In just over two weeks, top street rail snowboarders like Ethan Deiss, Stevie Bell, Cameron Pierce and Dylan Alito will head to Japan for the first ever Burton Rail Days competition, taking place on November 19, 2011 in Tokyo at the Roppongi Hills Arena. Presented by MINI, Burton Rail Days gives the city of Tokyo the rare chance to see some of the world’s best street snowboarders in action at a FREE outdoor event that will also include an exclusive musical performance by MINMI, one of Japan’s favorite singer/songwriters.

Beginning at 5:00 pm, the Burton Rail Days competition will start with 16 top invited riders throwing down on the biggest rail feature ever constructed for a snowboard event in Tokyo. Built by the world’s leading snow park and halfpipe designers, Snow Park Technologies, the Burton Rail Days course is designed to look like an actual street corner, complete with street lamps, stairs, handrails, a brick façade and a mailbox to session. There’s also a quarterpipe at the top of the stair set for riders to drop in from, and urban features like cement ledges give the riders plenty of room to get creative. International street rail masters Stevie Bell, Cameron Pierce, Wojtek Pawlusiak, Ethan Deiss, Zak Hale, Dylan Alito, Zac Marben, Ludwig Lejkner, Mike Casanova, Scott Stevens, Jamie Nicholls, Marc Swoboda, Denis Leontyev, Forest Bailey and Japan’s own Kotaro Kamimura will all compete at the Burton Rail Days for a first place prize of $15,000.

“I’m super stoked to head over to Tokyo for the Burton Rail Days event,” said Burton team rider Ethan Deiss. “I’ve seen a few drawings of the set up, and it looks really solid. Just hanging out in Tokyo is so much fun, let alone getting to snowboard in the city and compete in a rail contest. It’s going to get crazy.”

Prior to the big show, Burton Rail Days will open to the public at 12:00 pm on Saturday, November 19 with a free Burton Riglet Park where kids 12 and under can snowboard on mini park features like rails, ramps and boxes. Burton will have snowboards, boots and bindings on hand for kids to borrow at no cost, and there will be real snow to ride on. Also just for kids, MINI is creating a kids corner right next to the Burton Riglet Park that will feature fun activities to keep little groms happy.