- Joined
- Mar 22, 2018
She didn't do her best as usal at nationals, but this time the competition was though with many great skaters in good shape as we saw in the season, so mistakes done cost her qualification to worlds or 4cc
2024-25 Japanese Women's Figure Skating
- Thread starter figureskatingandrainbows
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2018
This was such of a dissapointed competition for the japanese ladies considering how good they did at grand prix, no podium for any of the japanese ladies at 4cc is very rare, and two of them are going to compete at worlds with an inconsistency Kaori so I'm not expecting good results, something bad for a pre-olympic season
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2022
Mone was sick before the Free, so I'm giving her a bit of a pass here, but yeah, still not a great sign going into a Worlds.
Actually Wakaba skated pretty well outside of the 2 lutzes, which isn't usually a problem for her. She seems in a good place mentally, so as long as Mone is healthy, Japan should do quite well in Boston. The Americans will have alot of pressure and Kim won't get that home cooking from the judges.
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2018
I thought the same thing! Wakaba should really be encouraged as well by her combo recovery which really kept her up in the 4CC standings (she's the highest Japanese women here and that's with errors and less generous PCS scoring). She's making a case for herself as someone who can be relied on to fight at every competition and has the grit to fight her way out of sticky situations with less nerves, which is different from what Kaori and Mone are bringing to the table. She was really the right choice for the the Worlds team IMO (... and hopefully future teams...).
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2013
I thought she might be sick. Hopefully she will be healthy at Worlds.
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2017
Congrats to Team Japan women! A strong performance at Worlds. Kaori's fight to save her 2F by adding 3T in the short, Mone exorcising the edge jump demons, and Wakaba showing her consistency. Next season will be a heartbreaker no matter who gets sent to Olympics/Worlds 
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2018
How many places do they have for Milan?Congrats to Team Japan women! A strong performance at Worlds. Kaori's fight to save her 2F by adding 3T in the short, Mone exorcising the edge jump demons, and Wakaba showing her consistency. Next season will be a heartbreaker no matter who gets sent to Olympics/Worlds
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2017
They will have the maximum of 3 spots! The top 2 women needed to sum up to at most 13 in placements, and Kaori and Mone did way better than that with a combined placement of 5.
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2018
I feel so bad for how the skating union treats Wakaba, Idk is she will have the inspiration to continue after the scores she received here, I just can't understand why they are so harsh with her, not even her own country treats her fairly
Edit: Anyway I'm glad the three girls could deliver at the end, much better work here than in 4cc, sad for Kaori short program but it's very amazing how she can still be on top for so many seasons already
Edit: Anyway I'm glad the three girls could deliver at the end, much better work here than in 4cc, sad for Kaori short program but it's very amazing how she can still be on top for so many seasons already
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Wakaba looked pretty happy when her score came in.
That's not what she said after. She thought she skated well and was disappointed with her scores.
Fair enough. I hadn't seen any comments from her. It was the middle of the night here when it finished, and some of the gloating in the competition thread was annoying me a bit, so I logged off.
I understand completely.
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2018
I feel Yuna Aoki still has a lot to offer. Is Ami Nakai the only one turning senior next season? She might take Mai Mihara’s spot (sadly, though). Ikura and Yo will also be age-eligible, but they’re not that high in the world rankings for Grand Prix assignments—unless they fight for a place at NHK Trophy
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2018
List of 2025-2026 Development Athletes are out, so maybe we can start a 2025-2026 thread for the Japanese ladies?
Special
Kaori Sakamoto (Sysmex)
Mao Shimada (Kinoshita Group)
Wakaba Higuchi (Noevir)
Mone Chiba (Kinoshita Academy)
A
Rino Matsuike (Chukyo University)
Mako Yamashita (Chukyo University)
Rinka Watanabe (SanwaKenso / Hosei University)
Rion Sumiyoshi (Oriental Bio / Meiji University)
Kaoruko Wada (Chukyo University, Chukyo High School)
Hana Yoshida (Kinoshita Academy)
Ikura Kushida (Kinoshita Academy)
B
Saki Miyake (Sysmex)
Yuna Aoki (MF Academy)
Ami Nakai (TOKIO Inkarami)
Rena Uezono
Haruna Murakami (Kinoshita Academy)
Mayuko Oka (Kinoshita Academy)
Mei Okada (Meito FSC)
Special
Kaori Sakamoto (Sysmex)
Mao Shimada (Kinoshita Group)
Wakaba Higuchi (Noevir)
Mone Chiba (Kinoshita Academy)
A
Rino Matsuike (Chukyo University)
Mako Yamashita (Chukyo University)
Rinka Watanabe (SanwaKenso / Hosei University)
Rion Sumiyoshi (Oriental Bio / Meiji University)
Kaoruko Wada (Chukyo University, Chukyo High School)
Hana Yoshida (Kinoshita Academy)
Ikura Kushida (Kinoshita Academy)
B
Saki Miyake (Sysmex)
Yuna Aoki (MF Academy)
Ami Nakai (TOKIO Inkarami)
Rena Uezono
Haruna Murakami (Kinoshita Academy)
Mayuko Oka (Kinoshita Academy)
Mei Okada (Meito FSC)
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2016
Rinka Watanabe for olympic team? I just watched a video of her long program at 2023 4CC. Really impressive stuff.
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2018
I think anyone that's not named Kaori, Mone and Wakaba will have their work cut out for them to make the Olympic team. Rinka may SLIGHTLY have a chance if her 3A is firing from the start AND one of Mone and Wakaba are too injured or too inconsistent in the season, and even then both Mone and Wakaba have the advantage of being previous Worlds medal winners, which no other Japanese women has except Kaori.
I doubt the J Fed will give Wakaba any special consideration from what I have observed over the years. Of course how the season plays out could have some effect, but if I was her, I would definitely want to podium for sure.
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