Japanese Regionals '09

Japanese Regionals this year looked particularly exciting, with some great competition taking place. Unfortunately national competitions results are not translated into English, and program footage are hard to come by - the sole exception being the Chubu Regionals where the Nagoya skaters participate and thus the most competitive - so I decided to start this thread to post results and reports where the "big guns" will be participating.

JSF's results and data site

Note: A few of the regional competitions do not have the protocols posted yet, so in those cases I will be copy-pasta'ing scores out of 2ch's "Live Commentary" thread and Japanese skating blogs.

I'll be starting with the Tohoku/Hokkaido Block Competition results (which Yuzuru participated in) and then proceed with the Chubu Block.

'09東北・北海道フィギュアスケート選手権大会
Tohoku/Hokkaido Regionals (Block 1)
JSF website status: Protocols up!

To no one's surprise, the Junior Men's event got the most buzz, and Yuzuru was on fire!

1. 羽生 結弦 宮城FSC 1 1 189.52
(Yuzuru Hanyu) (Miyagi Figure Skating Club)

From what I can tell from the protocols, the only deductions Yuzuru received were on his flip (edge call) and a slightly shaky landing on his first 3A in the FS. His scores, oddly enough, are considerably lower than at JGP Poland despite the fact that Yuzuru landed 8 triples here and was in much better shape. As with JGP Poland, Yuzuru also landed the 3A-3T in the second half of his program with no problems at all. It's quite amazing that his 3A has gotten this consistent in just one season.

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'09関東フィギュアスケート選手権大会
Kanto Regionals (Block 1)
JSF website status: Protocols up!

Nothing too particularly noteworthy here, aside from the fact that the winner of the Junior Ladies' division, Mika Nakamura, scored a point higher in the total score than the winner of the Junior Men - Takuya Kondo who placed 5th in JGP Hungary this year.

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'09中部フィギュアスケート選手権大会
Chubu Regionals (Block 4)
JSF website status: Protocols up!

The Mainichi Daily News have covered the seniors (well, some of them) so I'm going to presume that their scores are accurate. The rest - this includes Akiko's SP score, Kanako's TSS etc. - are based on what I've seen on 2ch and Japanese skating boards so they *might* be incorrect.

~Senior Men~
1 Takahiko Kozuka 224.97 (SP: 83.35 FS: 141.62)
2 Takahito Mura 214.41 (SP: 72.52 FS: 141.89)
3 Junki Sano 144.46 (SP: 53.50　FS: 90.96)

Kozu wins, but Takahito actually scored a bit higher in the long program. Reports are saying that Kozu's spins are looking better than ever, though.

Kozu's jump layout in the FS:
2T(intended 4T)、3A-3T、3Lz-2T-2Lo、3Lo-1T、1A、3Lz、3S、3F

~Senior Ladies~
1 Akiko Suzuki 182.06 (SP: 63.84 FS: 118.22)

Akiko had a 6 triple program, from what I can tell (her 2A-3T became a 2A-2T). She was clearly the crowd favorite too. Congrats!
- Ayumi Goto was the only other lady with a relative clean skate - her only mistake was a doubled salchow - and came in 2nd (?)
- Ayane Nakamura and Rumi Suizu both bombed, unfortunately
- Mai, as we all know, withdrew

~Junior Ladies~
1 Kanako Murakami 164.23 (SP: 57.64 FS: 106.59)

Kanako skated clean again! Reports are saying she also went for the 3loop and landed it successfully disagreeing on her jump content so I'll have to wait for protocols. As with Yuzuru in the Tohoku Block, she demolished the rest of the field here.
- Mao Watanabe was 4th in the SP but there's very little information on how she did in the FS

*Shouma Uno, who is another student of Machiko Yamada won Boy's Novice A*
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYRRZbp4Dbk

That's it for now. Hopefully the protocols for the Chubu block will be posted soon.

Thanks for the update, clovera! What happened to Mai? Why did she withdraw from competition?

clovera wrote:

*Shouma Uno, who is another student of Machiko Yamada won Boy's Novice A*
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYRRZbp4Dbk

This boy seems to be very promising.

why did mai wirhdrew??? Is she injured??

The Chunichi Shimbun (Newspaper) had a very short article about Mai being in "bad shape" and nothing more. Mao/Mai's website haven't given any updates on this either, so it's a bit worrisome. I do hope it isn't serious.

Thank you so much for posting all of this, Clovera!!!

I also hope Mai is alright, she is strong girl so I know she can power through things, but still...best wishes to her feeling better.

Good to hear Yuzuru and Kanako are dominating
This season is going so well for them.

As for Machiko Yamada, I keep watching that video over and over! So talented! He's going places.

Quick update:
The Nagoya Broadcasting Network will be having a delayed broadcast of the Chubu Regionals on Oct 3 (same day as JO), so hopefully we will see some programs uploaded over the weekend.

This was rumored on 2ch all day, but the JSF has officially announced that 2 skaters who participated in the Chubu Block Competition have contracted the flu (thanks tokitama for tweeting the JSF announcement!) Needless to say the rumor mill - and skating fans - are concerned that this might include Mai.

i hope Mai didn't get affected with this flu.

roma wrote:

i hope Mai didn't get affected with this flu.

I hope so too

Thank you very much for keeping us updated, Clovera!

report:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE7wR0jyh-4&feature=sub

^thanks for sharing, bibi!

inskate wrote:

I'm so sad for Mai! Does this mean she can not advance to Nationals? I thought she actually looked in to be in good form at The Ice...

My memory regarding this is iffy, but IIRC Japanese skaters [on the senior circuit] without an automatic ticket to Nats have to usually qualify by placing in the Regional Championships (East Japan or West Japan), and in order to be given an entry to the Regional Championships, a skater has to
(a) place high enough in their respective block competitions or
(b) receive a recommendation from their local skating committee

The problem here, of course, is that since Mai was unable to participate in the Chubu Block, the only way for her to be given an entry to West Japan is option (b). Given her record and the number of competitors at Nats, I would think she qualifies for a recommendation but I'm not sure.

(feel free to point out any mistakes I made regarding this!)

Brief update regarding regionals:
JSF has uploaded the protocols for the Chubu Block!
(unfortunately there is no direct link and must be navigated from the JSF data site *and* is only in Japanese as with the rest of the sectional competition results page)

Takahito's attempted quad in the SP was DG (interesting to note that it's his solo jump)
As expected, Kozu's tech score in the FS is low due to several pops and a DG 3lo that for some reason got counted as a SEQ (multiple turns after the landing?). He received decent GoE for pretty much everything else though.
The report on Akiko's 2A-2T (botched 3T) is clearly wrong as she had two 2As - one as a solo jump and the other in a sequence with the 3lo. That said, she landed 6 triples and looks like a great program.
Ayumi Goto was indeed second as reported after Akiko
Kanako's FS had 6 triples (no 3lo); looks like she could earn even more points if she can tweak her layback - they were graded Level 2 and 1 in the SP and FS, respectively
I'm not sure about scores in Novice A, but Shouma scored over 90 which sounds pretty impressive to me

Thanks for the report, clovera! And Bibi, thank you for linking the news clip. Kanako's "Swan Lake" looks great! I can't wait to see the whole program. Her jumps look good! I hope she'll be able to put her 3L into her LP sometime soon. I saw her land it in a practice clip and it looked very clean.

Kanako's LP from Chubu Regionals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud8eabSqOtE&feature=sub

zyem13 has uploaded programs from the Chubu Regionals broadcast, with Machiko Yamada as commentator.

Chushikoku Kyushu Regionals
http://www.skatingjapan.jp/National/2009-2010/fs/block6/index.htm

Jr Ladies
1. Yukiko Fujisawa 1 1 145.27
2. Kako Tomotaki 2 2 126.70
3. Yuka Kono 4 3 117.14

Fujisawa skated a clean SP and finally landed a 3Lo in the FS. Since Murakami competes at Ice Challenge in Austria, She can win Western Japan champs easily.

A bit off topic, but does anyone know when the junior National Championships will be held?

Aibhlin wrote:

A bit off topic, but does anyone know when the junior National Championships will be held?

It'll take place from Nov. 22-23 this year.