Daze StreetBall

With Fast Handles and Freakish movements Kamikaze is hands down one of the best up coming freestlyers there is in the world. Here is a interview with him from Bounce magazine

KAMIKAZE freestylin’ in NYC’s Union Square.

Q: First off, who are you? Tell us about yourself.

A: My name’s Jinji Takeguchi a.k.a KAMIKAZE. I was born and bred in Tokyo, Japan and I’m now an 18-year-old high-school student. When I was 14, my family and I moved to Victoria B.C., Canada where I live right now.

I got my a.k.a from my friend back when I was in 10th grade during a game (‘cause I move and dribble fast I guess…)

Q: How long have you been freestyling?

A: I didn’t really freestyle at first. I started playin’ ball when I lived back in Tokyo when I was 13.

I was a normal player and I was on a team and all that, but our coach was one of the worst coaches in the world. He never watched our practices or taught us anything so we never won a game.

When I was 14, I saw AND1 and Played “NBA Street” (the video game) and then started doin’ tricks. I began taking my basketball everywhere I went– dribbling all the time. The past four years, I’ve dribbled every day— whether in a movie theater or just going outside, a ball’s always in my hands.

Q: Who have you been playing with? Any past accomplishments?

A: I practice on my own. Back in Japan, there’re a lot of freestylers, but here in Canada no one freestyles– they just play ball.

In Japan, I’ve got a team called “Peak Wander Ballerz” which consists of me, this dude RY-15 and another dude called IPPEI. I practice with about three or four other freestyle crews in Japan.

In the past, I participated in the ‘07 Japan Kyushu Round Freestyle battle and came in 4th place. This year, I was in the Japan Kansai Round Freestyle battle and actually won that. I was on 24 Hour TV (one of the biggest shows in Japan) and also did the halftime show at the Jordan Classic at the Garden this year too.

Q: Do you think you’re the best freestyler in the world?

A: I’m not the best in the world. I think it’s impossible to pick a #1 ‘cause freestyle is what it is. There’re lots of styles and tricks that we can’t compare. I know there are a lot of crazy freestylers out there, but I can’t choose one ‘cause they are all #1 in their styles. So I respect everyone with their own original style and original tricks.

Q: If not you, then who? Name your top 5 freestylers in the world.

For me, a lot of Japanese freestylers will come into this

-Nock (Japanese from the crew King Games)
-Shiro (Msdk the full MSDK crew is Crazy!!)
-Snake (my man from DAZE!!)
-SGR (Japanese full B-Bug crew is sick as well)
-TaMa (Japanese Freestyler)

Those’re my five, but I think a lot more people will be on the list. It was real hard for me to choose just five and most of the people on the list are not well known ‘cause they don’t put up videos on Youtube, but they are crazy.

I also really like Drop’s (from Korea) style too. And my boy RY-15,LiL-G, Madskillz, LEE a.k.a 6th sense (my big bro). There’re just too many to name. Everyone’s got their own creative thing.

And I think that’s the best part of freestyle. You can create your own method and you can bring your own “color.”

Q: What do you think about Streetgodz and these head-to-head battles?

A: It’s one of the best companies in the world. They take freestyle basketball seriously and give us places to shine. Other companies don’t really do that. They gotta collaborate more with Freestylerz so they can get some big stuff going.

About the head-to-head battles, I like it. I always loved watchin’ break-dance battles and all that and one-on-one freestyle competitions are similar.

Showin’ your move combos to the opponent and making the crowd go crazy- even dissing the opponent makes the battle more fun to watch. People might think that freestyle battle is copying break dance, but it’s the opposite.

Q: Do you think a lot of freestylers all over the world would like to be in a Streetgodz battle? Why?

A: YES!!!! Every one is always tellin’ me they wanna be in the battle and all that. Everyone knows about the it and the only one that’s worldwide is Freestylerz against the StreetGodz.

Q: Do they know about Streetgodz in Japan?

A: Yeah, a lot of people know about it, but they don’t get the chance to be apart of it because of their English skills and other stuff.

Of those who get on, they’re some of the sickest Japanese Freestylers there are.

Plus 80% of the freestylers in Japan are unknown in the U.S or in other parts because, again, they don’t post videos on YOUTUBE.

Q: Where do you see Streetgodz taking freestyle basketball?

A: I think if stuff goes well freestyle will be huge—as big as the dance or skateboard scenes. But I think freestyle basketball comes from original basketball, so it shouldn’t forget its roots.

Personally, I think StreetGodz will take the whole thing to the next level and the media will get involved and all that. It’s up to us from there on.

Q: What has Streetgodz meant to you?

A: It means a lot ‘cause it’s the place for me to get on stage. If it wasn’t around, I wouldn’t have been able to do my thing.

I’ve been in Madison Square Garden and flown all over America and met a lot of new freestylers along the way. I’m happy to be part of it and I wanna give a big thanks to Snake from our crew Daze, ‘cause he’s the one who told me about Streetgodz and helped me get here.

Birth name:Jinji Takeguchi

StreetBall name: Kamikaze

Birthplace: Tokyo Japan

Hometown: Victoria B.C. Canada

Age: 18