As usual, I’m doing a few extra predictions, just for fun. But, I’m not doing the whole field in the Singles championships, as I haven’t a clue who a lot of them are!!! So, just a Top 12.
In Ladies, I started listing by PB, but then moved quite a few of them about according to my own feelings! I am probably taking a chance putting Hiruka Imai on the podium rather than one of the younger skaters, but I like her a lot, and she beat all of the youngsters except Miyahara in last year’s Nationals.
One of my biggest mistakes is probably going to be putting Higuchi down in 6th. Like, she has the 3rd highest PB of the entire field! But, I really wanted to put Hongo and Kato in my Top 5, so she was the one that dropped down to be my alternate (largely because I haven’t actually seen her in action!) I will probably regret this, but hey!
I also moved Oba up a place. Basically, I liked her the last time I saw her, and her PB wasn’t that far behind Nitaya’s. And since I haven’t seen Nitaya before (and Oba is so far ahead of her in the World Rankings), I decided to go with the girl I did know.
In Men, I knew who I wanted in my Top 10, and the order I wanted them in. And, by chance 9 of them were the top 9 of the PB list (the other one I wanted isn’t actually entered!) And they were in roughly the same order as I wanted. I actually only made 1 change from the PB list. In light of Kozuka’s disasters in the GP Series, I put him behind Mura and Murakami. Below this, I had half a mind to move Tanaka and Hino up above Yamamoto. But, in the end, I decided not to bother, and just kept the rest of the list the same.
With Pairs, I knew exactly what order I was going to put them. I put Takahashi / Kihara at the top, and Takahashi / Kihara at the bottom…
Coming into this process, I only knew 2 of the Dance couples – the Reeds, and Hirai / de la Asuncion. And, obviously, I was planning on putting them as my Top 2. However,
cohkaix then very kindly gave us a VERY useful insight into some of the other partnerships. And, by the sounds of things, new couple Muramoto / Higuchi are looking VERY promising.
During the summer at BC Summerskate, they finished second (behind Orford / Williams), with a score just 4 points behind Hirai / de la Asuncion’s PB (
Results.
SP video.
FS video). Then, at the Tallinn Trophy a few weeks ago, they beat Emi and Marien’s PB by 15 points. So, I’ve decided to take a chance on Kana and Hiroichi, even though I know nothing else about them.
Can't wait!!!
CaroLiza_fan
JAPANESE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ladies
1. Kanako MURAKAMI
2. Satoko MIYAHARA
3. Haruka IMAI
4. Rika HONGO
5. Riona KATO
6. Wakaba HIGUCHI
Just for fun
7. Yuka NAGAI
8. Miyu NAKASHIO
9. Miyabi OBA
10. Rin NITAYA
11. Yuki NISHINO
12. Kaori SAKAMOTO
Men
1. Yuzuru HANYU
2. Tatsuki MACHIDA
3. Takahito MURA
4. Daisuke MURAKAMI
5. Takahiko KOZUKA
6. Shoma UNO
Just for fun
7. Sota YAMAMOTO
8. Keiji TANAKA
9. Ryuju HINO
10. Satoshi NAKAMURA
11. Hidetsugu KAMATA
12. Yoji TSUBOI
Pairs
1. Narumi TAKAHASHI / Ryuichi KIHARA
Dance
1. Cathy REED / Chris REED
2. Kana MURAMOTO / Hiroichi NIGUCHI
3. Emi HIRAI / Marien de la ASUNCION
4. Mei ITO / Kokoro MIZUTANI
5. Nanako TAKEDA / Kaoru TSUJI
6. Kei NISHIMURA / Kentaro SUZUKI
Just for fun
7. Stephanie CASAGRANDE / Georgii CHERNISHOV
for those who have a need to hurt their virtual head. That takes thebplace of hair-pulling 
Still no idea how this is scored lol: the only placement I got right was Hanyu, and I think everyone else put him winning too 
