2023-24 Japanese Nationals - where to watch

[Sai Bon]

And I will not be offended if you have already made your own table. Had one made for myself and thought I would share.

You are a machine, labgoat! Will you be doing ice dance as well?

 

[Caliban]

https://vk.com/figure_skaters_ru - those guys will stream jnats (they stream lots of int competition), but you need vk account i think to watch
https://vk.com/video-183993582_456240624 - stream already scheduled

https://t.me/fsfancams/1951 - link to their tg post with announce about jnats

It is not possible to me go to the 2023 Russian Championship this year, but it turns out i am able to streamt the 2023 Japanese Championship.
The first day is December 21 at 9:00 (Moscow time), a link to the player (you need to be a subscriber to our Vkontakte group): https://vk.com/video-183993582_456240624

 

[hop456]

Check out TVer, this should be the link for groups 4 and 5 of the women's short and this is groups 3 and 4 of the free. You should just need a VPN set to Japan to watch.

Thank you so much that is really helpful!!!

 

[labgoat]

You are a machine, labgoat! Will you be doing ice dance as well?

I think it is in the list. I not be watching some stuff as I am working. But I will update as time permits

 

[tsuyoboogie]

I have made a REWATCH table if you would like to use it to upload the videos. Just copy and paste under your name and add in your links or have someone open my table so you can edit my post. Or if you have copied my table, I will delete mine so as not junk up your wonderful thread. The skate order for the free skates will need to be added later.

2024 Japanese Nationals - Dec 12-20, 2023
Nagano City, JPN – Big Hat Arena | Wikipedia | Entries/Results | Streams

Men Short Warm-up Group 1 1 Sena TAKAHASHI -J 2 Sakura ODAGAKI 3 Seigo TAUCHI -J 4 DAIYA EBIHARA -J 5 Tsudoi SUTO - J 6 Taiga NISHINO -J Warm-up Group 2 7 Shunsuke NAKAMURA -J 8 Kazuki KUSHIDA 9 Takumi SUGIYAMA 10 Kazuki HASEGAWA 11 Minato SHIGA 12 Yuto KISHINA Warm-up Group 3 13 Lucas Tsuyoshi HONDA 14 Haru KAKIUCHI-J 15 Haruya SASAKI 16 Keisuke KADOWAKI 17 Ryota KITAMURA 18 RIO NAKATA -J Warm-up Group 4 19 Koshiro SHIMADA 20 Tatsuya TSUBOI 21 Sota YAMAMOTO 22 Kao MIURA 23 Shun SATO 24 Sena MIYAKE Warm-up Group 5 25 Kosho OSHIMA 26 Kazuki TOMONO 27 Takeru Amine KATAISE 28 Yuma KAGIYAMA 29 Shoma UNO 30 Nozomu YOSHIOKA

Women Short Warm-up Group 1 1 Haruna MURAKAMI -J 2 Sae SHIMIZU 3 Yo TAKAGI -J 4 Natsu SUZUKI 5 Chikako SAIGUSA Warm-up Group 2 6 Miyabi OBA 7 Yuna SHIRAIWA 8 Marin HONDA 9 Maaya ISHIDA 10 Ayumi SHIBAYAMA -J Warm-up Group 3 11 Nana ARAKI 12 Rena UEZONO -J 13 Saki MIYAKE 14 Maria EGAWA 15 Ikura KUSHIDA -J 16 Kinayu YOKOI -J Warm-up Group 4 17 Mone CHIBA 18 Yuna AOKI 19 Rinka WATANABE 20 Mai MIHARA 21 Mao SHIMADA -J 22 Rion SUMIYOSHI Warm-up Group 5 23 Kaori SAKAMOTO 24 Hana YOSHIDA 25 Wakaba HIGUCHI 26 Rino MATSUIKE 27 Mako YAMASITA 28 Mana KAWABE

J = The top eight finishers at the Japan Junior Championships in men's and women's singles were added to the Japan Championships Junior Pairs Short 1 Sae SHIMIZU / Lucas Tsuyoshi HONDA Senior Pairs Short 1 Yuna NAGAOKA / Sumitada MORIGUCHI WD 2 Riku MIURA / Ryuichi KIHARA Junior Rhythm Dance 1 Sara KISHIMOTO / Atsuhiko TAMURA 2 Kaho YAMASHITA / Yuto NAGATA Senior Rhythm Dance Warm-up Group 1 1 Yuri KUNIMURA / Kaiji SAKABE 2 Misato KOMATSUBARA / Takeru KOMATSUBARA 3 Azusa TANAKA / Shingo NISHIYAMA Warm-up Group 2 4 Ayano SASAKI / Yosimitu IKEDA 5 Utana YOSHIDA / Masaya MORITA 6 Akari KINOSHITA / Takahiko TAMURA

Spoiler: Free Skate Start Orders

Men Free Warm-up Group 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 Warm-up Group 2 7 8 9 10 11 12 Warm-up Group 3 13 14 15 16 17 18 Warm-up Group 4 19 20 21 22 23 24 Warm-up Group 5 25 26 27 28 29 30

Women Free Warm-up Group 1 1 2 3 4 5 Warm-up Group 2 6 7 8 9 10 Warm-up Group 3 11 12 13 14 15 16 Warm-up Group 4 17 18 19 20 21 22 Warm-up Group 5 23 24 25 26 27 28

J = The top eight finishers at the Japan Junior Championships in men's and women's singles were added to the Japan Championships Junior Pairs Free 1 Sae SHIMIZU / Lucas Tsuyoshi HONDA Senior Pairs Free 1 Yuna NAGAOKA / Sumitada MORIGUCHI Junior Free Dance 1 2 Senior Free Dance Warm-up Group 1 1 2 3 Warm-up Group 2 4 5 6

Thank you so much for all your hard work!
I was planning to post links to video in each coinciding thread
Would that be too difficult for people to find?
Actually, I prefer links to be a bit hidden since I've already had multiple accounts suspended for copyright violation
Fuji TV has also put out statements recently saying violators will be banned if found to be pirating and sharing video from their broadcasts

 

[labgoat]

Thank you so much for all your hard work!
I was planning to post links to video in each coinciding thread
Would that be too difficult for people to find?
Actually, I prefer links to be a bit hidden since I've already had multiple accounts suspended for copyright violation
Fuji TV has also put out statements recently saying violators will be banned if found to be pirating and sharing video from their broadcasts

I understand your concern and will let you decide how it is best for you to handle this. I will remove the rewatch for this reason.

 

[DougDorsey]

I'm hoping to get some advice on the best way to watch. My setup...

• Prefer to watch on my MacBook Pro
• Based in the U.S.
• Don't mind paying
• Have active subscriptions to both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost VPN
• Want access to both the livestreams/broadcasts *and* the archived videos immediately afterwards
• Want access to all groups, not just the final ones
• Would prefer to watch with commentary, replays, stats, etc. but that's not a deal-breaker

I tried setting up an account with Fuji TV On Demand, but it seems to immediately detect that I'm based outside of Japan, even when I'm using ExpressVPN or CyberGhost VPN, thus preventing me from proceeding. (Plus, it sounds like Fuji TV On Demand does't include commentary, replays, stats, etc..)

What do folks recommend? Thanks in advance.

 

[ice_tulip]

Why is it so hard to watch Japanese Nationals outside of Japan? Don't they want figure skating to be popular internationally? This is so frustrating. I've avoided looking at the men's SP scores because I hoped to see the last two groups without spoilers but it seems there is no way to watch it on demand legally. Being a figure skating fan sucks.

 

[tsuyoboogie]

Why is it so hard to watch Japanese Nationals outside of Japan? Don't they want figure skating to be popular internationally? This is so frustrating. I've avoided looking at the men's SP scores because I hoped to see the last two groups without spoilers but it seems there is no way to watch it on demand legally. Being a figure skating fan sucks.

It's not that they don't want figure skating to be popular internationally, they just prefer not to "share" their figure skaters
This is one of the reasons why official merchandise (of these skaters) are not available for international fans to purchase (also shipping)
It's not only figure skating, Japan is notorious for making it difficult for people outside of the country to legally access pretty much anything related to pop culture...TV shows, music, some sports and the popular idols, actors and athletes involved
Only manga, anime and maybe some music has recently become more easily accessible

I recently posted links to all the Men's SP performances by Start Order, without scores in the Men's SP thread
Direct Link to Men's SP video post

 

[cohkaix]

I'm hoping to get some advice on the best way to watch. My setup...

• Prefer to watch on my MacBook Pro
• Based in the U.S.
• Don't mind paying
• Have active subscriptions to both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost VPN
• Want access to both the livestreams/broadcasts *and* the archived videos immediately afterwards
• Want access to all groups, not just the final ones
• Would prefer to watch with commentary, replays, stats, etc. but that's not a deal-breaker

I tried setting up an account with Fuji TV On Demand, but it seems to immediately detect that I'm based outside of Japan, even when I'm using ExpressVPN or CyberGhost VPN, thus preventing me from proceeding. (Plus, it sounds like Fuji TV On Demand does't include commentary, replays, stats, etc..)

What do folks recommend? Thanks in advance.

I'm also watching from outside of Japan. And this year I go for FOD. I actually got FOD last month, as I wanted to watch Japanese Jr. Nationals. What I did was:

• Using ipad (instead of laptop, as I only have VPN set up on my ipad)
• Downloaded 'FOD' APP on ipad, and use the APP to watch the competitions
• Note on downloading FOD app: you have to set the region of your APPLE ID to 'Japan', or else you won't be able to download the app.
• The VPN I use on ipad is OpenVPN

In general, the experience of watching Men's SP on FOD yesterday was quite good: there's no commentary, but replays after each skater, and partial stats (e.g. showing distance and height graph of 3A jumps but without numbers showing) for some of the skaters in the latter group, yes. I did experience a couple of freezing moments when watching for the first three groups. And I just tried to reopen the APP or re-launch the VPN. There might be some slight delay in the playing. But that's only a couple of seconds and I think that's depending on the speed of your internet connection.

Hope that's helpful.

 

[tsuyoboogie]

I'm hoping to get some advice on the best way to watch. My setup...

• Prefer to watch on my MacBook Pro
• Based in the U.S.
• Don't mind paying
• Have active subscriptions to both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost VPN
• Want access to both the livestreams/broadcasts *and* the archived videos immediately afterwards
• Want access to all groups, not just the final ones
• Would prefer to watch with commentary, replays, stats, etc. but that's not a deal-breaker

I tried setting up an account with Fuji TV On Demand, but it seems to immediately detect that I'm based outside of Japan, even when I'm using ExpressVPN or CyberGhost VPN, thus preventing me from proceeding. (Plus, it sounds like Fuji TV On Demand does't include commentary, replays, stats, etc..)

What do folks recommend? Thanks in advance.

I'm also based in the U.S. and able to access FOD on my Macbook Air, using Express VPN set to Tokyo 2
I believe I initially had trouble getting past the block with my VPN set to default Tokyo?
Even on my Mac I usually use Chrome browser to easily access all my bookmarks but Safari should work, no problem
I'm sure you've already tried cleaning your cache so if Express VPN is still not able to get past detection on the FOD site maybe contact customer support?
I had to once for that same reason and a rep was able to help me out

If you manage to gain access to FOD, I'd say that their stream is the best option
It's not only the best deal with the current promotion but it's also the only option that livestreams the entire competition
I'm also able to "rewind" my stream but not sure if that's a function offered to new accounts
But if you miss any of the events, episodes will be uploaded to view at least temporarily (Nationals from last year is still available to watch)
And honestly, for Nationals, the camera angles are pretty much the same, if not identical to what's shown on the TV broadcasts
They do show replays and more important graphics like the tech box, skater info as well as even some icescope graphics though there is no commentary to explain what you're seeing

If you want to see a sample of the FOD stream, I just posted links to video taken from that stream in the Japanese Nationals Pairs SP and Men's SP threads

Good Luck! Hope you're able to work things out

 

[tsuyoboogie]

I'm also watching from outside of Japan. And this year I go for FOD. I actually got FOD last month, as I wanted to watch Japanese Jr. Nationals. What I did was:

• Using ipad (instead of laptop, as I only have VPN set up on my ipad)
• Downloaded 'FOD' APP on ipad, and use the APP to watch the competitions
• Note on downloading FOD app: you have to set the region of your APPLE ID to 'Japan', or else you won't be able to download the app.
• The VPN I use on ipad is OpenVPN

In general, the experience of watching Men's SP on FOD yesterday was quite good: there's no commentary, but replays after each skater, and partial stats (e.g. showing distance and height graph of 3A jumps but without numbers showing) for some of the skaters in the latter group, yes. I did experience a couple of freezing moments when watching for the first three groups. And I just tried to reopen the APP or re-launch the VPN. There might be some slight delay in the playing. But that's only a couple of seconds and I think that's depending on the speed of your internet connection.

Hope that's helpful.

Oops, Sorry, I guess I was writing a reply at the same but hey, some different info~
Happy to hear you got the FOD subscription!

 

[tsuyoboogie]

I understand your concern and will let you decide how it is best for you to handle this. I will remove the rewatch for this reason.

Oh, you don't need to remove the table. It's such a nice resource and there might be others who would add links make use of it

 

[Sai Bon]

Well, I'm gutted. FOD doesn't like either of my credit cards. Bizarre.
Damn, will have to watch TVer, but don't know if I can stay up late 3 nights in a row (everything starts at 11pm my time, which isn't late for some people, but I have to get up reasonably early for my pups).

 

[CoyoteChris]

Well, I'm gutted. FOD doesn't like either of my credit cards. Bizarre.
Damn, will have to watch TVer, but don't know if I can stay up late 3 nights in a row (everything starts at 11pm my time, which isn't late for some people, but I have to get up reasonably early for my pups).

I would invest $3 for a 3 day trial of MujiTV if they will take cards instead of paypal ,. 2 Weeks on demand. They have excellent customer support for questions. Or Himawari if you can get their player to work. Muji only showed the last two groups of men and the Jr Champion but they show pretty much most of the women and men from here on out. I am gonna try Himawari after the comp and watch everything as its four weeks on demand.

 

[DougDorsey]

@cohkaix and @tsuyoboogie, thanks so much for your advice!

@tsuyoboogie, you made a good point. I should try more than just the default Japan server on ExpressVPN. I might give it another shot for the womens SP.

 

[icewhite]

It's not that they don't want figure skating to be popular internationally, they just prefer not to "share" their figure skaters
This is one of the reasons why official merchandise (of these skaters) are not available for international fans to purchase (also shipping)
It's not only figure skating, Japan is notorious for making it difficult for people outside of the country to legally access pretty much anything related to pop culture...TV shows, music, some sports and the popular idols, actors and athletes involved
Only manga, anime and maybe some music has recently become more easily accessible

I recently posted links to all the Men's SP performances by Start Order, without scores in the Men's SP thread
Direct Link to Men's SP video post

That's crazy and doesn't make any sense, really (their behaviour, not your post).

 

[DougDorsey]

So the good news is that I was able to access the FOD website using one of the other ExpressVPN servers in Japan.

However, when I tried to set up a FOD account, it seems the only options were to sign up using one of about eight different services. (I couldn't find an option to simply sign up using my e-mail.) The only one of those eight services that I have an account for is Amazon. But when I tried signing in using my Amazon account, I got an error, and couldn't proceed any further.

 

[icewhite]

Honestly I am not going to make a big effort to watch them if I can have the Russian nationals at the same time for free and without problems. It's a shame. The Japanese nationals are so so good in singles and I would love to see Kagiyama and the women, but if they don't want to me to watch, fine, then I won't watch. I will later try if I can just get in with a VPN, but if it doesn't work

 

[cohkaix]

So the good news is that I was able to access the FOD website using one of the other ExpressVPN servers in Japan.

However, when I tried to set up a FOD account, it seems the only options were to sign up using one of about eight different services. (I couldn't find an option to simply sign up using my e-mail.) The only one of those eight services that I have an account for is Amazon. But when I tried signing in using my Amazon account, I got an error, and couldn't proceed any further.

Oh, that's right....the Amazon account. It bothered me as well when I was trying for the subscription of FOD a couple of weeks ago. But I did have an account for Amazon.jp (used to buy items from Japan) so I got that solved eventually.