ that Alastair Humphreys posted online – a lap around the M25 motorway near London* – I knew that he was onto something. Putting a name to something so simple and yet so rewarding*. The Howies-Alastair micro adventure competition* was a great way to bring the concept to […]

Howies Micro Adventure Competition – Winner Four

Howies* and Alastair Humphreys* did really well to promote the concept of micro-adventure*, when they joined forces* and opened a ‘Micro-Adventure Competition’. One of the winners of the competition was duo Emma and Ariel in Norther Ireland. On bikes, they hoofed it off from home to coast and back again, […]

Howies Micro Adventure Competition – Winner Three

Continuing this series of posts on micro-adventure*, here is another winner of the Howies Micro Adventure Competition. From what I can gather, Simon Edwards is a bloke from West Sussex in the UK, a “devon boy in exile in the south east of england, making the journey from wide eye […]

Howies Micro Adventure Competition – Winner Two

At some point towards the beginning of my skate across China in 2008, I wrote the following piece for the www.skatefurther.com forum. I happened to come across it again after all these years, so I thought I would share it here. Somehow I managed to capture well the trials and […]

Distance Skateboarding in China

Further to my previous post*, here is the first of the four winning Howies micro-adventure story entries. Filmed and edited by Tom Allen*. Tom is well known for his ‘bike trips’ to far-flung places of the earth. Just now he’s in the throes of premiere-ing his first feature-length film about […]

Howies Micro Adventure Competition – Winner One

My last post was about a wee micro adventure story that some of us here at school (Hokkaido University Graduate School of Media, Communication and Tourism Studies*) made a few weeks ago. The post was all in a bit of a rush. What I didn’t mention in that post is […]

A Winning Story – Micro Adventure

In the words of another distance skateboarder, Adam Colton, traveling by skateboard “is a pretty stupid idea.” It really is. It is less efficient than cycling, you are at the mercy of the road surface and traffic is infinitely less forgiving towards you than other forms of human powered transport. […]

The Allure of Long Distance Skateboarding

Last week I cycled 8 days with my wife, her brother (Rowland), his wife (Alicia), and my wife’s friend (Saoka). It was four of us for the whole trip, plus the extra friend for three days. It was the first time I had traveled in a group before, and I […]

Reflections on Travelling with a Group

A while back I wrote a screed of thoughts regarding digital camera choices* and mentioned that I ended up buying a second hand Panasonic GF1 micro four thirds camera; a miniature SLR camera that takes nice lightweight interchangeable lenses. Well it has now been a few months since that purchase, and I […]

Panasonic Lumix GF1 Review

This is part of a series of posts about cycling gear I have been using lately. First up, the mighty Surly Karate Monkey. Surly Karate Monkey Review Earlier this year, I was looking into bicycle options for life here in Sapporo. I was looking for something that would be as […]

Surly Karate Monkey Review – touring and commuting

In January this year, Andrea Brena, a student from Italy, sent me a sizable list of questions for me to answer as part of a research project he was working on. Before the answers get lost in my inbox forever, here they are. INTERVIEW What’s your name? Robert John Thomson, […]

People are a Window: The Kindness of Strangers

I just got word from Wim Harwig: “That young guy you saw at the M5 recumbent-shop in Middelburg is now in a team of young students trying to break the world record. I think you took a photo of him when he was working on his wooden low-racer in the […]

Humble beginnings…

Over the last few days I have had two separate people ask me about what I would recommend in terms of a compact digital camera. It just so happens that this somewhat coincides with me taking the plunge and finally replacing my dear old Canon G9 compact camera which stopped […]

Which Compact Digital Camera?