2021-22 Japanese Women's Figure Skating

[surimi]

Re. the reminiscence above - I was a huge fan of Mao and she remains my favorite Japanese female skater, followed by Rika Hongo who is also retired by now, but there are still promising skaters in Japan. None for me has the musicality, presence and artistry of Mao, not even Satoko who is among my faves, but it's not like the Japanese ladies don't have anything to offer.

Anyhow, I have just read elsewhere that JSF hope to send Mana Kawabe to the Austrian Challenger. Good for her! I'll now hope for the best for Yuhana, Yuna, Mai and Mako, so that at least some of them can get Poland CS.

 

[Jeanie19]

Re. the reminiscence above - I was a huge fan of Mao and she remains my favorite Japanese female skater, followed by Rika Hongo who is also retired by now, but there are still promising skaters in Japan. None for me has the musicality, presence and artistry of Mao, not even Satoko who is among my faves, but it's not like the Japanese ladies don't have anything to offer.

Anyhow, I have just read elsewhere that JSF hope to send Mana Kawabe to the Austrian Challenger. Good for her! I'll now hope for the best for Yuhana, Yuna, Mai and Mako, so that at least some of them can get Poland CS.

I'm so happy I saw Mao, Rika and Satoko at Boston Worlds the short program. I remember thinking I can't believe I'm seeing Mao live.

 

[macy]

I'm so happy I saw Mao, Rika and Satoko at Boston Worlds the short program. I remember thinking I can't believe I'm seeing Mao live.

the one and only time i saw Mao was 2013 Skate America. i was sitting in the front row in the center of the rink for ladies practice and she was doing 3As right in front of us. it was SO cool. she was such a special skater, no Japanese woman has come close to her IMO.

 

[readernick]

Mao was the only skater whose performances consistently made me cry. She seemed to pour her heart into her performances. I love many Japanese skaters, Satoko, Wakaba, and Rika but they rarely affect me emotionally! On the other hand, it wasn't until Mao was in her early 20s that her performances moved from lovely to heart renching. Perhaps, another skater, will develop into such a performer as they mature.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

Rika and Kaori are both going to the CS Asian Open
Entries

 

[surimi]

wow, I didn't expect Kaori to get picked due to SA coming up so soon after AO. But good for her!

 

[Joekaz]

What about Rika?
Anyhow, I'd say the chances of Rino, Kaori (if she risks and adds the 3A she practices, or a quad), Satoko and Wakaba are fairly even, so whoever skates best at Nationals should be chosen (but GP results should also be considered).

It seems very unlikely for Kaori to get 3A or quad, given how slow a rotator she is. When you say who skates best, you ignore judging bias. From the judging in Japan, if Rika is healthy and jumps her 3A and quads and they all skate equally well, it would be Rika, Kaori, Rino, Satoko, Wakaba. Rika would have too much tech content, if healthy. Kaori is the judge's favorite and always is overscored in Japan. Rino is the rising star and is liked by the judges as well. Satoko is liked, but her jumps are problematic. Wakaba is hated by Japanese judges and would need multiple 3As and hope Rino doesn't get one to make it on the team.

 

[surimi]

IMO, if Rino keeps trying to add a 3A and doesn't succeed, then she may still lose to Satoko, just like she did in the summer.

 

[Joekaz]

IMO, if Rino keeps trying to add a 3A and doesn't succeed, then she may still lose to Satoko, just like she did in the summer.

Rino doesn't need a 3A to beat Satoko at Nats IMO. I think the JSF are looking to the future, but we will see.

 

[Blades of Passion]

I'm so happy I saw Mao, Rika and Satoko at Boston Worlds the short program. I remember thinking I can't believe I'm seeing Mao live.

2016 Worlds was the peak of Ladies figure skating in these past two Olympic cycles. All of the Japanese, American, and Russian competitors contributed memorable programs. Elizabet Tursynbaeva and Zijun Li as well. If only Alaine Chartrand could have also delivered! Her SP + LP are both still the best of any Canadian lady for me these past two cycles. Amazing performances at her Nationals that year.

 

[Skatesocs]

2016 Worlds was the peak of Ladies figure skating in these past two Olympic cycles. All of the Japanese, American, and Russian competitors contributed memorable programs. Elizabet Tursynbaeva and Zijun Li as well.

Then why were you so mean to them on that scoring thread of yours?! https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/your-scoring-of-the-2016-worlds-ladies.59180/

 

[Blades of Passion]

They weren't as memorable, heh. And not necessarily each program from everyone was one of the great ones. But Zijun Li was at least trying to be artistic, flowy and Tursynbaeva had a lot of energy.

 

[Skatesocs]

They weren't as memorable, heh. And not necessarily each program from everyone was one of the great ones. But Zijun Li was at least trying to be artistic, flowy and Tursynbaeva had a lot of energy.

I'd agree 2016 worlds was the best competition in the past two quads in terms of overall skating, for ladies. The problem to me is actually that it's a lesser competition still than the men's, ID, and Pairs competitions, that had even better performances (Fernandez's LP, P/C's FD, D/R's LP, and I'd say S/H's SP too though not their best). So ladies still fades in comparison (if only Mao had skated the LP cleanly, it'd be up there... maaaaaybe I'd still say Pogorilaya's SP if pushed).

The best ladies comp is... 2011, sadly, in recent memory, even with Miki's programs (both of Yuna's programs, Kostner's LP, Czisny's LP). I'd say 2014 (Mao's SP + Yulia's LP) but it had Kostner's terrible LP, and if I go to 2013, nothing as terrible happened, but only Yuna's LP was an artistically great program for me (and Mao and Kostner's SPs were bad, and Murakami wuzrobbed). And 2012 is... 2012 (but I appreciate Akiko's programs a lot). Or we have to go back to 2007. Which I'm sure if we want to be less sad, we wouldn't want to do.

 

[Skatesocs]

Does anyone have a video of this mysterious "Woman" LP from Kaori that she apparently skated before? She's decided to stick to it for the season.

(here are clips of it lmao: https://twitter.com/andthewaltz/status/1433858624548339714)

ETA: Found it on instagram... https://www.instagram.com/p/CUAdEUcpFw4/ Am hoping there will be some comments on it here

 

[cohkaix]

Does anyone have a video of this mysterious "Woman" LP from Kaori that she apparently skated before? She's decided to stick to it for the season.

(here are clips of it lmao: https://twitter.com/andthewaltz/status/1433858624548339714)

ETA: Found it on instagram... https://www.instagram.com/p/CUAdEUcpFw4/ Am hoping there will be some comments on it here

Yes, that was from The Ice 2021, and probably just right after the program was choreographed. So we'll get to see the program at JO soon.
And obviously the opening 2A may be replaced by the 3A attempt in the future competitions: there are recent opening training session and interview indicating that Koari is back to the training for 3A.

 

[gsk8]

Thank you @cohkaix for setting up the Regional threads!

 

[cohkaix]

Rika and Kaori are both going to the CS Asian Open
Entries

Along with the assignments to AO, the Japanese media has revealed other assignments to the CS as follows:

CS-Austria
Mana Kawabe, Wakaba Higuchi, Tomoe Kawabata

CS-Warsaw Cup
Yuhana Yokoi, Mai Mihara

CS-Golden Spin
Hana Yoshida (Jr.)

Winter Universiade
Hina Takeno, Rinka Watanabe

 

[surimi]

Yuhana and Tomoe have Challengers, I'm happy! And for Mai, too!
Does anyone think Mako will be added yet? She seems to be the only one among the top ladies not assigned anywhere yet. (Well, Rin, too, but I guess she qualifies as an 'older' skater for JSF, and was not in top 9 at Nationals :/ )

 

[RafaelAstro]

No competition for Yuna Shiraiwa, Mako Yamashita and Rin Nitaya? Sad

 

[breadstal]

No Marin as well, not that I expected something