2024-25 Japanese Pairs and Ice Dance

[figureskatingandrainbows]

National Team
As of Strengthening Athletes page released July 1st, athletes may be added or removed based on GP/international assignments
Pairs
Special
Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara aka "RikuRyu" (ISU, JSF, GS thread, likely will earn automatic berth to Nationals)

B
Yuna Nagaoka & Sumitada Moriguchi aka "YunaSumi" (ISU, JSF, GS thread, seeded)
Sae Shimizu & Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda aka "SaeLuka" (ISU, JSF, GS thread)

Other Teams
Miyu Yunoki / Tristan Taylor

Ice Dance
B
Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama aka "AzuShin" (ISU, JSF, GS thread, seeded)
Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita aka "UtaMasa" (ISU, JSF, GS thread, seeded)
Ayano Sasaki & Yoshimitsu Ikeda
Sara Kishimoto and Atsuhiko Tamura* aka "SaraAtsu" (ISU, JSF, seeded for Junior Nationals)
Kaho Yamashita & Yuto Nagata (ISU)

Other Teams
Sumire Yoshida & Ibuki Ogahara** aka "SumiIbu"
Ayumi Shibayama & Tomoki Kimura** aka "AyuTomo"
Mia Kuneshita / Alec Roueche
Mihana Nakajima / Eisuke Kumano
Miu Takeuchi / Haruki Tsuchiya**
Kiara Nakanishi / Kaichi Yoneta**
Nanoha Yahata / Yuga Takemasa**


*denotes likely junior
**denotes senior age-ineligible
--Seeded skaters are the top 3 finishers at Nationals. They automatically qualify for the next years' Nationals. Non-seeded skaters must compete at Regional and Sectional Championships in order to qualify, but may be exempted if an international competition overlaps with Regional/Sectional competitions

 

[mikeko666]

Thank you for making a new thread.

As for ice dance, the three-time Novice National Champions Sumire Yoshida & Ibuki Ogahara "SumiIbu" will be in Junior next season.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

An update on RikuRyu:

Riku reinjured her shoulder (I believe it was during the 6 minute warmup of the Worlds FS) and will begin rehab on it soon. Ryuichi has been diagnosed with asthma, but feels like they will be able to manage his condition now that they know what it is.

 

[ladyjane]

An update on RikuRyu:

Riku reinjured her shoulder (I believe it was during the 6 minute warmup of the Worlds FS) and will begin rehab on it soon. Ryuichi has been diagnosed with asthma, but feels like they will be able to manage his condition now that they know what it is.

I am happy they do know what it is! And he's perfectly right. If you know what something is, that makes it easier to manage (I didn't say easy, but easier).

 

[cohkaix]

While Gillies and Poirier are in Japan for FaOI, apparently they're invited by JSF to hold a training session with some Japanese Ice Dancers. Other than current ID couples (UtaMasa, Sumibu, Kaho/Yuto,...mostly skaters from Kinoshita Academy), there are also single skaters joining the training, including Tomoki Kimura (new trainee at K Academy), and Ayumi Shibayama (!!).

Good to see that there might be new ID couples comping up soon.

 

[Blue-Kat]

I'll be interested to see how the age change rules affect some of these teams:
- SaeLuka can have more time as juniors, which I think will be helpful for them
- KahoYuu can also stay junior for a while more
- Yunasumi and Utamasa become junior eligible again, though I don't expect either team to go back to juniors

 

[aerosuffly]

It looks like RikuRyu new FP will be choreographed by Marie-France Dubreuil according to their Instagram.

 

[aerosuffly]

And their new SP will be choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne!

 

[Dreamer57]

I hope Kaho and Yuto will stay junior and hopefully get more assignments.

Excited to see Sumire and Ibuki make their junior debut!

 

[mikeko666]

Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama RD @ Dreams on Ice 2024
Music: September / Sir Duke / Land of 1000 Dances


Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita RD @ Dreams on Ice 2024
Music: Be-Bop-a-Lula / Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin' On

 

[saine]

I was checking the BC/YT Section Super Series August entries (here, current as of July 3 8:15 AM PT), and they have a Mia Kuneshita from Meiji Jingu Gaien FSC listed for Senior Ice Dance. No partners are listed in the entries.

Mia Kuneshita is tagged in this Instagram picture from Vancouver Ice Dance Academy. Alec Roueche is tagged as well. He previously skated with Chloe Nguyen in Canada, and was born in Wakayama, Japan. They may be a new team for Japan.

 

[Sai Bon]

Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama RD @ Dreams on Ice 2024
Music: September / Sir Duke / Land of 1000 Dances


Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita RD @ Dreams on Ice 2024
Music: Be-Bop-a-Lula / Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin' On

Two completely different approaches to this season's theme. Love it!

 

[cohkaix]

This is published at Kinoshita Academy's IG account: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-CiPXKJbx9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The new ID couple:
Ayumi Shibayama
Tomoki Kimura

So possibly at the moment Ayumi will skate in both singles and trains for ID.

 

[Blue-Kat]

It's always exciting to see Japanese singles skaters moving into paired disciplines! I really enjoyed Ayumi's Caroline Shaw programme last season. I wonder if she'll still do the JGP as a singles skater this season

 

[cohkaix]

It's always exciting to see Japanese singles skaters moving into paired disciplines! I really enjoyed Ayumi's Caroline Shaw programme last season. I wonder if she'll still do the JGP as a singles skater this season

Interestingly...the 1st JGP (Riga) entries are published. And Ayumi is NOT on the sub list...

I did a quick look through some of the upcoming local competitions, I didn't find her name at the Jr. women's category for either Kinoshita Trophy, nor Gensan Summer Cup.

But I read somewhere else that Ayumi and Tomono will have their debuting performance at Kinoshita Trophy (the competition doesn't include categories for ID or pair, but in the competition schedule there's a time slot for 'Jr. Dance' performance by the end of competition).

On a side note, it looks like Sumire Yoshida & Ibuki Ogihara is debuting in JGP Riga. So it means we may see more ID couples at Jr. level this season.

 

[rabidline]

This is published at Kinoshita Academy's IG account: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-CiPXKJbx9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The new ID couple:
Ayumi Shibayama
Tomoki Kimura

So possibly at the moment Ayumi will skate in both singles and trains for ID.

As expected... Kinoshita Academy really has a pipeline of "well you're not really competitive in singles after all, so let's make a pair/dance team out of you" and have the singles skater skate one last season before retiring.

It's not a bad idea, and they do have a better training facility for their teams than other pair/ice dance teams that team up on their own, unless they are training abroad like AzuShin and Sara/Atsuhiko. Might as well use it for growing other disciplines (that can be fully dominated by this coaching team).

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Junior Ice Dance FD (Debut exhibition)
Ayumi Shibayama / Tomoki Kimura (AyuTomo)

Sneak peak at the lovely Ayumi Shibayama and her new partner

 

[skim1001]

Sae SHIMIZU / Lucas Tsuyoshi HONDA and Kaho YAMASHITA / Yuto NAGATA are listed to compete in Ostrava. I think JSF will be giving the third pairs' host spot to another country.

 

[mikeko666]

JSF had a training camp in Varese, Italy as a preparation for Milan WOG, and Kaori Sakamoto, Mone Chiba, Hana Yoshida, Mai Mihara, Yuma Kagiyama, Sota Yamamoto, Kao Miura, Shun Sato, Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara, Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita participated. They also performed in a gala named the Japanese Dream Ice Gala.

Utana and Masaya performed their RD.

Golden Skate on Instagram: "Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita will skate to Romeo and Juliet for their FD this season, choreographed by Adrian Diaz, Scott Moir, Madison Hubbell and Cathy Reed. "It is a difficult program, but we will do our best and pra

684 likes, 0 comments - goldsk8 on August 15, 2024: "Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita will skate to Romeo and Juliet for their FD this season, choreographed by Adrian Diaz, Scott Moir, Madison Hubbell and Cathy Reed. "It is a difficult program, but we will do our best and practice a lot to nail...

www.instagram.com

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Their FD is "Romeo and Juliet" choreographed by Adrian Diaz, Scott Moir, Madison Hubbell and Cathy Reed.

Riku and Ryuichi debuted their SP "Pain it Black".

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Golden Skate on Instagram: "Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara 🇯🇵 with coach Bruno Marcotte at the Japanese Dream Ice Gala #三浦璃来 #木原龍一 #BrunoMarcotte #FigureSkating SP: "Paint in Black" FS: "Adios""

936 likes, 0 comments - goldsk8 on August 15, 2024: "Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara 🇯🇵 with coach Bruno Marcotte at the Japanese Dream Ice Gala #三浦璃来 #木原龍一 #BrunoMarcotte #FigureSkating SP: "Paint in Black" FS: "Adios"".

www.instagram.com

Their FS is "Adios".
Their first competition this season is Lombardia Trophy (source: Sanspo).


Azusa and Shingo withdrew from Quebec Summer due to her injury (a fracture in her rib), and their next competition will be Nebelhorn Trophy (source: Azusa's Instagram story). Their FD is "Für Elise" (source: Kenji's room, Kenji Miyamoto's talk show on JSports).


Yuna Nagaoka & Sumitada Moriguchi are listed to compete at John Nicks International.

 

[tsuyoboogie]

Not news, just opinion
Hamada should encourage Shunsuke to try Pairs with Haruna
I think they could be successful as a team