Skaters on Team Japan

[juuryokunashi]

List of participants for Quebec Summer Championships: http://www.patinage.qc.ca/uploads/Competition 2015-2016/CQE/Liste_Part_CQE2015_juin19_13h50.pdf
Francis and Sumire are registered for Senior Couple Prog. Court (Serior Pairs SP), Koga Ami and Howe Spencer Akira are listed for Junior Couple Prog. Court (Junior Pairs SP). As Spencer's second name is Akira, perhaps he has a Japanese parent?
I'd assume the age difference was the reason for the split -Ami and Spencer have still 3 years of junior eligibility left (while Francis moved on to seniors).

Thanks for the source, I've just checked it too. I hope this means that Japan is investing in pairs more.

Ami's new partner Spencer does seem to have Japanese parentage but that's really still risky should the time come that he'd need to give up his Canadian citizenship and skate for Japan (though it's still too early to tell since they've just started). Granted it probably won't be as difficult of a choice as to what Mervin Tran had to make back then (since afaik Mervin didn't have Japanese lineage at all).

I wonder, does the Olympics Committee only allow athletes who are citizens of the country they're representing, or are do they allow someone to compete for a country without the citizenship but with lineage/ancestry?

 

[HanyaYuzura]

http://ameblo.jp/suzuki-akko/entry-12032144414.html
You've got to check this out...Akiko and Kenji are Angels! :dance:

weellll....you don't see that everyday.

 

[mikaboo]

With the new season starting from today, JSF renewed their Strengthening Athletes' page with new profile pictures for some of them.
Good to see new additions like Yuna Aoki and Daichi Miyata.
http://skatingjapan.or.jp/national/national_list.php?sports_id=2
Good luck everyone!
Sota's 167cm now. He might become the tallest man in TJ in a couple of years (besides Chris Reed of course)

 

[hamaguri]

With the new season starting from today, JSF renewed their Strengthening Athletes' page with new profile pictures for some of them.
Good to see new additions like Yuna Aoki and Daichi Miyata.
http://skatingjapan.or.jp/national/national_list.php?sports_id=2
Good luck everyone!
Sota's 167cm now. He might become the tallest man in TJ in a couple of years (besides Chris Reed of course)

Wow!
Why they don't change yuzuru's hight?:scratch: He is 171cm as before...

Sota is getting taller.
My friend who saw Yuzu and Sota at DOI was surprised that Sota's hight was close to yuzu's.

 

[firal]

I love reading the TJ profiles. Kozuka was too funny; Talent: Japan Nationals.

Shoma is aiming for a spot at GPF!

 

[Interspectator]

I love reading the TJ profiles. Kozuka was too funny; Talent: Japan Nationals.

Shoma is aiming for a spot at GPF!

Kozuka has a great sense of humor. I love his quote: "I will find myself! ...Where are yoooouuu?"

 

[mikaboo]

Wow!
Why they don't change yuzuru's hight?:scratch: He is 171cm as before...

Sota is getting taller.
My friend who saw Yuzu and Sota at DOI was surprised that Sota's hight was close to yuzu's.

Someone doesn't care about updating his information I've seen "173cm" in a magazine article before so I'm going to believe it's at least that.
Sota might be closer to Yuzuru's height but he looks even skinnier than Yuzuru. Is that even possible?
hamaguri, did you say that you went to Japanese Nationals 2014? Did you see Daichi Miyata's SP? He doesn't have the big jumps yet, but he's my new man to watch for this season because I liked his style at Nationals but I've only seen his FS.

Kozuka has a great sense of humor. I love his quote: "I will find myself! ...Where are yoooouuu?"

Kozuka's sense of humor might be an acquired taste, but I like it too. I don't know if I want him to peak at Nationals this year though. I know, bad fan, but I don't trust his hip joints :scowl:


Rika and Miyabi's goals this season are to jump the 3A! I always try to take these ambitious goals with a grain of salt, but ganbatte~.

 

[matmuh]

Someone doesn't care about updating his information I've seen "173cm" in a magazine article before so I'm going to believe it's at least that.
Sota might be closer to Yuzuru's height but he looks even skinnier than Yuzuru. Is that even possible?

Rika and Miyabi's goals this season are to jump the 3A! I always try to take these ambitious goals with a grain of salt, but ganbatte~.

i dont know, probably because sota is thinner i thought he was at least as tall as yuzuru and kinda surprised that he isnt

i am not sure about Rika but Miyabi was already practicing 3A right? i remember seeing footage last summer and saw her landed during warm up, i was expecting to see it last season but i didnt know about her hard fall so thats understandable, i hope she will attempt and land it next season kinda sad that she doesnt have GP assignment

 

[mikaboo]

i dont know, probably because sota is thinner i thought he was at least as tall as yuzuru and kinda surprised that he isnt

i am not sure about Rika but Miyabi was already practicing 3A right? i remember seeing footage last summer and saw her landed during warm up, i was expecting to see it last season but i didnt know about her hard fall so thats understandable, i hope she will attempt and land it next season kinda sad that she doesnt have GP assignment

I'm more hopeful about Miyabi's 3A than Rika's because I've seen a video of her attempt and Machiko Yamada said that she's been landing some nice ones but that was all before her accident. She has nothing to lose by trying it though. I wish she'd get the TBD spot at NHK, but I also want Miyu or Riona to get a second spot if they do well in their first GP. Riona has CoR though. That's too close to NHK isn't it.

ETA: I just looked up the average height of Japanese 15 year old boys and Sota was a little below average I've been looking at the heights of skaters too much.

 

[matmuh]

I'm more hopeful about Miyabi's 3A than Rika's because I've seen a video of her attempt and Machiko Yamada said that she's been landing some nice ones but that was all before her accident. She has nothing to lose by trying it though. I wish she'd get the TBD spot at NHK, but I also want Miyu or Riona to get a second spot if they do well in their first GP. Riona has CoR though. That's too close to NHK isn't it.

ETA: I just looked up the average height of Japanese 15 year old boys and Sota was a little below average I've been looking at the heights of skaters too much.

ahhh how i wish for Riona to get another spot, yeah they are close but she will go back to japan anyway,its not like she will go back to japan and then to another country, it wouldnt be much problem i think
and about average height of 15year olds, cant believe he is above average how about 15 years old skaters? i am sure he is above average there

 

[mikaboo]

ahhh how i wish for Riona to get another spot, yeah they are close but she will go back to japan anyway,its not like she will go back to japan and then to another country, it wouldnt be much problem i think
and about average height of 15year olds, cant believe he is above average how about 15 years old skaters? i am sure he is above average there

That's true about Riona although I think she usually trains in the US with Anthony Liu? But it should be no problem for her to return to Japan if she can get the spot.
The average 15yo Japanese boys are 168.3cm but I think Sota is already taller than the average height of Japanese male skaters, all ages combined

 

[hamaguri]

Someone doesn't care about updating his information I've seen "173cm" in a magazine article before so I'm going to believe it's at least that.
Sota might be closer to Yuzuru's height but he looks even skinnier than Yuzuru. Is that even possible?
hamaguri, did you say that you went to Japanese Nationals 2014? Did you see Daichi Miyata's SP? He doesn't have the big jumps yet, but he's my new man to watch for this season because I liked his style at Nationals but I've only seen his FS.
.

Yesterday some people had tweeted about the question of yuzu’s height..

Unfortunately, I saw only Mens FP and Ladies SP at Japanese Nationals 2014. At that time, three skaters stuck me, who were Shoma, Sota and Wakaba. But I have a clear memory of Daichi. His coach was Nakaniwa and his performance impressed me. Yesterday, to read your post, I watched his video at FP, and loved his smooth blades and soft expression. I want him to do well in GPS and Nationals and go to Junior WC. (And he resembles Nakaniwa in his atmosphere, doesn’t he?.)

By the way, how about Marin? As mentioned above, I got into Wakaba that night. Her speed was incredible and her jumps reminded me of Midori Ito’s (I haven’t seen Midori live..). But at Kanazawa, I saw Marin live for the first time. She seemed to have a kind of aura, and her expression was natural. What’s more, she has good-quality and difficult kinds of jumps. She landed two combination jumps in her performance at Kanazawa. One is 3S3Lo(I couldn’t tell, but I read a report), another is 2A3T in the second half! You watched Marin at DOI, didn’t you? What do you think of Marin?

P.S. What do you describe “華がある” in English? It’s a useful expression and we use it often about actors or so. 華 is not to be taught. It is the thing a certain person has inherently. I thought Marin had 華. It might be different with aura.

 

[mikaboo]

hamaguri
Thank you for letting me know about your impression of Daichi. There is something I really like about him, it's almost like a gut feeling. We'll see how far he can go and if he can get at least a 3A. I was under the impression that he was going senior due to his age, but he's still eligible to stay junior by 15 days so maybe he can get a JGP assignment then.
I didn't know Nakaniwa-san when he was competing, but I've seen some YT videos of him and I think they share some similarities too. Daichi is based in Tokyo now so he might have a new coach? Maybe I can see him at a local competition.

About Marin, ITA! "She has 華" is the best way to describe her. IIRC, Daisuke Takahashi described it as 色気 but they are both something that cannot be taught. I can't think of an English word to perfect match 華 but "she has the 'it' factor" might be close to it? I was really impressed with Marin and Yuna at DOI, but I thought I'd sound creepy gushing over 13yo girls They were delightful to watch and lit up the atmosphere at the rink. Before I saw her, I thought Marin might have been over-hyped because of her sister, but she was actually really good with elegant and beautiful lines. I thought both girls were about the same level whereas there was a distinct difference between the two boys, Sena and Koshiro. At DOI, I think (from reports) Marin landed the 3f-3lo at the opening but fell on a jump (3lz?) during her program. I actually liked them more than Wakaba that day although I grew to like Wakaba's Mambo after the TV broadcast too. I look forward to seeing all of them at JGP without expecting too much from Marin and Yuna yet. Marin is already inconsistent so I hope she doesn't go for 3a or 4s like she keeps on talking about :hopelessness:

 

[yhmafan]

Still no news about Kanako’s programs? Does anybody know?

..or I have missed something.. sorry for my laziness….

 

[hamaguri]

mikaboo
As to Daichi, you should follow your gut feeling:agree:. Junior category might be better considering Junior WC has 3 spots. If you see him at local competition or so, please let me know! (By the way, I get used to seeing yuzu’s 3A, which is as if he did it in his sleep, so I sometimes forget 3A is a difficult kind of jump…)

I also don’t know when Nakaniwa was a competitive skater, but I saw him as TV commentary and liked his soft and calm atmosphere.

As for junior ladies, we must take into consideration that they shall change physically…Yes, it’s difficult to tell their future. Anyway, consistency is the key. I hope Marin and other girls will have the stability of jumps. Sena will entry into JGPS!.

I agree that the description ”色気”　just suits for Daisuke. “have the “it” factor” sounds useful expression. Thank you. I always suffer from Japanese subtle nuance. Most of them are hard to be converted into English:hopelessness:…

By the way, how about Sota? (Sorry, one after another..). Rink in DOI was small and it influenced his skating… I am going to Nagaoka, and most favorite is Sota. Nagaoka show has a respectively small number of skaters, so I expect he will do 2 programs…

Still no news about Kanako’s programs? Does anybody know?
..or I have missed something.. sorry for my laziness….

I have not yet heard.. I heard Satoko will have Stephan choreograph in her SP or so. I’m worried about Kanako's injury. I hope her quick recovery.

 

[matmuh]

I have not yet heard.. I heard Satoko will have Stephan choreograph in her SP or so. I’m worried about Kanako's injury. I hope her quick recovery.

Tom Dickson and Lori Nichol will choreograph Satoko's SP and FP, Stephane doing her EX only

 

[hamaguri]

Tom Dickson and Lori Nichol will choreograph Satoko's SP and FP, Stephane doing her EX only

Wow! THanks! Her last year's FP, Miss Saigon was by Lori? I expect good choreography this year also!

 

[matmuh]

Wow! THanks! Her last year's FP, Miss Saigon was by Lori? I expect good choreography this year also!

i think it was both Tom Dickson last year :think: i expect the same, i hope we are not expecting too much

 

[juuryokunashi]

i think it was both Tom Dickson last year :think: i expect the same, i hope we are not expecting too much

I thought Miss Saigon LP was choreographed by Stephane Lambiel?

 

[matmuh]

I thought Miss Saigon LP was choreographed by Stephane Lambiel?

at first i thought so too but her Wikipage also says it was Tom
btw hamaguri in case you missed it her SP music is Fire Dance and LP music is Un Sospiro from Franz Liszt