2022-23 Japanese Men's Figure Skating

[rabidline]

Yoshioka belongs to neither Kinoshita nor MF.

Yes, sorry- I had Shunsuke Nakamura in my mind when I wrote that. Edited the post!

 

[yesterday]

 

[tsuyoboogie]

Not sure if this is the best thread for this post but I'm so excited about these reports that I had to share ~

To start~
Taiga Nishino just attempted his first 3A in competition (Lily Cup) and according to fans reporting from the event he appears to have landed it successfully

https://twitter.com/satosysk8/status/1647442885900632064?s=20

https://twitter.com/yugo0527/status/1647443299438034944?s=20

https://twitter.com/07atskatelove/status/1647443262981156865?s=20

Reports say he jumped 3A 3F 3Lo 3Lz(hangs on, 2ft?)2T 3F2A+SEQ 3S2T
and scored 127.64!
He debuted his new Carmina Burana FS which I'm assuming was choreographed by Misao Sato-sensei, who is also his coach

For anyone unfamiliar with Taiga Nishino, he placed 2nd at Novice Nationals, 12th at Junior Nationals this season and will be debuting as Junior next season.

And if that wasn't enough excitement for a local spring event...
Daiya Ebihara who debuted as Junior this season also appears to have successfully landed what I believe is his first 3A attempt in competition (also Lily Cup)

https://twitter.com/satosysk8/status/1647452139382513665?s=20

https://twitter.com/yugo0527/status/1647452326410731520?s=20

https://twitter.com/07atskatelove/status/1647452276838252545?s=20

According to reports, he performed his Mission Impossible FS and scored 132.32!
He jumped 3A 3Lz 3F 3Lo 3Lz3T 2A3T 3S2A+SEQ

Daiya Ebihara who is coached by Koji Okajima and Noriko Sato shows a lot of potential but like other talented Okajima skaters tends to sometimes struggle with consistency
Hoping he continues to develop the confidence needed to prevent consistency issues from holding him back

Looking forward to seeing if Novice National Champion, Sena Takahashi will also be able to acquire a 3A for his Junior debut
He was planning to add the 3A to his FS this season but a growth spurt seemed to have affected his jump axis a bit, making his jumps look a bit wonky
I'm guessing he'll likely be participating in Bloom On Ice next week and we'll get to see his condition then

The upcoming JGP selection event is gonna be crazy intense
I'm so happy and relieved that the Japanese Men have 14 JGP spots for next season!
Huge thanks to Kao and Nozomu!

Edit: And speaking of Kao, he's supposed to be competing at Lily Cup as well
Going to try to wait up to see how he does (it's a FS only event)

 

[yesterday]

Sena Takahashi

and he just appeared in the WTT gala

 

[tsuyoboogie]

and he just appeared in the WTT gala

Oh Thanks! Did he perform his Elton John Ex?
Between work and a recent onset of severe episodes of Vertigo, I unfortunately, I missed a lot of WC and WTT and couldn't remember which Gala Sena (with Rena Uezono) was announced for...maybe both?
If a stream is still available I'll try to catch up on my next day off

 

[yesterday]

Oh Thanks! Did he perform his Elton John Ex?
Between work and a recent onset of severe episodes of Vertigo, I unfortunately, I missed a lot of WC and WTT and couldn't remember which Gala Sena (with Rena Uezono) was announced for...maybe both?
If a stream is still available I'll try to catch up on my next day off

yes

stream is on ISU youtube and will be archived I'd say
Rena is coming next after the break

 

[yesterday]

Great weekend in Slovenia (Triglav Trophy).
Does anyone know why JSF chose this smaller comp to send 8 skaters in total?

SENIOR MEN
Result

FPl.	Name	Club	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Nozomu YOSHIOKA	JPN	JPN	238.36	1	1
2	Sumitada MORIGUCHI	JPN	JPN	232.79	2	2

JUNIOR MEN
Result

FPl.	Name	Club	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Shunsuke NAKAMURA	JPN	JPN	197.43	1	1
2	Rio NAKATA	JPN	JPN	184.45	2	2

 

[surimi]

I don't know why they picked this event, but maybe they're feeling more at ease about traveling overseas now, are compensating for not sending anyone to Bavarian Open this year, and they've decided to maximize their juniors' chances for getting WS points. Nozomu is going senior for sure, and he's looking very strong, and I suppose Hana Yoshida is also going senior next season? JSF used to assign skaters to Triglav in the past at times.
I hope the assignments to Triglav, Challenge Cup and CdP are a good sign for the autumn Challengers.

I've noticed six senior JPN men are in the WS top 15! That's more than a third. A strong team for sure.

 

[yesterday]

Nozomu SP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj9QytLSXtw
Sumitada SP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6kBezafNhU

Nozomu FP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdmdtrjTGBE
Sumitada FP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHAjDriVdZM

 

[Sai Bon]

I don't know why they picked this event, but maybe they're feeling more at ease about traveling overseas now, are compensating for not sending anyone to Bavarian Open this year, and they've decided to maximize their juniors' chances for getting WS points. Nozomu is going senior for sure, and he's looking very strong, and I suppose Hana Yoshida is also going senior next season? JSF used to assign skaters to Triglav in the past at times.
I hope the assignments to Triglav, Challenge Cup and CdP are a good sign for the autumn Challengers.

I've noticed six senior JPN men are in the WS top 15! That's more than a third. A strong team for sure.

I know Japanese men are an embarrassment of riches, but still looking forward to seeing Yuma back next season.

 

[cohkaix]

It looks like Benoit Richaud is doing choreography in Japan at the moment. From his IG, obviously he's working with Nobu. But the background looks like Mitsui Fudosan Ice Park at Chiba. So it is likely skater (a certain? some?) from MF Academy is/are getting their new programs from Richaud as well.

 

[yesterday]

 

[tsuyoboogie]

Links to Bloom On Ice performances from the Sunday, 04.23, 12pm show
As a reminder, video quality can be increased up to 720p by clicking the settings icon

Shuntaro Asaga (Hit the Road Jack~Throttle) SP
Ryoga Morimoto (Feeling Good~Michael Bublé) New SP?
Sena Takahashi (Les Miserables) New FS
Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda (Black Betty~Ram Jam) New EX?
Koshiro Shimada (Danse Macabre~Saint-Saëns) New FS (only the second half of the program)

My intention was to prioritize sharing new or less often seen programs
The program Shuntaro Asaga performed was the SP he competed all season however, I wanted to include it because
1) his performances get less exposure/views since he's never competed outside of Japan
2) he's an extremely gifted performer who deserves more recognition and exposure
3) he'll likely keep this SP for one more season
That said, his balance seemed off throughout this performance. I've seen him skate this program so much better

If anyone would like to see them, I can also upload videos of Sumitada Moriguchi (Breakthru SP) and Shunsuke Nakamura (El Conquistador SP)

 

[n1co]

Takahashi's 3a looks smaller than his 3lz.
He shouldn't slow down so much before take off.

 

[rabidline]

I don't know why there's suddenly an influx of Danse Macabre programs for the Japanese skaters next season, but I'm into it smart for Koshiro to skate half of it now, it's so early in the off-season he shouldn't overwork himself but the parts I can see look pretty interesting.

 

[skim1001]

Sena is looking great and quite consistent too. Looking forward to see him in the junior circuit.

 

[yesterday]

This fits in the men and dance thread?

 

[rabidline]

JSF has issued their list of Development Athletes for the 2023-2024 season, will list down the men here.
Source: https://www.skatingjapan.or.jp/common/img/info/2023-24_FS_20230426.pdf

Special Level
Shoma Uno (S1)
Koshiro Shimada (S2)
Kazuki Tomono (S3)
Yuma Kagiyama (S8)
Kao Miura (S6)
Sota Yamamoto (S5)
Shun Sato (S4)
Nozomu Yoshioka (S10, J1)

Level A
Sumitada Moriguchi (S7)
Takeru Amine Kataise (S19, J2)
Haruya Sasaki (S15, J3)

Level B
Tatsuya Tsuboi (S9)
Shunsuke Nakamura (S11, J4)
Sena Miyake (S12)
Rio Nakata (S26, J5)
Haru Kakiuchi (S18, J6)
Tsudoi Suto (S17, J7)
Seigo Tauchi (S23, J8)

A nice big pool for the Special Level, and I think no notable names are missing.

Note: Edited to add National placements (Sr. and Jr. Nationals)

 

[surimi]

I'm relieved to see Sota in Special! I thought his chances were gone after he wasn't at his best at WC and CC, so this is a pleasant surprise.
Now, what do I need to burn in sacrifice to see everyone in the top 10 getting a Challenger. I hope the enhanced support list isn't a tradeoff for early competitions abroad.

 

[rabidline]

This is definitely the biggest number of men in Special Group in a while (8 men) and what I'm happy about is that it doesn't come at the expense of the women in Special Group (7 women). Japanese fans are saying that 15 singles skaters in the Special Group is the most Japan has had ever. I wonder what changed but I'm not complaining

I agree on the pre-GP Challengers. Time to put the money earned from Worlds and WTT to good use.