skating popularity in japan | Golden Skate

skating popularity in japan

kirkyo

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
If you have been reading the Barry Mittan articles on the main Golden Skate site, you may have noticed the following quote in reference to how Takeshi Honda began skating:

"Honda doesn't come from a skating family. Skating is not very popular in Japan."

I question this statement. Not because I know for sure otherwise, but from competitions I've seen skating seems to be HUGE there. I can remember one NHK where it seemed like 1000 girls ran down the aisles to throw flowers at Sasha Abt. I have also heard that Fumie is considered a huge star there.

Also, it is difficult to imagine having such a tremendous crop of young, talented skaters in a country where the sport is not popular.

Can anyone speak to this? Could he possibly be referring to when Takeshi was a child (which was not really that long ago)?
 

berthes ghost

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
I think that they mean that skating is not popular for BOYS in Japan.

They've had several champion ladies and now seem to have a bottleneck of elite ladies, so certaily that's popular.

They've had pairs since the 60s, and dance as well even if little success has come.

But, other than Honda, who is there for mens? Even the US, which everyone is always bellyaching about the lack of interest of US boys in skating, has produced a huge crop of elite male skaters.

Honda was only 8 when Midori landed the 3 axel and won worlds, so skating not being popular in general when he was a kid is totally wrong. They practically worship Midori as a god.
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
kirkyo:

At one time figure skating was not a big thing in Japan, but with champs like Midori Ito and Yuka Sato, it certainly has started to gain popularity. You will note that, Takeshi trains in Canada which shows the lack of training available in Japan. I think that will change too. They have yet to produce ice dance champions, but I am sure they are working on it!
 

Germanice

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Skating not popular in Japan? Hardly! There're unbelievable scenes during the last group of the Men's event at Worlds in Nagano! Sometimes I really thought people'd storm the ice! And all those flowers! I've never ever seen that much on an ice surface before! WOW!

IMHO the Japanese fans are some of the best in the world. They're addicted, but never fanatic in a nationalistic sense. They love the skater because of the skater. And they're really original and creative in their fandom - have you ever seen this site with all those lovely lil' skater icons?

http://mbspro.uic.to/mkakikomitai.cgi?room=annex&action=icondisp

Anke
 
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miki_tan

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
How many all season rinks in USA or CANADA?
Thousands or Hundreds?

JAPAN has only 27 all season rinks.
I can write all here.

Hokkaido: 5 (Sapporo:2 Kushiro:2 Tomari)
Aomori:1 (Hachinohe)
Miyagi:2 (Sendai:2)
Saitama:1 (Kawagoe)
Tokyo:5 (Shinjuku:2 Akishima Higashi-Yamato Nishi-Tokyo)
Kanagawa:3 (Yokohama:3)
Aichi:2 (Nagoya:2)
Kyoto:1 (Kyoto)
Osaka:2 (Takaishi Takatsuki)
Hyogo:1 (Himeji)
Okayama:1 (Okayama)
Fukuoka:2 (Fukuoka, Iizuka)
Okinawa:1 (Haebaru)
 
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