Skaters on Team Japan

[tsuyoboogie]

I haven’t seriously looked at the other competitors because I don’t trust the entries yet but poor YunaS if the entries stay that way I guess whether changes will be made will depend on how Marin and YunaS will do in their first competitions. There might be surpries from the low profile skaters too.
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Is anybody going to JGP Yokohama? Both my attempts (they had draws twice for ticket sales) failed miserably
I’m looking forward to Mako Yamashita’s JGP debut. I hope Mihoko sensei has done a good job with her FS-from-last-season-turned-this-season’s-SP :luv17:
I don’t know if these have been posted before but they are from Coupe du Printemps last season where she came in 2nd after Rinka Watanabe. She didn't do too well at this comp. but she won over YunaS, Yuhana and RikaK at a comp. 3 weeks ago. Maybe she is inconsistent too
SP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbp_UMIGOXM
FS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBEj61bH8GA

With the boys, will Kazuki’s PCS go up? Will Sena land the 3A? Will Yuto manage not fall on the stsq?
Good luck to Rikako and Aru for Ice Dance too!

There was quite a strong earthquake in the Kanto region today. I hope all the skaters arrive, compete, and go home safely!

I'm so sorry you weren't able to get tickets! These skaters are so lucky. They will get to perform at a JGP event with an arena filled with supportive figure skating fans.

As for the boys, yes, yes and YES please! Might be too much to ask for, but I'm so hoping for 2 clean performances by Kazuki (his 4S ).

Very excited to see Fukase/Tateno programs. Really enjoyed watching them last season.

Best of luck to Marin, Kaori, Mako, Kazuki, Sena, Yuto, and Rikako & Aru!

 

[bosskil]

Seriously guys, we're talking Marin Honda - The World Champion, here.
It's Russian feds, who have to worry about their skaters assignments, not Japanese.

 

[JuliaHols]

Seriously guys, we're talking Marin Honda - The World Champion, here.
It's Russian feds, who have to worry about their skaters assignments, not Japanese.

Well Team Japan have other skaters apart from Marin too you know. And the JPN Feds should worry over them. And it's Marin Honda, the JUNIOR World Champion, Evgenia will get angry at you for giving away her title five months after she worked so hard to earn it

 

[mikaboo]

I'm so sorry you weren't able to get tickets! These skaters are so lucky. They will get to perform at a JGP event with an arena filled with supportive figure skating fans.

As for the boys, yes, yes and YES please! Might be too much to ask for, but I'm so hoping for 2 clean performances by Kazuki (his 4S ).

Very excited to see Fukase/Tateno programs. Really enjoyed watching them last season.

Best of luck to Marin, Kaori, Mako, Kazuki, Sena, Yuto, and Rikako & Aru!

I’m very disappointed about the tickets but I’m trying to stay positive and pretend that I am saving my poor butt from freezing at the ice rink for many hours x 3 days :sad4:

The first time I saw Kazuki, he was such a hot mess but I warmed up to him later in the season. If he is the type to peak late season, then I don’t know what to expect this weekend but I’ll definitely be cheering for him. He’s skating last in the SP!

Today’s going to be a busy day with JGP and Lombardia. Not complaining though
Good luck to Wakaba, Kanako and Shoma!

 

[tsuyoboogie]

Nice job by all three boys at this JGP competition!
Congratulations to Sena on his new FS PB and Kazuki and Yuto (for not having one of their random disaster skates ) and achieving new SP, FS & Total PBs!
Sena's skating, particularly his spins, seems to have significantly improved and matured since last season.
Yuto's 3Lo jumps are looking solid.
And very proud of Kazuki for performing his FS program so well and placing 3rd in the segment, 4th overall.
In case anyone hasn't seen their performances and are interested, I've included some links below.
Thank you to 0316seisato for uploading the videos with Japanese commentary.

Kazuki SP (Ted Barton commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xhYkTavgCY
Kazuki FS (Ted Barton commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Hy7-bwWtY
Kazuki FS (Japanese commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJNh1K8qxgQ

Yuto SP (Ted Barton commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwAbRwAt3o8
Yuto FS (Ted Barton commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F_V5B3B9cM
Yuto FS (Japanese commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuvNR-DczoM

Sena SP (Ted Barton commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNnZUXCllGI
Sena FS (Ted Barton commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P1o3LjOGxY
Sena FS (Japanese commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tC0oG-tmgI

Good Luck to the girls (they were the best cheerleaders for the guys) and Rikako and Aru with their FS/FD!

Mako SP (Ted Barton commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm4C0uhoFIQ
Marin SP (Ted Barton commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQpMtz1T6tE
Kaori SP (Ted Barton commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or22n0HTqmM

Rikako & Aru SD (Ted Barton commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNmzTO2vUig

 

[mikaboo]

Congratulations to the medalists and everyone who got new PBs!
I'm so impressed with Kazuki. What an improvement from his first JGP. And I love Yuto's SP (nice job Cathy!) and his skating overall. I hope Sena can stabilize his jumps when he gets some muscles (Yuto too) :yes:
About the girls, I'm glad that Kaori still has gorgeous jumps even after her growth spurt, a nice comeback from Marin and congrats on a very good JGP debut from Mako. It's too bad Mako's getting so much negativity for her SP when she knows the 2nd 3T wasn't great. I really hate overscoring hwell:

A really nice photo of Kazuki and Krishna Sai Rahul shaking hands.

At the dinner? breakfast? table with everyone.

TJ group photo, the girls, Marin and Vincent.
They all posted photos, but they're all similar so I just chose Marin's becaue it has Vincent in it


Interviews with the boys after the FS.

Kazuki
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suJS3_I0zs8
About the new PB, he says that he didn’t know how much he’s able to score when he skates clean and although he did make some mistakes, he was able to raise his PB drastically and he still has room for improvement so he feels he gained something good today.
Regarding the 4S, he wanted to nail it so he’s frustrated about that, about the 3A3T, they weren’t going well for him during practice so he was nervous about it but he did it somehow, although the 3T turned into a 2T.
What did this competition mean to him? He wanted to demonstrate the mature side of him since he’ll be turning senior next season so he wanted to show that he’s evolving.

Yuto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbiNEqLuXiQ
About the new PB, he’s not satisfied because he fell on the flip in the 2nd half and the flow of the jumps weren’t good overall but he was able to skate until the end.
What did Coach Mura say to him? He said that his skating was good.
About the TJ girls and Sena cheering for him. Their support encouraged him so he’d like to do the same for the girls for their FS.
What did this competition mean to him? His scores improved compared to last season and he was able to grow but his goal was to skate 2 clean programs and he didn’t achieve that so he’ll practice more in preparation for his next competition.

Sena
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctAPaQhSDYU
About the PB for the FS, he says he’s glad he didn’t give up until the end after that SP and some mistakes on the FS.
About the 3A, he hasn’t been landing it for 1-2 weeks so he’s just glad he didn’t pop it.
About the TJ girls cheering for him, he wants to give back to them by cheering for them tomorrow.
What did this competition mean to him? He has regrets but it was a good experience for him and hopes to practice so that he won’t make the same mistakes next time.

 

[mikaboo]

Some of the programs (with lots of fluff!) from Friends on Ice were shown on TV on the weekend. I guess with all the new programs that have come out with recent competitions, everyone would be less interested in them (myself included) but I think it's the first time we've seen all of Mura's FS? His challenges this season will be 1) 3Lz4T:shocked: and 2) 4T in the second half. Also, the "O" collaboration with Akiko is :luv17:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4svnee_160910-関東ローカル_sport
Shizuka’s “With You” (5:15)
Shoma’s Tango FS (15:15)
Daisuke’s “Lilac Wine” (20:50)
RikaH’s Carmina Burana SP (28:45), Rika training with Shae Lynn (27:20)
Mura Rachmaninov FS (33:45)
Mura and Akiko’s “O” collab. (38:27)
Miki’s “Malaguena” (39:30)

 

[mcq]

Congrats to everyone from team Japan! I just caught up with the competition from last weekend, great job everybody!

JGP Yokohama : Whee! Japanese Ladies took the podium sweep! Great debut from Mako and Great skate from Kaori (love her huge jumps!), too bad for Marin for the SP but her FS is very very lovely :luv17:.
For the junior boys, it is such a shame that Kazuki was skating in such a loaded field, had he been assigned somewhere else he could have been on the podium or even win. Nonetheless, great job from everyone!

Lombardia: Congrats for Shoma and Wakaba! It is still early in the season and yet they have already perform to a pretty great start! I like Shoma's tango costume, haha Too bad for Kanako, but I am hopeful she will be better as the season progress

1) 3Lz4T:shocked:

Goodness, do I read this right? 3Lz4T? :eeking:

 

[mikaboo]

Sorry about bombarding the thread.
This document from JSF says that Ryuju Hino will be sent to Finlandia Trophy and Dice Murakami and Daichi Miyata will be sent to Ondrej Nepela Trophy. There might be more, but the document is about who'll be getting byes for regionals and sectionals. Sota has been exempted from competing at regionals because of injury. I think all the other skaters have already been announced officially like Sei Kawahara going to Nebelhorn, etc.

ETA: The entries for Finlandia Trophy has just been released. Besides Mao and Ryuju, Emi/Marien have entered for Ice Dance.
http://www.isuresults.com/events/fsevent00051787.htm

Too bad for Kanako, but I am hopeful she will be better as the season progress

I feel terrible for her. I'm sure she's not slacking off either.

Goodness, do I read this right? 3Lz4T? :eeking:

Yes, I had to double check what I heard. What an interesting combination.

 

[mcq]

Sorry about bombarding the thread.
This document from JSF says that Ryuju Hino will be sent to Finlandia Trophy and Dice Murakami and Daichi Miyata will be sent to Ondrej Nepela Trophy. There might be more, but the document is about who'll be getting byes for regionals and sectionals. Sota has been exempted from competing at regionals because of injury. I think all the other skaters have already been announced officially like Sei Kawahara going to Nebelhorn, etc.

I feel terrible for her. I'm sure she's not slacking off either.

Yes, I had to double check what I heard. What an interesting combination.

Don't be sorry, mikaboo! I am always thankful for all the updates that you post.
I am actually curious about Sota now, hope he would be able to recover by the time GP starts.
Regarding Kanako, I still hope she will fix her jumps even if it has been troubling her for a while. She is a lovely skater and it is just unfortunate.
About Mura, wow 3Lz4T, will this be the first if landed in competition? :shocked: I will be looking forward to it!

 

[ioanna]

I found these scans of a joint interview with Shoma Uno and Satoko Miyahara from a magazine from last season. The scans are big and it's easy to read but not as easy to translate.

http://lineq.jp/q/35411630/a/165680482/image/sc0

 

[yhmafan]

Thanks for the many links and keeping this thread active you guys are wonderful!!

Congratulations for everyone on their medals, especially Kaori, Marin and Mako!
I didn’t know that Kaori is such a good jumper overall a performer and Marin..yes she is not only a princessy skater for sure and didn’t make us disappointed with her great comeback on her FS.
I love her SP at Yokohama so much even though that’s not her best still really pleasant to watch! I can watch it over and over again and I did.
Mako, she seemed that she remained calm throughout the competition was a bit amazing to her age 13.

As for the boys, also good job. it’s surprising for me about their growth with regard to both skating and physically.

I hope all juniors will keep improving. Not to mention about Wakaba and Shoma!! (and sorry for Kanako but it’s just the beginning of the season yea.)


By the way, we can see Yuto and Sana in these when they were little at 2013 Fukuoka GPF.

Yuto with Mao and Sana with Yuzuru

aw Yuto and Mao are so cute!

 

[tinnychan]

The regional entry and exemption list was out.

A little bit surprise that Yuka Nagai do not have any pre-GP international assignment. Also, Yuna Aoki was not exempted from regional (Her second JGP assignment might be move? or no second assignment?).

I hope JSF can move either Marin or Rika to JGP Germany (Both was not list as substitute in Estonia) in order to maximum the chance to JGPF.

 

[yhmafan]

I found these scans of a joint interview with Shoma Uno and Satoko Miyahara from a magazine from last season. The scans are big and it's easy to read but not as easy to translate.

http://lineq.jp/q/35411630/a/165680482/image/sc0

I love their big smiles on the last page!! btw


Shoma : I have been thinking that do you like bananas?

Satoko : (With whisper voice) I hate it...


What??

 

[YesWay]

Also, Yuna Aoki was not exempted from regional (Her second JGP assignment might be move? or no second assignment?).

Looks like she might have lost her 2nd JGP assignment, which was Tallinn Estonia.

Assignments on the ISU pages changed today, and now Mako Yamashita is listed for JGP Estonia instead of Yuna.

However, right now Yamashita is shown for both JGP Estonia, and JGP Germany. That would make 3 JGP events, so there must be more changes afoot... and perhaps there is still a chance Yuna will be sent to a different JGP.

 

[mikeko666]

Looks like she might have lost her 2nd JGP assignment, which was Tallinn Estonia.

Assignments on the ISU pages changed today, and now Mako Yamashita is listed for JGP Estonia instead of Yuna.

However, right now Yamashita is shown for both JGP Estonia, and JGP Germany. That would make 3 JGP events, so there must be more changes afoot... and perhaps there is still a chance Yuna will be sent to a different JGP.

I hope Akari Matsubara or Yuhana Yokoi gets an event.

 

[kalee]

Kokoro Iwamoto also did better than expected at Saransk -- hoping that she will replace Yuna Aoki for the 2nd JGP spot this year. Yuna is beautiful to watch, but hasn't been successful at nailing the elements (still failing to reach 100 points in the free after 2 JGP outings in 2 years really is not a competitive showing).

 

[malo42]

OK but YunaA came in 4th and Iwamoto came in 5th soooooooo how exactly would it make sense to switch Yuna out for her?

But actually I came to this thread to talk about how much I like Iwamoto! :luv17: She did about as well as I felt she could do (although she could do better...). I'm glad she was able to finish 5th and I really like her FS. However her SP is not for her! Also I think she was probably super nervous. It's too bad she probably won't get a second assignment but I hope she'll be able to qualify for senior nats this year.

 

[tinnychan]

OK but YunaA came in 4th and Iwamoto came in 5th soooooooo how exactly would it make sense to switch Yuna out for her?

But actually I came to this thread to talk about how much I like Iwamoto! :luv17: She did about as well as I felt she could do (although she could do better...). I'm glad she was able to finish 5th and I really like her FS. However her SP is not for her! Also I think she was probably super nervous. It's too bad she probably won't get a second assignment but I hope she'll be able to qualify for senior nats this year.

She will skate junior nationally. It will be tough for her to qualify to senior national. (I think if she skate as senior nationally, she should not difficult to qualify)

All the list of JGP team (Except Rin) will skate junior nationally, however, the first six place finish will have the chance to skate at Senior national (and chance to fight for Junior World spot). The junior national will become super tough this year.

Honda, Shiraiwa, Kihira, Yamashita, Sakamoto, Aoki, Iwamoto, Yokoi, Matsubara (I believe more potential girls come)

 

[kalee]

OK but YunaA came in 4th and Iwamoto came in 5th soooooooo how exactly would it make sense to switch Yuna out for her?

It doesn't matter for JGPF as Iwamoto and Yuna are unlikely to qualify, but to the skater's career it does matter -- every JGP event is an opportunity to gain world standings & personal / season's bests, which in turn affect a skater's chance to qualify for senior GP's. Part of the Fed's role is to cultivate the best talent for the country, which also means providing qualified skaters with the opportunity to compete at the highest level they can reach.

Last year's top 24 Season's best was 179.41 which is still some gap from Kokoro's 162, but she should comfortably reach the top 75 (last year's cut-off was 149.12), so giving her a chance to better that score and to perhaps be a host pick for a senior GP competition someday is a worthwhile goal.