MEMBER STORY
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Through setbacks and a comeback.
The world an unconventional
middle-aged snowboarder wants to create
NAKAMURA “ONTSUAN” / QUALITY CONTROL
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Lehmans' oldest snowboarder is affectionately known to his friends as "Ontsuan."
```"Ontsuan" is Tohoku dialect for "uncle."
When he was young, repeated injuries forced him to step away from snowboarding.
Even so, snowboarding never left his heart.
After a ten-year break he returned to the mountains, and he still rides alongside the younger members today.
What brought him back to the snow was, without a doubt, his love for snowboarding.
```01. A decade of looking away from snowboarding
```Ontsuan grew up in a chatty family where everyone loved talking to people.
He's been a show-off since he was little, and says he used to keep his friends laughing by chiming in on their conversations.
"I think a big part of why I started snowboarding was that I wanted to stand out."
At 16, a high school classmate invited him, and he took up snowboarding because it looked cool.
He and his friends went again and again to Omoshiroyama Kogen Ski Area, reachable by train from his hometown of Sendai.
After high school, he moved to Tokyo to pursue a career in entertainment.
While studying acting at a training school, he worked as a temp at a factory to pay the bills.
"Even while I was at acting school, every winter they let me go back home to snowboard."
But at around 23, Ontsuan hit a major wall.
He kept dislocating his shoulder.
"Every time I went snowboarding, I'd dislocate my shoulder.
Toward the end, it would pop out just from raising my arm.
If I could have put it back myself, that would have been one thing, but every time I had to go down the mountain and head to the hospital. I was causing trouble for my friends too, so I decided to step away from snowboarding."
After that, he kept working at the factory and threw himself into music.
A music-loving coworker took him to clubs in Shibuya and Daikanyama night after night, and he started collecting records.
Around the same time, he started dating a woman he met at work.
"Music was all around me, and life with my girlfriend was fun.
It's not that I forgot about snowboarding. But I was scared of causing trouble for people again, so I held off on coming back.
Maybe I spent my twenties trying to distract myself from how much I missed it."
02. Age 33: back on the mountain after ten years
```In his thirties, he began thinking about marrying the woman he'd been dating.
To stabilize the household finances, he left the factory temp job and moved into a sales role at a telecom company.
But the workplace wasn't a good fit, and he quit after a short time.
While living off his savings, a turning point came at Yokohama Bayside Marina, where he'd gone while getting ready to move in with his girlfriend.
He saw that an outlet store was opening for Burton, the snowboard brand he'd loved for years.
"I knew I had to start working, even part-time, to contribute to our living costs.
And if it was a job involving snowboarding, maybe someday I could make a comeback too. With that in mind, I applied for an interview right away."
He got the job and started working at Burton.
Soon after the store opened, Taiga came in as a customer.
"My first impression was, 'Wow, that's one energetic kid' (laughs).
One of Taiga's upperclassmen from elementary school worked at the store, and we became friends through him. We all agreed to go riding together once winter came."
At Taiga's invitation, Ontsuan decided to return to snowboarding at 33.
Even though it was his first time on a board in ten years, his body moved surprisingly naturally.
He says both he and everyone around him were amazed that his riding showed no sign of the long break.
Then, a few sessions into his comeback, one thought came to him.
"I want to fly again, like I did ten years ago."
He hit the big kicker at Hotaka Bokujo, spinning a frontside 360 with an Indy grab.
The moment he stretched out his left arm for balance,
his left shoulder popped out again in midair.
"The second I felt it pop out, all I could think about was my shoulder.
Apparently it was the cleanest landing of my life, but I didn't even notice and went straight to ski patrol.
At Lehmans, people still talk about it as 'the Legend of Hotaka Bokujo' (laughs)."
03. Snowboarding fires up your life
```Even after hurting his shoulder again, his passion for snowboarding didn't fade.
If anything, it grew stronger, as if to make up for the time he'd been away.
"I really felt that snowboarding is linked to life itself.
To other people, it might look like a pretty lighthearted sport.
But for me, it's not just about having fun.
It's a way to connect with people, and something that fires up your life.
The deeper you go, the more there is to it."
The Lehmans crew all rave about Ontsuan's riding.
It's not just flashy tricks — he has a style all his own that only comes from years of riding.
"I don't think my skill level is that different from the other members.
But since I've been riding for so long, maybe there's a bit more flavor to it.
Kind of like the sauce at an old-school gyudon shop that's been topped up for decades (laughs)."
He can no longer ride on stamina and momentum alone the way he did when he was young.
On the other hand, his feel for reading the snow and terrain, his judgment about not overdoing it, and the composure to savor each run have deepened with age.
An appeal that can't be measured by speed or height alone.
That's what shows in Ontsuan's riding today.
```04. A role only the oldest member can play
```At Lehmans, Ontsuan is the oldest member.
"Honestly, I'm really happy they let me join the crew at my age.
I think my role is to reach people in their forties like me, and the generations above."
Family, work, changes in fitness, fewer friends to ride with.
Even people who used to ride almost every week end up drifting away from snowboarding for all sorts of reasons.
Having gone through a ten-year break because of injury, Ontsuan understands that feeling.
"Once you step away, you might think you'll never be able to ride again.
But when I came back after ten years, I could ride just fine — better than I expected.
Lehman Stick boards are relatively affordable, so I think they can be a great way for people who want to make a comeback to get started again."
It's fine to have taken a break.
It's fine if you can't ride like you did when you were young.
Just come back to the mountains and enjoy it in a way that suits who you are now.
That's the message Ontsuan hopes to share through his own example.
```05. The glue that connects generations
```At the factory where he worked until his twenties, he repeated the same tasks with the same set team.
For Ontsuan, who loves connecting with people, working in retail at Burton helped him discover a new side of himself.
At the store, he supported younger staff who didn't know much about the products, teaching them how to serve customers and explain the gear.
"Most of my coworkers were in their early twenties, and some didn't know much about snowboarding yet.
They'd come to me with questions about the products, and when someone I'd taught sold a board or outerwear to a customer, I was really happy."
Not getting results on his own, but supporting his teammates and succeeding as a team.
Discovering that joy changed how he looked at factory work too.
Today, he manages the entire floor at a factory for a major chemical manufacturer.
"In the end, I went back to factory work.
But my experience at Burton still helps me today.
At work I'm often in between the young people in their twenties and the managers in their fifties and up, and sometimes they tell me, 'You're a bit different.'"
He can talk naturally with both younger and older generations.
Today, Ontsuan acts as a kind of glue that connects different generations.
That role is the same at Lehmans.
While backing up the energy of the younger members, he feeds his years of riding experience into product development.
```06. To middle-aged snowboarders who are on the fence
```To keep riding with the younger members, Ontsuan goes to the gym and keeps building his fitness.
"The other Lehmans members are younger than me, and there was a time when I could out-ride them in some ways.
But now they've all improved, and they're better than me.
Even so, I want to keep riding with them for years to come. So I keep training to build a body that won't get injured."
To snowboarders his age, Ontsuan says this:
"If you've stepped away from snowboarding, I'm sure you have your reasons — family, work and so on.
Even so, I hope you'll make just a little time for yourself and take that first step.
When you get to the slopes, you'll see people your own age riding too.
Seeing them makes you think, I can still do this."
07. Mountains every generation can enjoy
```Ontsuan doesn't just hope people his age come back to the mountains.
He also hopes they'll bring their kids.
"The high school classmate who got me into snowboarding has kids too, and these days I sometimes ride with them.
Being able to ride the same mountain across generations — that's a really good snowboarding life.
I'd love to see all different generations enjoying it together."
His generation comes back, and brings the next generation to the mountains.
Creating that cycle is Ontsuan's mission at Lehmans.
```08. Looking back on five years of Lehman Stick
```It's been five years since Lehman Stick was born.
A lineup that started with a single board has grown to several models.
"We started with just one board, and gradually there were more. Now I feel like we've really taken shape as a snowboard maker."
Ontsuan's main role is to ride the prototypes Taiga designs and give feedback.
Drawing on his long experience and feel, he passes on how each board rides and what could be improved.
"It's really rewarding to see my input reflected and the boards get better every year.
Lehman Stick puts a lot of weight on how the boards ride in powder, but snow quality and snowfall are completely different from region to region.
So it makes me really happy to get great feedback from customers all over Japan.
I want to keep making boards that let lots of people enjoy fun, comfortable powder runs."
The five years the brand has grown have also been five years of Ontsuan coming to terms with his age.
"Honestly, after five years I no longer have the stamina to ride hard all day like I used to.
I don't want to get old (laughs).
Even so, my love for powder hasn't changed.
As long as my body keeps moving, I want to keep snowboarding."
Quick Q&A profile
```- Main stance +18° / -9° (0° to +6° for powder)
- Stance width About 53cm
- Bindings Burton Genesis
- Boots Burton Ion
- Home resort Omoshiroyama Kogen
- Favorite spot Powder on a bluebird day
- Happiest moment Carving long turns through powder
- Signature move Tripod
- Snowboarder I look up to Tadashi Fuse
His twenties, when injury forced him away from snowboarding.
```His thirties, when he returned to the mountains after a ten-year break.
And today, riding with younger friends while coming to terms with his age and his body.
Ontsuan's snowboarding life hasn't always been smooth sailing.
Even so, his passion for snowboarding never faded.
Even if you step away, you can always come back.
Even if you can't ride like you did when you were young, there's a way to enjoy it that only you, right now, can have.
And there are things only someone who has kept at it for years can pass on.
"As long as my body keeps moving, I want to keep riding."
As Lehmans' oldest snowboarder, Ontsuan will keep heading to the mountains, bridging the younger generation and his own.
At any age, you can make your days off richer.
Making working people's days off richer.
Lehmans Member
Nakamura “Ontsuan”