Déjà Vu Japan: A snowboarding photo essay

by Jerome Tanon

Everyone’s first trip with the guys from Déjà Vu must be a shock—mine was. I was blown away by the amount of dedication these guys put into their riding, filming and the number of tries they go through even after they have already stomped their tricks. I was amazed by how easy it looks when they shred some insane stuff. In just ten days in Japan I came home with dozens of good photos and memories.

(Image above) That river gap was sketchy and dangerous, but Nic Suavé cab 270s over it anyway. The impact was violent.

f5_tmax_444_view_from_morning_breakfast_of_cheap_road_motel_hd_cmyk — This was the view from our worker motel's breakfast every morning.

On a road covered with ice, Nic Suavé couldn’t avoid T-boning a small truck cutting his way. Nobody got hurt, but the van was dead. Bad beat.

scan_p67_delta3200_155_louif_paradis_scraping_board_in_streets_hd_cmyk — Louif Paradis gets ready for a kink rail where a cop came to bust him. He somehow negotiated two more tries and landed those two.

scan_p67_delta3200_171a_louif_paradis_tailblunt_fs270_popout_rail_to_drop_at_dusk_dark_hd_cmyk — The drop from this rail was really high, but Louif put his usual laid-back style into a blunt 270 pop-out.

This spot was even sketchier, but Louif tapped the pole to boardslide. He gave it twenty tries and fortunately never caught his edge.

scan_p67_hp5_195_louif_paradis_portrait_hd_cmyk — I scratched the negative with a needle, but if you look from far enough away you can still see Louif's eyes

Not only was this banana slide the longest I had ever seen, but you also had to drop into it from above and do a water skim at the end. Frank April with a double frontside boardslide to ice pool.