The Hunger Games from Russia continue in Japan!
I always hate predicting on Japanese Ladies. Because there are so many that I like. Put it like this – when I ordered them by absolute PB, I could say that I liked all of the Top 15!
Plus, every year I have to go through the pain of pushing Kana Murakami down the order, as I get to like more of the Junior skaters. And it was even more painful this year, because her SB puts her into… 20th position!
No prizes for guessing who I am putting on the podium, and in what order. Or for who I am putting into 4th position. Totally predictable, aren’t I?!
But then came the problem. A whole bunch of great Junior skaters (or recently moved up from Juniors), and I couple of Seniors that I have rated. And to make matters worse, the absolute PB’s for those 6 skaters after Wakababy are all covered by just 7 points.
I really didn’t know what to do. Because I like all of them. Honda has the highest PB, but she withdrew from the Junior GP Final a couple of weeks ago. Mihara was really impressive in the Senior GP Series. Sakamoto was 3rd in the Junior GP Final. Shiraiwa was the 4th Japanese skater in the Junior GP Series Standings. And I have always rated Imai and Nagai, although they have not fulfilled their potential.
Given the last statement, I decided to put Imai and Nagai in 9th and 10th. In that order. But, for the younger skaters, I couldn’t decide. So, I took the kop out of using the absolute PB order. Although, the other statements I made above did point in the same direction.
Japanese Men is usually really hard, because there are so many that I like. But this year, there are not so many names that I recognise. Most of the familiar names that I would be dithering over have retired.
With Hanyu out of action, it should be Uno’s title to lose. But, Mura is also capable of nicking it if Uno slips up. And Tanaka could also be a dark horse if he skates really well and both Uno and Mura make a mess of things.
But, much as I would love to see Mura finally become Japanese Champion, I think I will go safe on this one.
For the rest, there are only a few names that I recognise (and one of them was 3 from the bottom on the absolute PB list!) So, I decided to bow to the absolute PB order and move onto the Ice Dance.
Dance was actually straightforward. I had the 2 teams we normally see in the same positions I normally put them. Komatsubura’s absolute PB from her partnership with Andrea Fabbri would put her in 2nd position. But, since she is returning to Japan after such a long time, and with a new partner, I decided to be cautious.
As for the other two couples, Mori / Suzuki have a very low absolute PB, and I could find absolutely nothing on either Takahashi or Okuda (not even from Singles)
I’ll do Pairs in a separate post, because I have to go out now to see if I can get an overdue hair cut. (Problem with taking sick around the time it is due, and then Christmas arriving!)
Caroliza_fan
JAPANESE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ladies
1. Mao ASADA
2. Satoko MIYAHARA
3. Rika HONGO
4. Wakaba HIGUCHI
5. Marin HONDA
Just for fun
6. Mai MIHARA
7. Kaori SAKAMOTO
8. Yuna SHIRAIWA
9. Haruka IMAI
10. Yuka NAGAI
Men
1. Shoma UNO
2. Takahito MURA
3. Keiji TANAKA
4. Ryuju HINO
5. Kazuki TOMONO
Just for fun
6. Koshiro SHIMADA
7. Mitsuki SUMOTO
8. Sei KAWAHARA
9. Shu NAKAMURA
10. Hidetsugu KAMATA
Ice Dance
1. Kana MURAMOTO / Chris REED
2. Emi HIRAI / Marien DE LA ASUNCION
3. Misato KOMATSUBARA / Timothy KOLETO
4. Ibuki MORI / Kentaro SUZUKI
5. Nicole TAKAHASHI / Toshihiko OKUDA
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