Before today, I thought seeded skaters get priority, medalist don't compete against each other and get assigned to their home GP, if applicable. So Hanyu getting NHK makes sense. I thought Higuchi WD her GP assignments due to injury last year.
No, Higuchi went to SC. Satoko was given the host spot, probably because she won Nationals and finished higher at the Olympics. They could not both go to NHK because they both medaled at Worlds, but the host Fed decided who got the NHK berth. It didn't go to the higher seeded skater. It went to the skater who was ranked higher at home.