2023-24 Japanese Women's Figure Skating

[surimi]

All of the Nationals top 10 women have been assigned now, good. Now hoping for Wakaba or Rino to get an assignment, or maybe Maria Egawa (unless this is her last season? hope not). Especially Rino because of her SC bronze. I guess JSF will wait for Kokutai results to decide which senior women to send to Luxembourg. I kind of don't get Kaori's assignment because she's #1 in WS and her season has been successful throughout. I'd like to see any of the 3 above sent to CC, who need points more - or if not them, then even Mana. But at least the CC audience will be happy and numerous.

 

[rabidline]

All of the Nationals top 10 women have been assigned now, good. Now hoping for Wakaba or Rino to get an assignment, or maybe Maria Egawa (unless this is her last season? hope not). Especially Rino because of her SC bronze. I guess JSF will wait for Kokutai results to decide which senior women to send to Luxembourg. I kind of don't get Kaori's assignment because she's #1 in WS and her season has been successful throughout. I'd like to see any of the 3 above sent to CC, who need points more - or if not them, then even Mana. But at least the CC audience will be happy and numerous.

Kaori likely wants to compete in front of international judges to warm up before Worlds. After all, she has already (and in my opinion graciously, considering she could have done a full grand slam with a 4CC win) given away her 4CC spot.

 

[brakes]

Congratulations to Mao Shimada, she's true fighter beside those amazing athletic skills.

Still bronze medalist Rena is my favourite, at 13 she has the greatest artistic talent among Japanese women. Mixture of Marin/Eunsoo abandon and beauty on the ice.

 

[cohkaix]

Post JWC interview:

Mao will be attending Chukyo University High School (Correspondence Course) in April, and it's the same system that Ikura is in now. So it's likely she'll continue to train at Kinoshita rink in Kyoto. (News link)


Also, from other news:
Mone will enroll in Wasada, also the Corresponding system as Hanyu used to take on.
Hana, on the other hand, will enroll in Doshisha (which is a surprise for me...I thought she'd attend Chukyo U...)

 

[rabidline]

Tomoe Kawabata, the 2019 Japanese Nationals Bronze medalist, announced her retirement today.

 

[RafaelAstro]

Pretty strange not so many replies here since January, whatever congratulations to Kaori Sakamoto for earn her third world title. Considering this was the first senior season for Mone and Hana they did great qualifying to worlds and finish in top 10 thou I was expecting one of them at the podium with Kaori, anyway this was a great experience for both to learn about and I hope they will come stronger next season

 

[Zamin]

This thread has been pretty dead and o figured it could use some revival.

Any news on what to expect next season especially among the junior field ?

Iirc most the junior skaters that got to compete internationally this season will remain juniors ? Ami Nakai, Ayumi Shibayama, Rena Uezono, Mao Shimada, Yo Takagi, Ikura Kushida... They all remain senior ineligible. I expect the selection pool for jgp spots will be pretty tough.

Mao and Rena are pretty much guaranteed too assignments but the rest ? And what about Kaoruko Wada ? She had a pretty disastrous junior nationals will we ever see her internationally ? Haruna Murakami ? Yurina Okuno ?

Riria Kono iirc will be junior eligible this season. Can she get JGP spots?

Also Bloom on Ice just happened and Kinoshita skaters usually unveil some of their new programs. Any insiders ?

 

[Jumping_Bean]

List of all female skaters who competed at Nationals at Novice A, Jr or Sr level and who scored above 150 points (Juniors) or 80 (Novice A):

Aged out of Juniors:
Kinayu Yokoi (8th Jr Nationals, 14th Sr Nationals)

Senior- and Junior-eligible:
Sae Shimizu (18th Sr Nationals; 1st Jr Nationals Pairs, 14th at Jr Worlds in Pairs)
Hana Yoshida (7th Sr Nationals, 8th Sr Worlds, 2x GP, GPF)

Junior-eligible:
Ikura Kushida (2nd Jr Nationals, 25th Sr Nationals, 5th Jr Worlds, 2x JGPs)
Yo Takagi (4th Jr Nationals, 23rd Sr Nationals, 3rd Youth Olympics, 2x JGP)
Ayumi Shibayama (5th Jr Nationals, 15th Sr Nationals, 2x JGP)
Ayumi Nakao (16th Jr Nationals)
Ami Nakai (10th Jr Nationals, 2x JGP, JGPF)
Haruna Murakami (6th Jr Nationals, 19th Sr Nationals, 2x JGP)
Mao Shimada (1st Jr Nationals, 3rd Sr Nationals, 1st Jr Worlds, 1st Youth Olympics, 2x JGP, JGPF)
Kaoruko Wada (13th Jr Nationals)
Kei Yamada (11th Jr Nationals)
Mayuko Oka (9th Jr Nationals)
Mei Okada (14th Jr Nationals)
Rena Uezono (3rd Jr Nationals, 4th Sr Nationals, 3rd Jr Worlds, 2x JGP, JGPF)
Reina Kawakatsu (5th Novice A Nationals) - New
Hikari Matsunami (4th Novice A Nationals, 18th Jr Nationals) - New
Saho Otake (3rd Novice A Nationals, 15th Jr Nationals) - New
Sumire Yoshida (6th Novice A Nationals, 1st Novice Nationals Ice Dance) - New
Riria Kono (2nd Novice A Nationals, 7th Junior Nationals) - New

Japan has 14 JGP spots, four of which will go to Rena and Mao (2 each), leaving 10 to be distributed among all other skaters.
Sae is likely to focus on Pairs (possible GP assignment) and Sumire on Ice Dance (likely to receive JGP assignments), and Hana will be doing the Sr Grand Prix circuit, but that still leaves 14 skaters who might try for a JGP spot.

The most likely candidates to get JGP assignments currently seem to be Ikura, Yo, Ayumi, Ami and Riria, but especially with the younger girls, the development over one off-season can be quite substantial. The solo jump for next season is also the Flip, which offers new opportunities and new challenges. (For example, Yo can now do a 3Lz+3T in the SP again, but also has to do a 3F if she wants to stay in contention.)

 

[cohkaix]

Junior-eligible:

Kaoruko Wada (13th Jr Nationals)
Kei Yamada (11th Jr Nationals)
Mayuko Oka (9th Jr Nationals)
Mei Okada (14th Jr Nationals)

Reina Kawakatsu (5th Novice A Nationals) - New
Hikari Matsunami (4th Novice A Nationals, 18th Jr Nationals) - New
Saho Otake (3rd Novice A Nationals, 15th Jr Nationals) - New
Sumire Yoshida (6th Novice A Nationals, 1st Novice Nationals Ice Dance) - New
Riria Kono (2nd Novice A Nationals, 7th Junior Nationals) - New

The most likely candidates to get JGP assignments currently seem to be Ikura, Yo, Ayumi, Ami and Riria, but especially with the younger girls, the development over one off-season can be quite substantial. The solo jump for next season is also the Flip, which offers new opportunities and new challenges. (For example, Yo can now do a 3Lz+3T in the SP again, but also has to do a 3F if she wants to stay in contention.)

Just watched Bloom on Ice (via online Live streaming) yesterday. I think Reina Kawakatsu and Riria Kono skated there, also Sumika Kanazawa? All seem to be prepared for the JGP assignments selection.

BTW, for Mayuko Oka, she was spotted joining Kinoshita Academy's earlier training camp with Brian Boitano. So there's rumor that she might be moving to Kinoshita (originally from Hokkaido).

 

[DougDorsey]

Does anyone happen to know who designed Mone's "Les yeux noirs" SP dress and Marin's "The Little Mermaid" FS dress? (For the latter, I'm assuming it was Satomi Ito, but not sure.)

 

[rabidline]

Does anyone happen to know who designed Mone's "Les yeux noirs" SP dress and Marin's "The Little Mermaid" FS dress? (For the latter, I'm assuming it was Satomi Ito, but not sure.)

Marin's Little Mermaid FS dress was made by Yuka Orihara's mother, Shizuko Orihara.

 

[macy]

that is such a stunning dress.

 

[RafaelAstro]

A pretty big field for juniors ladies next season, it will be the last junior season for Ami, Ayumi, Ikura and Yo (if they pretend to turn senior with the minimum required age) so they need good points this next season if they want to get GP spots for the olympic season. Of all the junior ladies Mao and Rena look the strongest ones, if Ami returns at form for the jgp she will be a great contender as well, Kauroko and Riria may surprise us as they look very promising so far, the rest really needs to work on consistency Ikura, Yo and Ayumi are very beautiful and expressive skaters but they have been dealing with puberty lately

 

[DougDorsey]

Marin's Little Mermaid FS dress was made by Yuka Orihara's mother, Shizuko Orihara.

Thanks so much!