Thoughts after watching East Japan Sectionals on Friday and Sunday. (
http://www.jsfresults.com/National/2016-2017/fs_e/east/index.htm)
I wanted to post yesterday but was dead tired from staying at the rink for 7 hours. I also zoned out a couple of times but just from the little memory I have left…
Sr. Ladies - SP & FS
I wrote about Wakaba on her fan thread.
Haruka Imai - Gosh, I looked at her protocol for the SP and she received 0 points for the stsq. For the FS, I knew she fell 3 times and popped once but she received so many <<<<<<<<<. But she’s going to Nationals so she still has a chance for redemption. My memory of her SP has almost faded but I did like her FS by Camerlengo and she didn’t give up until the end. She wore a pastel green dress in the SP and pink and purple with a tinge of orange for the FS. The falls must have been hard on her, she was trying to keep her balance while skating out of the rink.
Despite the weak field in the East compared to the West, I really enjoyed the senior ladies. Some of them looked good enough to compete internationally if only they had the jumps. Such a shame. Also, there are actually a couple of tall ladies!
Makoto Okazaki was the TS at this event. He is the strict TS from the Ladies event at Nationals 2014.
Sr. Men - FS
Hidetsugu Kamata - still not 100% since the 2 ankle fractures, but some of his triples are back.
Hiroaki Sato - all I remember is “Hey, that’s Javi’s music” (from last season) and he was messy.
Noone really caught my attention except for Ryo Sagami (4th) who looked the most polished and clean but he got some ! and < as well. Yoji Nakano landed the only clean 3A here. Both of Sato’s were messy.
Dice Murakami injured himself in the SP (which I didn't see) and withdrew from the FS. Poor Dice. Get well soon. I wonder if he can get a pass for Nationals since a healthy Dice would have easily won here.
Daichi Miyata also withdrew due to an injury. No Daichi at this year’s Nationals
Jr. Ladies - SP
Yuna Aoki - I witnessed a couple of her 3Lz3T during the warm-up. and she didn’t fall on any of them so I was surprised when she fell on the 3Lz and couldn’t even attempt to put a 3T after it. Her 3T looked really awkward though. The rotation looked slow for the 1st and really fast for the 2nd and 3rd so it looked kind of delayed but the landings were not pretty. Probably UR'd too.
Akari Matsubara - I like her. Her Sing Sing Sing SP is choreographed by Akiko Suzuki and it suits her cheerful (I assume) personality. I remember thinking during the warm-up that I don’t like the look of some her jumps (sinks down too much with the knee bend), but forgot about it during the program so maybe it’s less noticeable during competitions. She beat Yuna in the SP and came in 1st overall.
Akari and Yuna’s FS from 0:30.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x50xaar_東日本選手権-樋口-松原-青木選手_sport
Jr. Men - FS (last group only)
Unfortunately, I was busy finding a seat and getting settled into it and memory has faded.
Jr/Sr. Pairs - SP
I know nothing about pairs but it was the most exciting part of the competition on the first day. The 6 minute warm-up was the best with 4 teams on the ice.
Narumi Takahashi/Ryo Shibata looked picturesque together. Ryo looks like a wax figurine with his perfect eyebrows and not-a-strand-out-of-place-hair. Their elements were still noticeably weaker compared to the other teams. I don't know if they can catch up since the other teams are younger.
Miu Suzaki/Ryuichi Kihara were a pleasant surprise for me. They skated really well in the SP and I heard they also did well in the FS.
Both the Japanese guys lack the power to throw their partners up high compared to the Canadian guys. The audience was impressed when Francis and Wesley threw Sumire and Marin up so high.
The Jr. Pairs team, Riku Miura/Shoya Ichihashi looked promising (not a disaster) too. I hope they can get more experience at international competitions. Sadly, Ami Koga/Spencer Akira Howe withdrew.
My only regret about not going on the 2nd day was that I missed out on seeing the Pairs FS and a glimpse of Dice before his injury. But I saved myself from seeing him get injured. I also missed out on seeing
Nobu who seemed to have sat close to where I did on Friday.
I was excited to see the famous coaches. Nobuo and Kumiko Sato, Shoichiro Tsuzuki, Yutaka Higuchi, Nanami Abe, etc. etc.
Some photos are available on newscom.
http://www.newscom.com/nc/showMainNCPage.action
Search for "East Japan Figure Skating Championship 2016".
Hope to see them more often next season.
, although he succeeded to get the qualification for the Nationals.
Time restriction anyway.
And she made Marin cry in the interview 
and kept on going in an attempt to make her cry even more but Marin is a strong girl so it didn't work. This not only makes it hard for Marin, but makes Kaori and YunaS feel sad too :dev2:
