2025-26 Japanese Women's Figure Skating

[rabidline]

National Team
I used @figureskatingandrainbows template from the previous thread. This is based on Strengthening Athletes list released April 23, 2025, athletes may be added or removed based on GP/international assignments.

Special
Kaori Sakamoto (ISU, JSF, GS thread, seeded)
Mao Shimada** (ISU, JSF, GS thread, seeded)
Wakaba Higuchi (ISU, JSF, GS thread, seeded)
Mone Chiba (ISU, JSF, GS thread)

A
Rino Matsuike (ISU, GS thread)
Mako Yamashita (ISU, JSF, GS thread)
Rinka Watanabe (ISU, JSF, GS thread)
Rion Sumiyoshi (ISU, JSF, GS thread)
Kaoruko Wada** (ISU, GS thread)
Hana Yoshida (ISU, JSF, GS thread)
Ikura Kushida* (ISU, JSF, also ice dancer)

B
Saki Miyake (GS thread)
Yuna Aoki (ISU, JSF, GS thread)
Ami Nakai (ISU, GS thread)
Rena Uezono** (ISU, JSF, GS thread)
Haruna Murakami** (ISU, JSF, GS thread)
Mayuko Oka**
Mei Okada** (ISU)

Other Skaters
Mai Mihara (ISU, JSF, GS thread)
Sae Shimizu (GS thread, JSF)
Mana Kawabe (ISU, GS thread)
Rika Kihira (ISU, GS thread)
Ayumi Shibayama* (ISU, JSF, GS thread, also ice dancer)
Yo Takagi* (ISU, JSF)
Riria Kono** (ISU, JSF)
Maria Egawa (JSF)
Kinayu Yokoi (ISU, JSF)
Yurina Okuno (ISU)
Ayumi Nakao*
Kei Yamada**
Reina Kawakatsu**

*denotes likely junior
**denotes senior age-ineligible
--Seeded skaters are the top 3 finishers at Nationals. They automatically qualify for the next years' Nationals. Non-seeded skaters must compete at Regional and Sectional Championships in order to qualify, but may be exempted if an international competition overlaps with Regionals/Sectionals

Notable Jumps
Landed 3A
Rika Kihira
Wakaba Higuchi
Mana Kawabe
Ami Nakai
Hana Yoshida
Mao Shimada
Rinka Watanabe
Landed Quad
Rika Kihira*
Mao Shimada
Rion Sumiyoshi

*domestic / smaller international competition

 

[rabidline]

2025-2025 Senior GP Assignments as of June 6, 2025:

2 Assignments

Skater	GP France	Cup of China	Skate Canada	NHK Trophy	Skate America	Finlandia Trophy
Kaori Sakamoto	✔			✔
Wakaba Higuchi				✔	✔
Mone Chiba			✔			✔
Rino Matsuike		✔				✔
Rinka Watanabe		✔			✔
Rion Sumiyoshi	✔					✔
Hana Yoshida		✔			✔
Ami Nakai	✔		✔

1 Assignment

Skater	GP France	Cup of China	Skate Canada	NHK Trophy	Skate America	Finlandia Trophy
Yuna Aoki			✔

Notable Seniors with No GP Assignments
Mako Yamashita (ISU, JSF, GS thread)
Saki Miyake (GS thread)
Mana Kawabe (ISU, GS thread)
Mai Mihara (ISU, JSF, GS thread)
Rika Kihira (ISU, GS thread)

Japan maxed out their GP spots for senior Women with only the NHK Trophy host spot up for grabs- with Yuna Aoki only having 1 GP assignment she should be in the mix for it along with the notable seniors with no assignments listed above.

 

[denise3lz]

Ikura Kushida** (ISU, JSF, also ice dancer)

senior age-eligible

Sae Shimizu* (GS thread, JSF, also pairs skater)

stopped pairs, junior age-ineligible as single

Ayumi Shibayama** (ISU, JSF, GS thread, also ice dancer)

senior age-eligible as single

Yo Takagi** (ISU, JSF)

senior age-eligible (although choosing junior)

Yurina Okuno* (ISU)

likely senior (domestically senior last season)

Ayumi Nakao**

senior age-eligible

*denotes likely junior
**denotes senior age-ineligible

 

[rabidline]

senior age-eligible

stopped pairs, junior age-ineligible as single

senior age-eligible as single

senior age-eligible (although choosing junior)

likely senior (domestically senior last season)

senior age-eligible

Thank you! All adjusted.

 

[denise3lz]

JGP first announcement

フィギュア・ジュニアGP　島田麻央、中田璃士はタイなどにエントリー | 毎日新聞

日本スケート連盟は25日、東京都内で理事会を開催し、ジュニアグランプリ（GP）シリーズ（全7戦）などの国際大会派遣選手を承認した。 　女子でジュニア無敗が続く島田麻央選手（木下グループ）はタイ大会（バンコク・9月9～13日）とアラブ首長国連邦（UAE）大会（アブダビ・10月8～11日）にエントリー

mainichi.jp

1.Latvia
Mei OKADA, Yo TAKAGI

2.Turkey
Mayuko OKA, Haruna MURAKAMI

3.Italy
Sumika KANAZAWA, Kaoruko WADA

4.Thailand
Mao SHIMADA

5.Azerbaijan
TBD

6.Poland
TBD

7.United Arab Emirates
Mao SHIMADA

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Kaori performing her new Short at Dreams on Ice:



Also, Wakaba's Short: Here (Weibo)

And Ami Nakai:

 

[RatedPG]

Kaori performing her new Short at Dreams on Ice:



Also, Wakaba's Short: Here (Weibo)

And Ami Nakai:

I’m already in tears with Kaori!!
I really enjoyed this short program.
Fantastic!

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Mone's new SP: Here (Weibo)

 

[rabidline]

Some affiliation shuffle this morning:

Mone Chiba changed affiliation from Kinoshita Academy to Kinoshita Group.

Also the Kinoshita athlete management company, KSM, signed a management contract with Mone. She joins her teammate Mao Shimada in the same athlete management company. Training base will remain in Kyoto, but Kinoshita Group skaters tend to fall under the East Japan/Tokyo region for their sectionals/regionals.

This interests me because prior to Mao Shimada joining KSM, Kinoshita Group skaters tend to be managed by IMG Japan (even though IMG Japan also manage many other Japanese skaters not affiliated to Kinoshita Group). Probably a show that Kinoshita Group is currently (and in the future) more directly involved with the development of figure skating in Japan.



Mana Kawabe is now affiliated with Oriental Bio.
Oriental Bio is the affiliation company of Yuma Kagiyama, Kao Miura, Rion Sumiyoshi as well as Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama.

This also interests me because Mana is probably (CMIIW) the first non-Tokyo/Yokohama skater affiliated with Oriental Bio (Yuma trained in Yokohama before continuing school in Chukyo), of course the link is there since she's now training with Masakazu Kagiyama. But also, Oriental Bio has a sponsorship for the Chukyo University training rink- their logo is at the boards.

 

[rabidline]

Also Ayumi Kagotani (you may know her as Kaori's and Mai's training mate in Hyogo) is now listed in Kinoshita Academy's list of trainees and stated that she is trying Pairs.... Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda's new partner?

籠谷 歩未 | 木下スケートアカデミー

国際大会で活躍ができるフィギュアスケーターの育成をいたします。

kinoshitaacademy.com

And.. Sae Shimizu is no longer listed in the Kinoshita Academy's list of trainees.

 

[spatzchen]

Rena Uezono has switched to Kobe FSC and will train under Sonoko Nakano

 

[rabidline]

Also Ayumi Kagotani (you may know her as Kaori's and Mai's training mate in Hyogo) is now listed in Kinoshita Academy's list of trainees and stated that she is trying Pairs.... Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda's new partner?

本田ルーカス剛史と籠谷歩未が新ペア結成　フィギュア木下アカデミー - フィギュアスケート専門情報サイトDeep Edge Plus　最新ニュース・充実のコラムをお届け

フィギュアスケートのペアで昨季世界ジュニア選手権に出場した男子の本田（ほんだ）ルーカス剛史（つよし）が、女子の籠谷歩未（かごたに・あゆみ）と新ペアを結成することが１日、２人が所属する木下アカデミーへの取材で分かった。大 […]

deepedgeplus.kyodonews.jp

Kyodo News is reporting that this new pair of Ayumi/Lucas is confirmed, through an interview conducted today.

It's interesting that Kinoshita Academy is recruiting a retired, older girl in Ayumi to pair up with Lucas. I wonder if it's because their younger girls who did pairs before like Haruna and Sae are still pretty solid with their jumps, to the point that they are still quite competitive on the singles level. It's a good problem to have... sighing at Ikura doing a clean SP at DOI and not having international singles assignment...

 

[macy]

Wakaba, Rino and Mao's SPs can be found in the figure skating another site (i don't think we can link here).

Lux Aeterna doesn't quite hit the same as her FS, but still stunning. i am SO HAPPY they kept the long outside edge into loop, that was the highlight of the whole program for me. also love her dress and glad they changed it.

as of now i am not a fan of this short on Mao, but i know it needs time yet. it's just not her style and the choreography was lacking, but i hope she can settle into it by fall.

i'm not sure if the dress Wakaba wore is her official one, but her entire packaging was ethereal! just stunning. these girls are really trying to make my cry this season.

 

[rabidline]

Lux Aeterna doesn't quite hit the same as her FS, but still stunning. i am SO HAPPY they kept the long outside edge into loop, that was the highlight of the whole program for me. also love her dress and glad they changed it.

The Dreams on Ice 2025 videos on the Ice Shows and Theatre part of the forum, thanks to @synesthesia <3

Thread 'Dreams on Ice 2025'

Jun 26, 2025

https://www.onice.jp/

Dates: June 27-29, 2025
Venue: KOSÉ Shin-Yokohama Skate

Cast:

• Yuma Kagiyama
• Kao Miura (WD, as of Jun 26th)
• Shun Sato
• Tatsuya Tsuboi
• Kazuki Tomono
• Rio Tanaka
• Shunsuke Nakamura
• Sena Takahashi
• Taiga Nishino
• Kaori Sakamoto
• Mone Chiba
• Wakaba Higuchi
• Rino Matsuike
• Mao Shimada
• Ami Nakai
• Ikura Kushida
• Kaoruko Wada
• Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita
• Yuna Nagaoka & Sumitada Moriguchi
• Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama (WD, as of Jun 13)
• Jingu Ice Messenger

• cohkaix
• Replies: 42
• Forum: Ice shows and theatre events

• 

I also agree on Rino's Lux Aeterna SP, right now it looks too obvious that the SP is a shortened version of the FS, and the elements are clumsily fitted to follow the SP rule. Just... missing the je ne sais quoi magic the FS had. But it can also be because of how early it is in the season and they will smooth out the kinks.

Wakaba looked soooooo gorgeous with the hair and dress

 

[surimi]

Rena Uezono has switched to Kobe FSC and will train under Sonoko Nakano

She was with Mihoko Higuchi before, correct?

 

[Bluediamonds09]

I'm kinda gutted for rika kihira. practicing the quad really hurt her. Or was it the triple axel that hurt her foot?

 

[spatzchen]

She was with Mihoko Higuchi before, correct?

Yes

 

[Magill]

I'm kinda gutted for rika kihira. practicing the quad really hurt her. Or was it the triple axel that hurt her foot?

I'm not sure but I think it was a stress fracture so you cannot really assign it to one jump, rather to the whole training load.
But whatever it was, I am eternally bitter about it. She is missed so dearly, and there never was anyone like her... oh, Rika!

 

[macy]

the case with Rika is terribly sad. if i remember correctly, she kept coming back to training too early or too intense and didn't give it proper time to heal, so she kept reinjuring it.

 

[Magill]

the case with Rika is terribly sad. if i remember correctly, she kept coming back to training too early or too intense and didn't give it proper time to heal, so she kept reinjuring it.

I don't know if she was coming back too early, or was ill advised on it, or it was just bad injury and bad luck. It happens, they are those injuries which just never heal completely, no matter what you do and nobody's fault ....
She's been taking it very slowly now, and just a few days ago landed in Toronto, after all this time, again.
Is she healed completely this time? Can Brian make miracles and bring her back to where she was where she left?
Can we see her come back? Oh, that would feel a little better to see her doing great again...

Here's Rika posting from Toronto airport