2021-22 Japan national qualifying & domestic competitions

[Tak]

I spoke too soon.
The invited skaters to Senior Nationals (6 each for Men and Women) were announced.
Women: Rion Sumiyoshi, Mone Chiba, Hana Yoshida, Azusa Tanaka, Ayumi Shibayama, Ami Nakai
Men: Kao Miura, Tatsuya Tsuboi, Nozomu Yoshioka, Takeru Kataise, Kosho Oshima, Shunsuke Nakamura
No invitation for Mao Shimada, sadly...

 

[Aceon6]

No invitation for Mao Shimada, sadly...

Too young, I guess, and TPTB prolly don’t want the comparison as a distraction. Youth has its disadvantages.

 

[Sylvia]

Results/protocols in English are published online now: https://www.jsfresults.com/National/2021-2022/fs_e/national_jr/index.htm

Found some videos...

Junior Women - Final Results
PL Competitor Club SP FS Points
1. Mao SHIMADA Kinoshita Academy 4 1 188.51
SP (61.76): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRm3Fck7jt0
FS (126.75): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USV8ILXKSxU

2. Rion SUMIYOSHI Komaba Gakuen Hich School 1 3 180.25 (will compete in JGP Final)
SP (65.34): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNT6BmkK6Hk

3. Mone CHIBA 7 2 175.41
FS (116.44): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o26acV15C_Y

4. Hana YOSHIDA Kinoshita Academy 3 4 172.55
SP (62.48): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSphXH4iA-s

5. Azusa TANAKA Kinoshita Academy 2 5 171.62
SP (62.56): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5fvaWIcLuY

6. Ayumi SHIBAYAMA Kinoshita Academy 5 8 166.68
SP (60.17): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0HGmiqR1mI

7. Ami NAKAI MF Figure Skating Academy 10 6 165.76
SP (56.78): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPSOh04lg3I

8. Ikura KUSHIDA Kinoshita Academy 9 7 165.09
SP (57.35): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUujz2xEExs

 

[Sylvia]

Results/protocols in English are published online now: https://www.jsfresults.com/National/2021-2022/fs_e/national_jr/index.htm
...
Junior Ice Dance - Final Results
PL Competitor Club RD FD Points
1 Nao KIDA / Masaya MORITA, both Kinoshita Academy 1 1 131.06

Kida/Morita were named to the 2022 Junior World team today - they have yet to compete internationally and will go to Bavarian Open to try and get their minimums (23 RD / 37 FD).

ETA the singles skaters named to Junior Worlds from Junior Nationals (Tsuboi needs to get TES minimums of 23 & 42):

Junior Men - Final Results
1. Kao MIURA 7 1 229.28
2. Tatsuya TSUBOI 1 2 227.60

Junior Women - Final Results
...
2. Rion SUMIYOSHI Komaba Gakuen Hich School 1 3 180.25 (assigned to compete in JGP Final that was canceled)

 

[Sylvia]

Posted on Oct. 31, 2021:

East Japan Sectionals were held this weekend.
...
The winner, Rinka Watanabe, is going to represent JPN at Universiade. Current JPN quarantine rules preclude her from competing at Nationals. If these rules are relaxed, then she will also compete at Nationals.

The Winter Universiade in Lucerne, Switzerland (scheduled for earlier this month) was canceled and so Rinka Watanabe competed at Nationals and finished a very strong 6th (4th in FS) at Nationals today and was named to the Junior World team. She will go to Bavarian Open next month to get her TES minimums (23 / 38).

 

[Tak]

It is now old news, but Japanese Inter-collegiate FS Competition was held in Obihiro, Hokkaido, 4-7 January. According to participants, due to the cold wave, the condition within the ice arena was brutal. Because of this, only the Free Skating portion was held.
The top finishers were as follows:
Men
1. Sota Yamamoto 153.10 Chukyo U.
2. Tatsuya Tsuboi 146.90 Kobe U.
3. Sena Miyake 145.53 Kansai U.
4. Tsuyoshi Lucas Honda 135.13 Doshisha U.
5. Kosho Oshima 131.97 Meiji U.
6. Mitsuki Sumoto 128.27 Kansai U.

Women
1. Kaori Sakamoto 156.73 Kobe Gakuin U.
2. Rinka Watanabe 122.76 Hosei U.(3Ax<, fall)
3. Yuna Aoki 119.90 Nihon U.
4. Akari Matsubara 119.27 Meiji U.
5. Yuhana Yokoi 118.76 Chukyo U.
6. Yuka Sakai 110.99 Chukyo U.
10. Marin Honda 106.55 Meiji U.
Kaori said that it was so cold in the arena that you lost sense
of extremities immediately, and even her knees became numb after 5-10 minutes. She said "If I can skate well in such atrocious conditions, I think I can skate better, almost anywhere else."

 

[Tak]

Japanese Inter-high school FS competition was held 18-21 January, in Aomori. Although Japanese Inter-high, Inter-collegiate and Inter-Junior High are domestic competitions, and does not feature high in larger scheme of things, it does carry "Bragging Rights" and is considered very important by the competitors. Couple of years ago, one skater finished 2nd two years running and she declared that winning the Inter-junior high, in her final year of eligibility was the prime objective that season. I noticed that this skater did not medal, that season and thought may be she WD. It turns out that she did compete but fell 3 times in the SP and did not even make it to the free. Poor young Kaori Sakamoto...but IMHO, she did learn something very important about competing there.
The inter-high (junior rules) has three representatives per prefecture, and usually have over 120 skaters in womens discipline. This year, there were many WD (including Rino Matsuike due to 4CC, Hana Yoshida due to Bavarian Open, Mana Kawabe getting ready for OLY), so that only 90 competed in three SP groups over three days, with top 24 advancing to the free skate.
The top four results were (SP, FS, Total)
1. Rion Sumiyoshi 66.24, 118.80, 185.04
2. Mone Chiba 63.00, 99.61, 162.61
3. Maria Egawa 53.83, 98.19, 152.02
4. Kinayu Yokoi 52.43, 85.75, 138.17

 

[Tak]

Japanese Inter-Junior High Competition with 80 competitors (with only top 18 advancing to free skate), was held Jan. 30th to Feb 1st in Nagano.
The only consistent quad girl in Japan, won this event, although her 4T here, was q and had negative GOE.
1. Mao Shimada 63.99 118.48 182.47
2 . Ayumi Shibayama 58.20 109.81 168.01
3. Ami Nakai 58.43 106.49 164.92
4. Sakurako Daimon 53.91 104.27 158.18