Japanese figure skating 2017-18 season news & updates

wickedwitch said:
So I've read that Marin Honda is extremely popular in the Japanese media. Could someone explain why that is? She's a lovely skater, but, IMO, not more so than other top Japanese ladies.
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Marin is seen as a successor to Mao. As a similar type of skater. With great beauty to her skating & special charisma. As a junior, she was considered the next "great one" or special talent, I think. Whether it all eventually comes to pass, we will see. I love Marin, I just think she had a bit of an off year. The programs weren't quite right, and she was a little too inconsistent.
 
wickedwitch said:
So I've read that Marin Honda is extremely popular in the Japanese media. Could someone explain why that is? She's a lovely skater, but, IMO, not more so than other top Japanese ladies.
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She’s really the only one who has the *it* factor and charisma to be the next Mao Asada. The technical difficulty of her jumps, however, is not up to international standards and she makes dumb mistakes.
 
Great nominations by the JPN Fed.

Satoko and Kaori skated great at Nationals and therefore got the Olympics.

Wakaba has the highest average international score of all JPN ladies, made GPF and therefore got Worlds.

Mihara has strong free skates all season long and therefore got a chance to defend her title at 4CCs.

I am now off to pretend that Marin was never old enough to begin with... turns out her coach was right that all the hype was a distraction.
 
Any updates on how Yuzuru is doing? Is he practicing triples now? I saw a youtube video of him as a little boy and he was adorable.
 
@livetoskate, @Meoima cross-posted this most recent update (based on a Dec. 24 Japanese news article) both in this thread and in the Hanyu cheer thread:
Meoima said:
JSF had a meeting with members of Yuzuru Hanyu's team on the 16th, and were informed he would be ready for the Olympics. Kobayashi said: "He wasn't back on the ice yet on Dec. 14, but was back on the 16th, without doing any jumps yet." Yuzuru will not be competing at 4CC and go straight into Pyeongchang Olympics.
From https://twitter.com/Iron_Klaus/status/944942226710331392
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Former Tennis player Shuzo Matsuoka commented on Yuzuru's condition: "He has been in pain and decided to go to the Olympics after healing his injury, I was relived about that. I had severe injuries many times on my ankles before, but probably if you want to play in the competitions, you can. But that burdens on your whole body the most, you hurt your other parts of your body and loose important balance. So considering about the Olympics, (it is important for him to) be fully recovered. And in my opinion, two months is enough time for him."
Translated by Yude from Golden Skate forum
https://twitter.com/GERBERA1207/status/945296368314105856
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chapis said:
And because their family is famous, I think her little sister Miyu Honda is the most famous of her family, she is actress.
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Japanese TV has been airing "fluff" on the Honda family (3 skating sisters) for many years now. The focus usually has been on the 3 younger skating sisters and not as much on the (oldest) skating brother (Marin also has an older non-skating sister). There's more about the Hondas in this April 2016 article: https://goldenskate.com/2016/04/marin-honda/

2017-18 National results for the Honda family: Taichi finished 15th in Senior Men (12th in FS); Marin finished 7th in Senior Ladies; Miyu placed 20th at Junior Nationals in November; and Sara won the Novice B Ladies title in October.
 
wickedwitch said:
So I've read that Marin Honda is extremely popular in the Japanese media. Could someone explain why that is? She's a lovely skater, but, IMO, not more so than other top Japanese ladies.
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Perhaps someone from Japan can elebaorate more on this, but as other have said, The Honda siblings are part of a very large and powerful talent agency. The most famous of course is Miyu, who is a child actress and skater, she appears on TV quite often (she was conducting interviews at Nationals). I’m not sure if Marin is much more popular to skating fans in Japan, but I think her name in Japan is probably more well known because her agency does their job of building her up in the media and getting endorsements for her. There was a ton of media leading up to the Olympics about Marin, but I don’t think it was indicative of her popularity with the federation and skating fans - just that the media was trying to play her up.
 
kiches said:
Perhaps someone from Japan can elebaorate more on this, but as other have said, The Honda siblings are part of a very large and powerful talent agency. The most famous of course is Miyu, who is a child actress and skater, she appears on TV quite often (she was conducting interviews at Nationals). I’m not sure if Marin is much more popular to skating fans in Japan, but I think her name in Japan is probably more well known because her agency does their job of building her up in the media and getting endorsements for her. There was a ton of media leading up to the Olympics about Marin, but I don’t think it was indicative of her popularity with the federation and skating fans - just that the media was trying to play her up.
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Hi, I live in Japan. You got everything right. I'll just add that the Japanese media created Marin into a star through heavy exposure over the past few years. It was unfair to other skaters. No decent skating fan liked that. They should have done so at least after she won some major titles in seniors. She's popular but most of her fans are men who just see her as a pretty face. They have no interest in skating. Many Japanese skating fans had high hopes for Marin before the hype started. But because her fans kept insulting the other girls and it turned out Marin isn't much of a hard worker, they're not so crazy about her anymore. Her family being in the spotlight too much isn't helping either. I wish her fans and family can see what damage they're causing and let Marin focus on skating. It's not just the media's fault that she ended up with so many haters.
 
Ives said:
Hi, I live in Japan. You got everything right. I'll just add that the Japanese media created Marin into a star through heavy exposure over the past few years. It was unfair to other skaters. No decent skating fan liked that. They should have done so at least after she won some major titles in seniors. She's popular but most of her fans are men who just see her as a pretty face. They have no interest in skating. Many Japanese skating fans had high hopes for Marin before the hype started. But because her fans kept insulting the other girls and it turned out Marin isn't much of a hard worker, they're not so crazy about her anymore. Her family being in the spotlight too much isn't helping either. I wish her fans and family can see what damage they're causing and let Marin focus on skating. It's not just the media's fault that she ended up with so many haters.
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Marin is very talented but her jump technique is not stellar. They used to hype that she trained 3A, 4lo and 4S before senior but we never see she landed those jumps even UR. I think she is not as lazy as some people say. She still has a lot of time to improve her training attitude though.
 
ks777 said:
Hopefully Marin comes back strong next season! She is only 16yo and has a plenty of time to improve. Can't wait to see Marin and Wakaba next season.
Here are some of Marin's commercials in Japan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IH7edKeh2Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYX5Q6U6C7k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vakDF0i8GLo&t=30s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWapYNJ42uc
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and this ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9fYk_xSChw (i love japanese adverts.... they are sweet).
 
I know. I'm a little worried about Yuzuru Hanyu's status but it seems like everyone in his circle is keeping mum. No media about whether he's back to practicing quads or all his triples. I saw a youtube video of a skating show in Japan where the guys were all trying to outdo each other with quads at the end of the show. Mura attempted a quad axel, and Hanyu attempted a quad lutz (?) and fell slightly into the audience! it's amazing no one got injured and it was just a show too. I hope Yuzuru is back to his previous form by the Olympics and has a Pooh substitute to give him strength there.
 
Marin missed the team the way Ashley did. All the endorsements must have been real distractions, especially since their competitors remained focused and got the job done when it mattered (and they didn't).

Lucky for Marin, she is young and has everything there is to become an actual skating champion if she puts her mind to it.
 
livetoskate said:
I know. I'm a little worried about Yuzuru Hanyu's status but it seems like everyone in his circle is keeping mum. No media about whether he's back to practicing quads or all his triples. I saw a youtube video of a skating show in Japan where the guys were all trying to outdo each other with quads at the end of the show. Mura attempted a quad axel, and Hanyu attempted a quad lutz (?) and fell slightly into the audience! it's amazing no one got injured and it was just a show too. I hope Yuzuru is back to his previous form by the Olympics and has a Pooh substitute to give him strength there.
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That was a 4A he tried if I’m thinking about the same show.
 
Meoima said:
Yeah they said he official back to full practice 1 week ago: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/...jured-hanyu-restarts-on-ice-training-jsf.html

I don't know if he will get back to his top form but we get what we have. He has done enough in these 4 years. As a fan I can't ask for more. As long as he is healthy I am happy.
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omg, what? He just restarted on-ice training? and how are the expectations in Japan? He is still the favorite for the gold medal or the expectations are now on Shoma? this could be beneficial for Yuzuru, mentally.
 
chapis said:
omg, what? He just restarted on-ice training? and how are the expectations in Japan? He is still the favorite for the gold medal or the expectations are now on Shoma? this could be beneficial for Yuzuru, mentally.
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I don’t think he really has mental issues like that so for me it doesn’t matter one way or the other. I’m also not too worried about the jumps because I think he has spectacular enough foundation he doesn’t need months to get them quads back. I’m more concerned about if and how he’s kept his stamina and conditioning. There are things he could be doing off-ice?
 
MAXSwagg said:
I don’t think he really has mental issues like that so for me it doesn’t matter one way or the other. I’m also not too worried about the jumps because I think he has spectacular enough foundation he doesn’t need months to get them quads back. I’m more concerned about if and how he’s kept his stamina and conditioning. There are things he could be doing off-ice?
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Yeap. For sure Yuzuru doesn’t slack off the off ice training during this period. He is more motivated than ever and will do anything to maintain his form. I hope he will do both SP and LP in the team event to get used to competition again.
 
Can someone help me out and give info why Wakaba is not at 4CC? i read last 3 pages, could not find it, or maybe missed it.
 
Tinami Amori said:
Can someone help me out and give info why Wakaba is not at 4CC? i read last 3 pages, could not find it, or maybe missed it.
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Higuchi was assigned to Worlds and Mihara to 4CC (posts #188 & 191 on previous page) so both could get ISU Championship ranking points, presumably.
 
Sylvia said:
Higuchi was assigned to Worlds and Mihara to 4CC (posts #188 & 191 on previous page) so both could get ISU Championship ranking points, presumably.
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And this would also allow Mai to defend her title at 4CCs and Wakaba to regain that third spot at Worlds which she lost last year (Mai basically placed as high as she could) and cost her her own Olympic berth.
 
Marco said:
And this would also allow Mai to defend her title at 4CCs and Wakaba to regain that third spot at Worlds which she lost last year (Mai basically placed as high as she could) and cost her her own Olympic berth.
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I really hope Japan can get three spots back but she could also cost them three spots again for next year.
 
Along with accumulating ranking points, I'm inclined to think that JSF liked the idea of getting their Oly-bound skater's out there one more time (via 4CC competition) to gain some momentum and visibility before heading into the Olympics, particularly after a very conspicuous European Championships. This could be especially helpful for Satoko and Kaori in what is sure to be a very competitive, very spirited ladies event... Just a little reminder that they're still in the mix. ;) Plus, I get the feeling that Japan's skaters enjoy this competition and like competing for the 4CC title - which I find quite refreshing. :respec:
 
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Sure - Satoko has been away for some time and Kaori is freshly in the mix. Sending them both to 4CCs which is close to home with virtually no time difference to adjust, for virtual guarantees on medals, points and momentum right before PC is smart. They may also get better draws for skating order as a result of this. (I was thinking whether Bradie should also do this and then stay in Asia til the Games)

I just worry whether Satoko is fully recovered enough or still needed rest.
 
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In 4CC, Japan just got its first ever medal in ice dance! Congrats to Muramoto/Reed for their bronze!

This is also the first time any non-NA/EUR dance team has medalled in major ISU championships.
 
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