Japan Nationals

Hmm no news about the Japan nationals? It says of JSF that it is five days away (Dec 20-24). I hope Yuzuru is okay to compete well there!

Coming across the billboard at Shibuya station, Tokyo yesterday, I felt excitement!

Japan Nationals is going to be one very toxic event even more for the men. I wish everyone can have a clean skate and may the best one win.

roma wrote:

Japan Nationals is going to be one very toxic event even more for the men. I wish everyone can have a clean skate and may the best one win.

I wish they were all able to compete at WC, they're all sooo good.

shar wrote:

roma wrote:

Japan Nationals is going to be one very toxic event even more for the men. I wish everyone can have a clean skate and may the best one win.

I wish they were all able to compete at WC, they're all sooo good.

Me too. I wish worlds qualification was done by WR instead of national results. Japan deseverves 6 slots for men.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=__7rTlDyZpo

Shizuka Arakawa talked on Japanese TV yesterday about Japanese nationals.
Taka said that it's more diffiult to be TOP 3 in nationals than winning a grand prix. And there is also a quote from Pat Chan saying that he's happy he can't participate in the Japanese Nationals Mao was interviewed in front of the ice rink in Sochi and she said that being there reminded her of how she felt after Vancouver Oly. After Vancouver, she immediately felt she wanted to come back and compete in the olympic.

Sorry for the quick translation.

Nobu is back and with Tatsuki and Mura doing good too, Nationals will be very exciting.

Thank you ddmm! Men's filed is just incredible at Japan Nationals, so many great skaters fighting for 3 spots! It's just too cruel. And Taka is right.
Ladies are quite predictable, Mao and Akiko are the best and Kana is really good,can't see anyone near their level.
Btw can someone tell me, I remember in Olympic season Miki got her spot for Worlds by winning a medal at GPF, though she was only 4th at Nationals. Did this rule still work?

polosatik wrote:

Btw can someone tell me, I remember in Olympic season Miki got her spot for Worlds by winning a medal at GPF, though she was only 4th at Nationals. Did this rule still work?

I think that was only during the Olympic season (from what I can remember). That time there were 4 Japanese ladies who deserved to go to the Olympics so they made the rule that the highest placed skater in the GPF gets an Olympic spot. Even if Miki only got 4th at Nationals by virtue of her 2nd place finish at GPF she got an Oly spot. Now, I think Mao and Akiko are already secure in their world spots even if not official yet. Lets face it. This season it's the two of them who are bringing in the results and placements even if theyre not at their best yet.

The men... well, that's an entirely different matter. 6 men can potentially go. If they're gonna base on int'l results so far I think Dai and Yuzu will have their spots. Yuzu has the tech and improving PCS and stamina. Dai has the PCS and improving tech. 3rd spot will be up for grabs (which I will give to Taka). This comp segment is gonna be tougher than worlds.

ddmm wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=__7rTlDyZpo

Shizuka Arakawa talked on Japanese TV yesterday about Japanese nationals.
Taka said that it's more diffiult to be TOP 3 in nationals than winning a grand prix. And there is also a quote from Pat Chan saying that he's happy he can't participate in the Japanese Nationals Mao was interviewed in front of the ice rink in Sochi and she said that being there reminded her of how she felt after Vancouver Oly. After Vancouver, she immediately felt she wanted to come back and compete in the olympic.

Sorry for the quick translation.

Nobu is back and with Tatsuki and Mura doing good too, Nationals will be very exciting.

Thanks for introducing this, ddmm!
I really can't wait to see Nats, as usual, but even a bit more esp this season.
I always love hearing all the loud cheering from the audience in Nats. It's more louder than international comps.
You can really feel the heat from the crowd even through tv.
Getting to see promising juniors is a delight too.

I'm quite sure that unless Mao makes lots of mistakes and the other girls perform close to perfect, Mao can win this. And even if she doesn't it won't bother me as long as she can overcome some of her past minor mistakes and can feel satisfied with her performance. Even with some faults, she'll definitely make top 3 to say the least and our fed will decide to send her to Worlds, so no worries about that.

Mens is a totally different matter...I do think and hope that Dais' condition is getting better, but OTOH I think almost anything can happen, and anyone of the top guys have a chance to win. Succeeding quads will most likely be the key to winning, but most of the other top guys all have something other than quads to offer, so they all have to perform every single element pretty well in order to aim for a solid win. Pattie sure is right in saying he's happy not to have to enter Jpnse Nats! All the top guys are going to be quite nervous in this one; probabaly even more than how some were at GPF. I think Dai has the best chance of winning and I still want him to be our national champ. Yuzuru has a good chance too of course, but he's got lots of years ahead of him, plus I'd prefer him to do something about his stamina issues properly before he wins this title. I like Nobu alot so I hope he can perform well and make the podium, but I think Yuzuru and Takahiko are one step ahead of him at this point so sadly, I'm not expecting that much from him. Just hope he doesn't zayak and do better in his steps compared to how he's been doing so far. Not sure at all if he can land his quads. Machida and Mura definitely need to succeed both quads and 3As clean with good quality to be on the podium. And Machida really should include a quad in his SP; even if he has to risk falling, if he can fully rotate I think it's worth a try. Otherwise, without a quad in his SP, he'll have to perform one hell of a fantastic skate in his SP to make the podium. He and his coach should know that by now. If Takahiko can deliver a good performance with high quality jumps, he too has a real good chance of winning too, but I'm not sure if he'll be in best condition after seeing how he did in GPF. Still, I hope he can do much better than he did then, cause if he doesn't make the podium in Nats this time, it's going to be a huge damage to his career.

Anyway, although I wish Mao and Dai would win again, I hope all the skaters can skate their best as always, cause it's simply much more pleasurable to watch a competition in which everyone does well.

ETA:silenceisgolden, thanks for the billboard image. It looks pretty nice and I'm happy they included Machida and Nobu in it. I kind of wish they would've included Haruka as well. She didn't do so great in GPS, but I still think she's got lots of potential too. She just needs to do something about her nerve issues, then she'll be capable of doing much better. I think she's the one who's in more need of a sport psychologist rather than Mao. Speaking of sport psychologists, I recently found out that there is quite a big specialist in that field in Jpn. He has lots of experience treating athletes. But the problem is, he's only been treating mostly golf players and probably knows nothing much about skating.

I think it will be extremely exciting and unpredictable for the men's competition. I'm just hoping the ladies will be consistent.

I too want Dai to be national champion again this year but I am worried about his 3A that is not consistent this season. And with his quad still not consistent, he needs to land those 3A.

And although I wish Dai to be national champion, another part of me want Taka to be in the middle of the podium because I love his skating and I also want the world to know that he doesn't deserve to be underscored.

As for Yuzu, I don't know much about asthma but is it curable ? if not, I don't know how he can beat his stamina issue.

The rest of the men: Nobu, Machida and Mura also have big chance to be on the podium. They are all quite powerful. Talking about nobu's Zayaking...it makes me smile (sorry Nobu, don't mean that I don't like you) I think that will be another exciting this to watch.


BTW, Florent Amodio just won French National with 230pts. The silver medalist got 190ish pts.

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20121217-00000176-jij-spo

Daisuke Murakami WD from Nats. It's because of his right shoulder being dislocated.
It seems after he WD from GPS, he had surgery and still hasn't totally healed.
I feel real sorry for him. It must be vexing for him no to be able to be in Nats this season.
He was known to be one of the 3 followers up along with Machida and Mura, from the days when Dai, Takahiko, and Nobu were top 3; guess that's changing a bit with Yuzuru in the picture now. But Murakami ending up wasting this season because of his injury, takes him steps back from Machida and Mura. This is simply so unfortunate for him. Not his fan but I do feel very sorry for him.

Calmness



Saltation

silenceisgolden wrote:

Calmness



Saltation

Aww, thank u for the posters, silenceisgolden. They all look so beautiful.

Offtopic: If Mao would've skated swan lake with her 2 triple axel at the 2010 Olympic, would she have had the same score as Yuna, or would it still have been much lower? I was just wondering.

woow what amazing pictures, Mao looks gourges!

silenceisgolden wrote:

Calmness



Saltation

These are so pretty, silenceisgolden!!!!

Murakami is out of Japanese nationals due to the shoulder problem from NHK. Poor guy... I feel so bad for him.

we can hope for him next year, right? he shoudl be proud of his success this season so far.

Thanks for the info. Poor Murakami. I too feel bad for him. Rest well and come back fit next season. He's another great skater.!

Excited about nationals! Sad about Murakami. And I guess there will be no pairs competition this year, due to Taka/Tran's absence.

I can't wait for Jpn nationals to start!

I hope Mao will have a great competition, and though there wasn't much time to fix her issues, and I do hope she took some much needed rest to heal, I hope so much she'll have at least as good a performance as she had it at GPF if not better. Go Mao!!!

As for the men; I just know my heart is going to be broken stupid max 3 per country rule.

they seriously should make an exception for countries like japan, it's not good for the sport either when a nobody get's the chance to compete, while some of the best skaters in the world have to stay home due to the restictions, it just doesn't make worlds fair, hope this issue gets addressed, if not it is undoubtly because the ISU is trying to prevent skaters from the same country to sweep the podium!

silenceisgolden wrote:

Calmness



Saltation

Woah these are seriously pretty
Only Japan to have so many great skaters competing for 3 spots. It will be cruel

i am soooo excitet too see Mao again!

shar wrote:

silenceisgolden wrote:

Calmness



Saltation

Aww, thank u for the posters, silenceisgolden. They all look so beautiful.

Offtopic: If Mao would've skated swan lake with her 2 triple axel at the 2010 Olympic, would she have had the same score as Yuna, or would it still have been much lower? I was just wondering.

Wow it's been a very long time since I was last here. Just had to come back with the comeback of Mao and now the rise of Team Japan (minus the falling out of Narumi and Mervin which I am still trying to get over), Nationals may be more exciting than any other event for me this season! Also, about your note on 2 3A at Olympics..... her score still would have been much lower. The judges somehow manage to find fault with Mao, even when there is none. Her PCs are still ridiculously low and I just don't understand why. She also doesn't receive the GOEs that she rightly deserves either. Sometimes I feel that the fans know more than the judges but in the end it's the fans that immortalize the skaters, not the judges