What is aesthetic if it does not account for beauty?
Bare in mind I am not talking about whether something you or I find beautiful, but about subjective within the context of NHK taking place in Japan how Mao, Miki and Suzuki are perceived by JSF as #1. #2, #3 etc where media/commercial pressure certainly have played a large part too (Sport popularity, ice shows, sponsorships and so forth).
That's a valid point. However, this is no longer "pageantry" that we are talking about. It's clear that Mao Asada is more marketable - she is much better known, has a greater fan base - reputation wise, Suzuki is no where near her. What I struggle with is that all of above has to do with her "look" as the OP believes. Was Kristi Yamaguchi less marketable than Michelle Kwan? Who was more beautiful of the two? Is Joannie Rochette very marketable because she was pretty? What about Yu Na Kim? Korea has no shortage of beautiful actresses, arguably, far more beautiful than Kim will ever be, but why is that Kim is far better known than pretty much all of them.
It is my feeling it is this perceived ranking spilt onto PCS scoring and made the difference in the ranking. If beauty doesn't matter, why isn't Akiko favoured like Hanyu (who's certainly beautifu/skated beautifully, at least to me) seems to have over taken Kozuka this year as Japan's #2?
I think the comparison you are making is flawed. Hanyu has won only 1 GP this season and Kozuka beat him, not the other way around. Shockingly, even Machida beat Hanyu in PCS at the same competition :
http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpusa2012/SEG002.HTM
Rather, I think this perception that Hanyu is somehow now the #1 Japanese man is primarily due to his high scoring SP and that he has defeated Takahashi at the NHK and perhaps because he has the highest ranking on the GP circuit of all Japanese men, second only to Patrick Chan. This however, can prove to be more an illusion than a reality. First of all, Machida also beat Takahashi at a GP. Hanyu's PCS has been quite beatable, in fact, he would only be 4th among Japanese men with his FS PCS, losing not only to Takahashi, but to Kozuka and Machida as well. I failed to see any deliberate favortism towards Hanyu. His success so far in the season is primarily due to his technical achievements. Not many Japanese man can do 2 Quads within a same program or skating clean SP with Quad. If anything, even Machida beat him on the Interpretation (IN) component during the head to head competition at Skate America, which tells me Hanyu's PCS is really not that great in relation to his peers (although I think they should be lower still but that's another subject).
So it's hard to entertain your argument when Kozuka actually beat Hanyu this year and there is just no evidence to support Hanyu has been favored as far as the PCS are concerned. In fact, there is no doubt in my mind that Takahashi remains the far more marketable man in Japan. I think you are mistaking enthusiasm and momentum for favortism. Kozuka has been on the scene for a while, he is kind of on and off with his results but he is no longer new. Hanyu is new and very young, people are excited about his potential in a similar way that many have been excited by Katelyn Osmond. But that's not because Hanyu has better looks than Kozuka. To believe so is akin to say the tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011 was due to the wrath of the gods. :sarcasm:
(or Why Kozuka seem to have lost his PCS he deserve) And similarly why is the media there always obsessed with Mao when it is Miki who won the WC, and Akiko was the one podiumed last year?
Like I demonstrated above, Kozuka still beats Hanyu on PCS by quite a bit. Kozuka has his own issues with PCS but it has nothing to do with whether Hanyu is prettier or Kozuka is not attractive. Mao's popularity is Japan was already several years deep, especially during the run up to the Vancouver Olympics when it was all about Kim vs. Asada. It's difficult to explain exactly why X skater is more popular than another but to blame it all on looks does seem a little careless.
If this NHK competition took place in another Grand Prix say TEB, can you honestly say the results would have been same? That is my whole argument.
This really puzzles me.
Why not? Did you forget both Suzuki and Asada are Japanese? It's not as if the audience refused to clap and cheer Akiko when she skated. They were very supportive of both skaters as far as I can tell. I have no idea why you are so certain that if this were TEB, the result would necessarily be different.
There's no doubt Mao is their perceived #1 favourite for the last quads and their big skater for Sochi as was the Vancouver, and while she is a great skater, Mao benefit a great deal from her beauty (yes including skating) that is practically a nice litte cottage industry in Japan that the sport benefit from. There's nothing wrong to acknowledge this because it happens to be true, it undoubtly benefited her through out her career.
I think this is a case of paralysis through analysis. You think too much. There could be 1000 reasons why Mao is more marketable than Suzuki but look may not even be a decisive factor. When Elvis Stojko was king, was he considered attractive or handsome? He was so short, a lot of ladies would stand taller than him yet there was no doubt he was very marketable. So when he defeated Kurt Browning and took over the as #1 Canadian man, was it because he was more attractive than Kurt Browning? If looks matter so much, why was Kiira Korpi considered the #2 woman in Finland when Laura Lepisto was competing? I mean many people regard Kiira as by far the most beautiful female skater out there but why she never seems to win any major competition like the Europeans or a world medal which Laura Lepisto did?
