Don't worry about Rino being behind Mai in WS. She is ahead of her in talent, which is more important. Lol, sorry!
Tsuyo, don't be sorry, it's solace to me to fantasize that maybe JSF come to their senses and send skaters to Challengers yet. I enjoyed reading your thoughts.
Just a correction, Kagiyama won't be at Finlandia for sure, as he's at Japan Open at that time.
I think it's important for all women, except for Kaori, to participate in a Challenger. In terms of points, those pay really well, and if some get that option, it's not fair that others are only sent to the more competitive GP. So for someone like Rion, no, I am not okay with her not getting an easier event than a GP.
I'm still hoping JSF shows some compassion to their CS-less skaters, and assigns to both Finlandia and the later CS, Austria and Warsaw, like last year. I know they've not been announced officially, but hope dies last. If Rion isn't at Finlandia, she won't get any CS unless they miraculously assign to Golden Spin, as there's no time between France and NHK, with travel taking longer (intercontinental travel especially). But for Yuhana, who has Skate Canada only, a later Challenger would be ideal. Since you mentioned the men, the same that goes for Yuhana also goes for Kao, Sena and Honda. No need for them to be in Finland, it would be way better if JSF reconsidered with the later CS. Sota and Shun, OTOH, have no other choice but Finland, and Tatsuya could only do Finland or Warsaw.
I still keep my fingers crossed for Mai and Rino in Finland. Rino especially, she's lower than Mai in WS.
2022-23 Japanese Women's Figure Skating
- Thread starter figureskatingandrainbows
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- Nov 12, 2013
I forgot to react to this part earlier - well, no, they're not. Entries are already out for that one, and no Japanese. Korea, Canada, the US, everyone's sending their skaters. The only weirdos of the season are JSF and China. But China has much fewer skaters to place, so JSF wins the meanest federation of the season prize this time.
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- May 4, 2014
Oops…totally forgot about Japan Open
Tsuyo, don't be sorry, it's solace to me to fantasize that maybe JSF come to their senses and send skaters to Challengers yet. I enjoyed reading your thoughts.
Just a correction, Kagiyama won't be at Finlandia for sure, as he's at Japan Open at that time.
I think it's important for all women, except for Kaori, to participate in a Challenger. In terms of points, those pay really well, and if some get that option, it's not fair that others are only sent to the more competitive GP. So for someone like Rion, no, I am not okay with her not getting an easier event than a GP.
I'm still hoping JSF shows some compassion to their CS-less skaters, and assigns to both Finlandia and the later CS, Austria and Warsaw, like last year. I know they've not been announced officially, but hope dies last. If Rion isn't at Finlandia, she won't get any CS unless they miraculously assign to Golden Spin, as there's no time between France and NHK, with travel taking longer (intercontinental travel especially). But for Yuhana, who has Skate Canada only, a later Challenger would be ideal. Since you mentioned the men, the same that goes for Yuhana also goes for Kao, Sena and Honda. No need for them to be in Finland, it would be way better if JSF reconsidered with the later CS. Sota and Shun, OTOH, have no other choice but Finland, and Tatsuya could only do Finland or Warsaw.
I still keep my fingers crossed for Mai and Rino in Finland. Rino especially, she's lower than Mai in WS.
I normally don’t follow that event closely since it's more exhibition than competition and always coincides with Regionals
Not to say the other women aren't just as deserving but since Kaori takes a while to adjust to new programs I feel it’s best she competes prior to her first GP event
Participating in both Lombardia Trophy and Japan Open will hopefully help her prepare for Skate America
I still think there's a chance the Chukyu skaters will be sent to Finlandia
However, a recent, unexpected JGP assignment indicates to me that there may be a new committee and standard being used to allocate international competitions
But like you, I'm also hoping that the skaters not yet given the opportunity will be sent to a later Challenger
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- Mar 9, 2013
JO will be held on Oct 8th, which is later for this year (and it's in overlap with Kinki & Hokkaido regionals...) The funny thing is that there are almost no 'top' Sr. women's skaters left in Kinki areas: I'm thinking in particular for the Hamada camp, where the Jr. skaters are the main focus (maybe except for Azusa Tanaka? but she's in JGP alternate list also.) Well, for the Kinki regional probably there will be the Kobe skaters. And sadly, from what I've read recently on Twitter, it seems Mai in a recent local fan-meeting revealed that her first competition of the season will be Kinki Regional. This means she's not goting to start this season in ANY international competition before the GPOops…totally forgot about Japan Open
I normally don’t follow that event closely since it's more exhibition than competition and always coincides with Regionals
Not to say the other women aren't just as deserving but since Kaori takes a while to adjust to new programs I feel it’s best she competes prior to her first GP event
Participating in both Lombardia Trophy and Japan Open will hopefully help her prepare for Skate America
I still think there's a chance the Chukyu skaters will be sent to Finlandia
However, a recent, unexpected JGP assignment indicates to me that there may be a new committee and standard being used to allocate international competitions
But like you, I'm also hoping that the skaters not yet given the opportunity will be sent to a later Challenger
So I've been thinking lately as well that there might be some changes to the rules to allocate skaters by JSF, just as @tsuyoboogie suggested above. But the rules may not be revealed to the public (I'm wondering about the closed-door test for CS competition together with the NHK selection earlier...I just don't recall there was any competition for CS selection in the past?) TBH, I'm not optmistic about the later CS competition assignments either: remember last year that was due to the special COVID situation.
As for skaters from Chukyu...I'm actually worrying for Rino. She WD-ed from Gensan and the reason was not provided anywhere ...
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- Nov 12, 2013
JO will be held on Oct 8th, which is later for this year (and it's in overlap with Kinki & Hokkaido regionals...) The funny thing is that there are almost no 'top' Sr. women's skaters left in Kinki areas: I'm thinking in particular for the Hamada camp, where the Jr. skaters are the main focus (maybe except for Azusa Tanaka? but she's in JGP alternate list also.) Well, for the Kinki regional probably there will be the Kobe skaters. And sadly, from what I've read recently on Twitter, it seems Mai in a recent local fan-meeting revealed that her first competition of the season will be Kinki Regional. This means she's not goting to start this season in ANY international competition before the GP
So I've been thinking lately as well that there might be some changes to the rules to allocate skaters by JSF, just as @tsuyoboogie suggested above. But the rules may not be revealed to the public (I'm wondering about the closed-door test for CS competition together with the NHK selection earlier...I just don't recall there was any competition for CS selection in the past?) TBH, I'm not optmistic about the later CS competition assignments either: remember last year that was due to the special COVID situation.
As for skaters from Chukyu...I'm actually worrying for Rino. She WD-ed from Gensan and the reason was not provided anywhere ...
Well, the Kazakh Federation has also undergone changes recently, and they were detrimental to the athletes and to the sport: denying funding, not sending their athletes to events... It would be great if JSF were not headed in the same direction, with the athlete depth they have.
If only Japanese local competitions are used to assign skaters, it gives more freedom to internal machinations and politicking, doesn't it? And if a hypothetical skater is popular abroad, but not so much among the JSF officials, nothing easier than not assigning them unless they medal at Nationals! Stash them at home, send them to regionals, sectionals, inkare, summer cups... and then watch impassively as they drop down the world standings in the upcoming seasons, thereby earning no right to be assigned to GP, until only GP medalists and JSF darlings are assigned. How delightfully simple... A shudder-worthy future for Japanese skating, that's for sure. And a nail in the coffin for any global interest in Japanese skaters other than their superstars if they keep at it.
Also, if there are 'new and improved' criteria for assigning to CS and international B events, which basically exclude everyone but a random few, it means limited to no opportunities for Japanese skaters to get new season bests which would entitle them to future events. If someone gets nervous at a high stress event like GP, and fails to skate well enough to create a new SB, they'll get discarded for future events like an Eteri girl? Ugh, no, thanks, JSF. I cannot imagine what part of the body they used to come up with this brilliant no-assign idea.
Anyway, it doesn't make much sense to me to hold test events for CS. So one is good enough to win a spot at NHK, but not good enough to be sent to CS? What a load of. (not directed at you, I'm super frustrated with JSF as you can see. I'm not buying that they grew *so* poor after Hanyu's retirement)
Rino gave an interview for Asahi Shinbun on August 30, but I don't know if the content has been published yet. She was all smiles in the photo, and I'm not sure they'd want to interview her if she was suffering from a serious injury?
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- May 4, 2014
Wanted to post this days ago but didn't want to jinx Mao before her JGP FS
Then I got sidetracked with the other conversation
Anyway~
I was rewatching Mao's Kinoshita Trophy FS and something I hadn't noticed before caught my eye (hope this gif plays)
The man behind the boards who was intently focused on Mao's 4T attempt then disappointed for her when she fell is Koji Okajima
Not sure if this is common knowledge but Okajima, mostly recognized as Wakaba and Rion Sumiyoshi's coach also coached Mao until she switched to Kinoshita Academy/Team Hamada just prior to her Novice A debut season
As Novice B champion, Mao already had solid triples (minus 3A), impressive spins (common among Okajima's girls) and displayed strong basics including gorgeous posture and free leg extension on her jump landings
She was also able to compete with a high level of consistency which unfortunately, is quite rare for Okajima's skaters
It's no secret that I take issue with some of Okajima's coaching methods (he seems way too easy going) and decisions made by his team
However, I found his interest and reaction to Mao's 4T attempt endearing and it softened my opinion of him just a bit
It made me realize, that regardless of Mao leaving to be coached elsewhere, he still roots for her and wants to see her succeed
I wanted to give credit where credit is due because Okajima deserves to be acknowledged for Mao's solid foundation
Debated about posting this in Mao's fanfest but figured most fans visiting that thread would already know her background
Then I got sidetracked with the other conversation
Anyway~
I was rewatching Mao's Kinoshita Trophy FS and something I hadn't noticed before caught my eye (hope this gif plays)
The man behind the boards who was intently focused on Mao's 4T attempt then disappointed for her when she fell is Koji Okajima
Not sure if this is common knowledge but Okajima, mostly recognized as Wakaba and Rion Sumiyoshi's coach also coached Mao until she switched to Kinoshita Academy/Team Hamada just prior to her Novice A debut season
As Novice B champion, Mao already had solid triples (minus 3A), impressive spins (common among Okajima's girls) and displayed strong basics including gorgeous posture and free leg extension on her jump landings
She was also able to compete with a high level of consistency which unfortunately, is quite rare for Okajima's skaters
It's no secret that I take issue with some of Okajima's coaching methods (he seems way too easy going) and decisions made by his team
However, I found his interest and reaction to Mao's 4T attempt endearing and it softened my opinion of him just a bit
It made me realize, that regardless of Mao leaving to be coached elsewhere, he still roots for her and wants to see her succeed
I wanted to give credit where credit is due because Okajima deserves to be acknowledged for Mao's solid foundation
Debated about posting this in Mao's fanfest but figured most fans visiting that thread would already know her background
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2013
Just saw this on Twitter, Rino is apparently well enough to practice at Chukyo: https://twitter.com/chukyo_skate/status/1567865474943438849 It also seems she gave yet another interview today.
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2018
congratulations to Ami Nakai for her bronze medal at the jgp, some mistakes make her lost the chance for a silver or even gold medal but she is a lovely girl with such qualities that need to grow and develop <3
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2018
Nakai wasn’t going to get the gold; the best she could’ve done was win the free skate as Shin had too much of a lead after the SP. But she was very close to Silver. However, I think Nakai was lucky to get the bronze. I think she was overscored in the free and Gurgenidze - who was underscored in the SP - was better than her in both programs.
Also, Shibayama got a second GP! She’ll be at the last JGP and I’m pretty sure Shimada was originally at the final one, but now she’s going to be in Poland. I’m still hoping that Kushida gets a second spot.
Also, Shibayama got a second GP! She’ll be at the last JGP and I’m pretty sure Shimada was originally at the final one, but now she’s going to be in Poland. I’m still hoping that Kushida gets a second spot.
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2018
I think the only junior I don't see in the best shape is Mone Chiba so will be interesting to see how she comes to her junior grand prix
Nakai is cute. But, I don’t like her that much artistically. But, it looks like she will now get a second event as she is in 4th from JPN in the standings and I don’t expect Chiba to surpass her. The sad thing, is Kushida ended up being my favourite and of course she has scored the lowest of the Japanese girls 
. I expect to see four Japanese and two Koreans in the finals, with Soho Lee as an outside chance.
. I expect to see four Japanese and two Koreans in the finals, with Soho Lee as an outside chance.
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2018
Rion share an instagram history where she is landing a 4T-3T combination and it looked good! 
Yes. I fell,in love with Rion at Japanese Nationals last year. If she can nail the 4T and become consistent with all the triple jumps, watch out!Rion share an instagram history where she is landing a 4T-3T combination and it looked good!
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2018
Ikura kushida and Ami Nakai will compete again in the last junior grand prix
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2020
Congratulations to Rinka Watanabe on becoming the 22nd woman to land a clean 3A internationally at Lombardia Trophy!
Big skate performance by Rinka!! That was huge. With this result, I can see her grabbing the GP Assignments from Rika. Also, the score of 213, I have a feeling will put her in the top ten best scores of the year (no Russians). This score will guarantee her spots for next year. It really was a breakthrough performance for Rinka. Congrats! For a minute there, I thought they would give Kaori the gold medal. Rinka deserved this gold medal.
Wakaba needs to decide if she is going to withdraw from the GP season and get ready for Nationals or if she is actually going to compete to win. If she needs more time to be at competitive level she should let someone take her spot in the GP. Just showing up and doing 2As or single 3s will only hurt her reputation with the judges and the Fed, neither of which like her anyway.
Also, this was actually not a bad result for Kaori. She only really missed the 3F 3T jumps in both programs. Her 2A 3T 2T covered so much distance. She still scored pretty well, over 200 and will get better as the season progresses. She is still the favourite this year.
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