2022-23 Japan National Championships - Women's FS

[yesterday]

We'll see how resistent JSF's butt is.

 

[demarinis5]

Congratulations to Kaori so happy for her after her disappointment at the GPF. Mai what can I say, doing my happy dance for her.

I haven't had a chance to watch the videos yet so I really can't comment but from the comments in this thread
the top three women were wonderful.

 

[RatedPG]

Also, does anybody know the rules regarding skaters who just didn’t get international assignments? Yuna Aoki is the only skater in the top 14, who didn’t get a GP spot (Junior or Senior). She came 7th here and has a lovely 3Lz 3Lo. I would love for her to get at least one spot (GP event) next year.

 

[el henry]

Oh, it would be the very first time someone finished outside the top 10 at Nationals and was named to the Worlds team. Obviously that means there’s something very wrong with the selection criteria. US Fed had the exact same issue last year with their Olympic team selection and it ended up backfiring and biting them in the butt. I had a lot of things to say about that nonsense and if Watanabe is actually named to the Worlds team, I can just copy and paste what I said back then.

I am afraid if you are referring to the men, this is simply untrue. The selection was more than justified by the results at the Olympics and Worlds *that year*. Simple math. USFS butt is just fine and they have no reason to change based on those results. If you are talking about another discipline, I apologize.

But this is off topic, and I will not further derail the thread with this.

I will be interested to see what JSF does since they appear to have such strict criteria. This is a much wider gap in results at this Nats than any other result of which I am aware. However, I appreciate that once criteria are set, it seems unwise to change based on an outlier result at Nats. I have always been a proponent of top three at Nats go, but only if that is the understanding before the season starts. If the understanding changes after the season starts, that is unfair to the athlete.

Congrats to the medalists!

 

[CoyoteChris]

So this was also Yuhana's last Nationals: https://twitter.com/skatingjapan/status/1606605818832781312?s=20&t=purMA2ncA0fLAlz4U3rquw

I will always remeber Tom and Jerry....

 

[CoyoteChris]

My perfect scenario comes true: Mai takes GPF champion, whereas Kaori takes National title, so both can go to Saitama together!!

ITA, but this comp was so much more...so many great skates, ups and downs......thankfully, I got up at 8am and the ice storm hadnt started yet and the net and power held up... and I could see it all on demand....now freezing rain....(love the beer commericals.....)

 

[zanadude]

Oh, it would be the very first time someone finished outside the top 10 at Nationals and was named to the Worlds team. Obviously that means there’s something very wrong with the selection criteria. US Fed had the exact same issue last year with their Olympic team selection and it ended up backfiring and biting them in the butt. I had a lot of things to say about that nonsense and if Watanabe is actually named to the Worlds team, I can just copy and paste what I said back then.

I have had issues with many of the choices for the Japan National team in the past, but I have never questioned the legitimacy of any of those choices, because they all earned the right to be considered.

That would change if there is any selection other than Kaori, Mai, and Rinka.

 

[sailormoon]

After men's free skate, the national team will be announced, followed by the press conference. The event starts at 10 pm Tokyo time.

【全日本フィギュア】世界選手権代表発表〈フジテレビ公式〉

【全日本フィギュアスケート選手権2022】＜世界選手権代表発表＞をノーカット配信！シン・フィギュア時代の幕開け　ニューヒーロー誕生の瞬間をお見逃しなく！！全日本フィギュア スケート選手権2022　12月22日（木）から4夜連続生中継！▼詳しい放送スケジュール・番組内容は公式ホームページをご覧くださいhttps:/...

www.youtube.com

 

[zanadude]

Doing some research, the last major change to Japan's selection criteria came in the wake of 2005 Nationals. At that time, they took the previous two seasons worth of results into consideration, leading to the choice of 6th place Miki Ando over 4th place Yukari Nakano for the Olympics (funny enough, Nakano was also knocked off the podium by an ineligible junior named Mao). Miki bombed so bad at the Olympics that she was taken off the team for Worlds, and selection criteria was changed to take only the current season's results into account.

But I really don't see what change needs to be made here. Rinka Watanabe had a far better season than anyone else making a claim for the third spot, and no other non-junior even broke 200 points at Nationals. If anything, the current standards have successfully bailed out the JSF from having to make a choice that would be guaranteed to infuriate a large portion of people. All of the blame goes towards every other skater that failed to make the most of several chances to throw their hat into the ring.

 

[RafaelAstro]

JFS should take into consideration Hanna Yoshida and Mone Chiba over Rinka to be completely honest, Hanna won two junior grand prix, qualified to the junior gran prix final (even thou she bombed there, but it's not like Rinka dindn't bombed at NHK and here) won over Mai in a regional competition and place way above Rinka here, Mone won a silver medal at a junior grand prix, a silver medal at junior nationals and the same with Hana she placed way above Rinka here, I seriously don't see Rinka ready for a world championships her skating programs are so inconsistent and chaotic, if JFS is gonna send her to worlds due to their criteria at least Hana and Mone should go to 4cc, Yuna Aoki being another potential one, there is no reason why Kaori and Mai should go to 4cc when they will be going to winter universiade and now world championships plus world team.trophy most probably, many events could burn out them before worlds, it's not intelligent and necessary

 

[zanadude]

JFS should take into consideration Hanna Yoshida and Mone Chiba over Rinka to be completely honest

There's no "consideration" to be had, any more than you can "consider" not paying your taxes because you don't like how the money is being used. You have to pay your taxes because those are the rules set up by a higher power.

The criteria can be changed for future competitions, but it's too late to do anything about it for now.

 

[RafaelAstro]

I know their rules, that doesn't mean they are efficient or correct in all the cases, I know Rinka is gonna get the world championships spot but what she did here compared to what other girls did considering all the events in the season as well tell me she is not ready and it's not fair, I don't see her as a podium potential and they know it, I just hope she changes my mind but Hanna and Mone did a better job and they should be rewarded

 

[zanadude]

I know their rules, that doesn't mean they are efficient or correct in all the cases, I know Rinka is gonna get the world championships spot but what she did here compared to what other girls did considering all the events in the season as well tell me she is not ready and it's not fair, I don't see her as a podium potential and they know it, I just hope she changes my mind but Hanna and Mone did a better job and they should be rewarded

Fairness is following the rules that everyone knew about before the season began, not your own personal standards. Hanna and Mone did not do a better job, because neither of them cleared a single objective required for selection to Worlds.

 

[zanadude]

All that being said, a very Japanese thing to do would be to select Rinka, and then, behind closed doors, "persuade" her to go "ouch, my knee" and pull out, forcing them to go outside of their requirements for the third pick. I would be very sad to see them go this route, but not surprised either.

 

[RafaelAstro]

The JSF needs to change for the good of their own skaters the rules they have, you are telling me Rinka did a better job and has a potential to score better than Hanna and Mone just because she qualified to grand prix final winning gold at the weakest grand prix event?, Yes she did her job to atchieve the criteria selection but the event field play a rule on that, she was lucky, she almost didn't make the gpf due to the nhk results, she won skate canada with the weakest field and scoring poorly, those things the JFS doesn't take into consideration, which is bad, I don't want to sound rude towards Rinka coz I like her but she still needs more development, and would not be the first time JSF make a bad decision by following their rules, we are free to criticaze the selection methods even thou we cannot change anything, it's an opinion nothing more, I'm not going to post anything more about this, I will wait to the official selection

 

[zanadude]

Criticize selection methods? Sure, you have the right to do that.

Demand they be changed retroactively after a competition has completed because you don't like the results? No, you don't have the right to do that.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Akari, some step outs but great fight! Really well done putting that 3S+3T+2T in the 2nd half

Beautiful dress too, I love that shade of peach/pink (even though it seems like it has nothing to do with Forrest Gump )

Now that there is no pressure of watching before I am awake, I am gonna rewatch this one and others....

 

[CoyoteChris]

Oh, this is the last Nationals for Akari.

Its one of the sad things about Skating....some skaters have long lives on the ice....others we just get to enjoy for a few years....I want to know at least that my fav skaters go on to live happy lives....

 

[cohkaix]

Also, does anybody know the rules regarding skaters who just didn’t get international assignments? Yuna Aoki is the only skater in the top 14, who didn’t get a GP spot (Junior or Senior). She came 7th here and has a lovely 3Lz 3Lo. I would love for her to get at least one spot (GP event) next year.

As Yuna is now considered one of the 'veteran skaters', I think it's less likely she'll get any GP assignment. But her placement at Nationals is high enough to guarantee sponsorship (aka 'strengthened athletes') from JSF. I'd like to see her get at least one international assignment (B-level) next year. The last time when she competed internationally, she did win over Satoko for the SP.

I had the experience of watching Yuna LIVE winning her first international title at the NvA level (Asian Trophy, when she was competing together with Marin). So I've been rooting for her ever since.

Edit: after reading the posts from other forums, I just realized that Yuna doesn't have TES minimum. So mostly like she'll get an assignment to get that first.

 

[tsuyoboogie]

Women's FS video links (video quality can be increased up to 720p by clicking on settings wheel)

Almost all videos were recorded from the FOD stream (no commentary)
Rion Sumiyoshi and Yo Takagi's performances are from the Fuji TV Two broadcast (with commentary)

Someone commented that they preferred my video posts to not contain "spoilers" which I'm assuming meant scores and placement
So trying something new in order to get around that "issue"
Feedback and suggestions are welcome~

Listed by FS Start Order (so you can watch as the event played out if you choose)

	Warmup Group 1	Program Music	Choreographer
1	Akari Matsubara	Forrest Gump	Kenji Miyamoto
2	Maria Egawa	Les Misérables	Kenji Miyamoto
3	Mako Yamashita	As If We Never Said Goodbye	Akiko Suzuki
4	Niina Takeno	Quidam (Cirque du Soleil)	Kenji Miyamoto
5	Rino Matsuike	Nella Fantasia	Kenji Miyamoto
6	Hina Takeno	Titanic	Kenji Miyamoto
	Warmup Group 2
7	Rinka Watanabe	JIN - 仁 - (TBS Drama)	Cathy Reed
8	Rion Sumiyoshi	Enchantress by Two Steps From Hell	Shae-Lynn Bourne
9	Yo Takagi (Jr)	Mask of Zorro	Kenji Miyamoto
10	Haruna Murakami (Jr)	Music from the movie Australia	Cathy Reed
11	Hana Yoshida	Holst - The Planets; Williams - Princess Leia’s Theme (Star Wars)	Tom Dickson
12	Miyabi Oba	Aesthetic	Miyabi Oba, Miki Ando
	Warmup Group 3
13	Yuhana Yokoi	Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody	Akiko Suzuki
14	Rika Kihira	Titanic	David Wilson
15	Yuna Aoki	Paganini - Violin Concerto No.4 (Io Ti Penso Amore)	Misha Ge
16	Ikura Kushida (Jr)	Samson And Delilah	Cathy Reed
17	Ami Nakai (Jr)	Miss Saigon	Kenji Miyamoto
18	Ayumi Shibayama (Jr)	Puccini - Turandot	Tom Dickson
	Warmup Group 4
19	Mana Kawabe	Drowning by Anne Sila	Mihoko Higuchi
20	Saki Miyake	Moulin Rouge	Akiko Suzuki
21	Mao Shimada (Jr)	Passepied by Jean-Michel Blais	Lori Nichol
22	Mone Chiba (Jr)	Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto	Kenji Miyamoto
23	Mai Mihara	Falla - El Amor Brujo	David Wilson
24	Kaori Sakamoto	Elastic Heart by Sia	Marie-France Dubreuil, Samuel Chouinard