2023-24 Japanese figure skating - pairs and ice dance

[mikeko666]

Senior pairs
Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara "RikuRyu" - Special National Trainees
Yuna Nagaoka & Sumitada Moriguchi "YunaSumi" - NEW PAIR

Junior pairs
Sae Shimizu & Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda "SaeLuka"- NEW PAIR

Senior ice dance
Misato Komatsubara & Takeru Komatsubara (Tim Koleto) "Team KoKo" - National Trainees A
Ayano Sasaki & Yoshimitsu Ikeda - NEW TEAM
Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama - NEW TEAM
Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita - NEW TEAM

Junior ice dance
Sara Kishimoto & Atsuhiko Tamura
Kaho Yamashita & Yuto Nagata

 

[mikeko666]

GPS 2023 entries

Skate America
Pair: Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara

NHK Trophy
Pair: Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara
Ice Dance: Misato Komatsubara & Tim Koleto

 

[yesterday]

Lucas in Juniors feels strange. Like, he did singles for ages it seemed but ofc age cap is higher there

 

[Dreamer57]

Kishimoto / Tamura free dance:

Pump It! â¸ï¸ Sara Kishimoto & Atsuhiko Tamura ð¯ðµ, 2024 Junior Free Dance (full version)

Japanese Ice Dancers Sara Kishimoto & Atsuhiko Tamura perform their 2024 Junior Free Dance to music from The Black Eyed Peas and Pulp Fiction. They train at ...

youtu.be

 

[Sai Bon]

Kishimoto / Tamura free dance:

Pump It! â¸ï¸ Sara Kishimoto & Atsuhiko Tamura ð¯ðµ, 2024 Junior Free Dance (full version)

Japanese Ice Dancers Sara Kishimoto & Atsuhiko Tamura perform their 2024 Junior Free Dance to music from The Black Eyed Peas and Pulp Fiction. They train at ...

youtu.be

I love it! Japanese ice dance teams are far more adventurous with their music choices than singles skaters (sure, they have less to lose, but it's so refreshing).

 

[mikeko666]

Quebec Summer Championships
Entries

Senior Ice Dance:
Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama

Junior Ice Dance:
Sara Kishimoto & Atsuhiko Tamura
Kaho Yamashita & Yuto Nagata

This is going to be Kaho & Yuto's first competition outside of Japan. I hope JSF send them to JGP as this is their last season in junior.

 

[aerosuffly]

Senior ice dance
Misato Komatsubara & Takeru Komatsubara (Tim Koleto) "Team KoKo" - National Trainees A
Ayano Sasaki & Yoshimitsu Ikeda - NEW TEAM
Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama - NEW TEAM
Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita - NEW TEAM

Oh, is it possible that the reason Masayo Morota broke up with Nao Kida, his previous partner, was because he wanted to move up to Senior? UtaMori works as well as KidaMori, they might get very close to Team Koko.

 

[Sai Bon]

Oh, is it possible that the reason Masayo Morota broke up with Nao Kida, his previous partner, was because he wanted to move up to Senior? UtaMori works as well as KidaMori, they might get very close to Team Koko.

Have you seen UtaMori perform yet?

 

[mikeko666]

The schedule of Kinoshita Trophy (August 11-12) is now available. While the competitions are singles only, one senior ice dance team (probably Utana & Masaya), one junior pair (Sae & Lucas) and one senior pair (Yuna & Sumitada) will perform at the end of the event (from 16:05 on August 12). Livestream will be available on FOD(Fuji On Demand) although I am not sure if you can watch outside of Japan.

 

[rabidline]

Challenger assignments from JSF are out:

Lombardia Trophy (Sept. 8-10 at Bergamo, Italy)
Men: Yuma Kagiyama, Nozomu Yoshioka,
Women: Hana Yoshida

Autumn Classic (Sept. 14-16 at Quebec, Canada)
Men: Sota Yamamoto
Women: Kaori Sakamoto, Mone Chiba
Pairs: Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara

Nebelhorn Trophy (Sept. 20-23 at Oberstdorf, Germany)
Men: Koshiro Shimada, Kazuki Tomono

Finlandia Trophy (Oct. 4-8 at Espoo, Finland)
Men: Kao Miura, Shun Sato
Women: Mai Mihara, Rinka Watanabe

 

[skim1001]

Only Sara Kishimoto/Atsuhiko Tamura got JGP assignments. They will be in Japan and Poland.

 

[TeamGubanova]

I think depending on how the second dance team and the junior pair team do at the summer competitions Quebec and kinoshita they could be sent for extra assignments at least JGP Japan for the dance team and most likely a European one for the junior pair team like last year with HaruSumi

 

[skim1001]

I think the list having no TBDs in pairs and ice dance might mean this is the final assignment. Spots the country will use are confirmed in advanced I believe. I would love to be wrong though.

 

[Leocadia]

I think the list having no TBDs in pairs and ice dance might mean this is the final assignment. Spots the country will use are confirmed in advanced I believe. I would love to be wrong though.

The announcements for the JGPs came out last week I believe, and they include lists with the maximum number of skaters per country for each JGP. Japan has given up some of their spots in pairs, but right now they should still have in total 6 spots in pairs and 7 in dance that they can use, according to those documents.

 

[mikeko666]

I think depending on how the second dance team and the junior pair team do at the summer competitions Quebec and kinoshita they could be sent for extra assignments at least JGP Japan for the dance team and most likely a European one for the junior pair team like last year with HaruSumi

The deadline to submit entries to JGP Osaka is Friday, August 11, 2023 – 20:00 (local time Osaka).
Junior dance RD at Quebec Summer is scheduled on 7 am on Saturday, August 12 in Japan Standard Time.
Kinoshita's competitions are singles only, and pairs and ice dance are exhibition.

JSF has been very cold to Kaho and Yuto, and nothing has changed.
There are few decent domestic ice dance competitions in Japan, and JGP Osaka must be a very rare opportunity for young Japanese dancers to receive feedback from an ISU judge panel. Kaho and Yuto are now based in Kurashiki, which is not far from Osaka. If JSF does not want to spend a yen for them, they should let them decide if they will pay for all expenses to compete in Osaka.

 

[gleungc6]

Interview with Cathy reed on dance and pairs in JPN

S1E20 - Cathy Reed

Listen to this episode from The Future of Figure Skating on Spotify. Episode Notes Today's guest is Cathy Reed. Cathy and her late brother Chris were seven-time Japanese national champions in ice dance and two-time Olympians. Since her retirement in 2015, Cathy has become a coach and...

open.spotify.com

 

[mikeko666]

Interview with Cathy reed on dance and pairs in JPN

S1E20 - Cathy Reed

Listen to this episode from The Future of Figure Skating on Spotify. Episode Notes Today's guest is Cathy Reed. Cathy and her late brother Chris were seven-time Japanese national champions in ice dance and two-time Olympians. Since her retirement in 2015, Cathy has become a coach and...

open.spotify.com

Thanks for the link!
Cathey said she choreographed both SP and FS of the two new pairs, Yuna/Sumitada and Sae/Lucas.
She and Kaitlyn Weaver choreographed RD for Utana/Masaya. She didn't say anything about their FD.

Azusa/Shingo's FD is Giselle choreographed by Romain Haguenauer (source: https://4years.asahi.com/article/14962393).

 

[mikeko666]

Quebec Summer Championships
Entries

Senior Ice Dance:
Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama

Junior Ice Dance:
Sara Kishimoto & Atsuhiko Tamura
Kaho Yamashita & Yuto Nagata

This is going to be Kaho & Yuto's first competition outside of Japan. I hope JSF send them to JGP as this is their last season in junior.

Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama withdrew from Quebec Summer Championships . Azusa injured her left shoulder blade at the end of June, and was told by her doctor not to train for 6 weeks. She just resumed her training last week without using her arms.

https://twitter.com/skatejapanews/status/1686649867555254272

 

[Sai Bon]

Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama withdrew from Quebec Summer Championships . Azusa injured her left shoulder blade at the end of June, and was told by her doctor not to train for 6 weeks. She just resumed her training last week without using her arms.

https://twitter.com/skatejapanews/status/1686649867555254272

Not a great start for the team. Hope she heals quickly.

 

[mikeko666]

Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita's programs
RD: Real Wild Child (Wild One), Wild Side, Wild Thing, choreographed by Cathy Reed and Kaitlyn Weaver
FD: Rise of the Phoenix, choreographed by Massimo Scali
Source: "We are only aiming at 1st at Nationals"

I am not sure whose song Wild Side is. They will debut it at Kinoshita Trophy this weekend. (The competitions are singles only. Ice dance and pairs have exhibitions.)
I have no idea about Rise of the Phoenix either. The Conchita song, perhaps?