Takahashi/Kihara split

[Interspectator]

More of a case of overpopulated desolate islands with no natural resources. Japanese and Singapore economies are testaments to human resource being the most important and valuable of all.

Japanese women are boycotting marriage and childbearing for good reasons. This has prompted the increased imports of brides into Japan. Unfortunately a Worlds medalist in figure skating is not so valued.

Also true. Japan is a small country in comparison to its population.

 

[Interspectator]

So how does citizenship work for the brides/their children?

Permanent residency usually. And the children get to be Japanese.

 

[StitchMonkey]

Permanent residency usually. And the children get to be Japanese.

But not keep dual citizenship if I am not mistaken? Like if the parent that is a permanent resident has citizenship the child is eligible for, can they keep it if they stay in Japan, or do they have to give up by X date like Mirai Nagasu?

 

[Interspectator]

But not keep dual citizenship if I am not mistaken? Like if the parent that is a permanent resident has citizenship the child is eligible for, can they keep it if they stay in Japan, or do they have to give up by X date like Mirai Nagasu?

"officially" you can't keep dual citizenship. I do know some who have kept theirs.

 

[StitchMonkey]

"officially" you can't keep dual citizenship. I do know some who have kept theirs.

Interesting. Thank you.

 

[ks777]

"officially" you can't keep dual citizenship. I do know some who have kept theirs.

Yes You can keep it a secret as long as you don't live in the US. If you live in the US, you would have to renew your Japanese passport every 10yrs. The Japanese consulate would ask you how you are staying in the US and you would have to show either a visa or green card and not a US citizenship. If you live in Japan it shouldn't be a problem because there is no way for the Japanese government to find out. But If you have a US citizenship, you would have to file for taxes for the US IRS every year even if you are working in Japan and paying taxes in Japan.

 

[Skater Boy]

If I'm thinking about it...Yes she would be. She also would do SBS 3 Lz, not many female pairs skaters can do that. But IMO she is great as a single skater.

well being good at singles does not make a great pairs skater necessarily. Beside Satoko still might face the puberty monster and her tiny jumps would look awkward to bigger jumps in pairs - reduced GOE for unison and such. I really hate seeing teams trying to buy or trade their way into skating glory. It somehow cheapens skating - so disposable. Kind of like how Ashley Wagner goes through hair dye. Don't like the shade pay another eight bucks. No, I am not trying to be mean but it just seems like skaitng is now find another country or another partner.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

This is unfortunate, but it's been some time coming. They've been painfully hard to watch.

I agree with the fact that Narumi's SBS jumps have really deteriorated and Kihara was unfortunately never meant to be the strong male partner that a pair needs. It's unfortunate, because you can tell he was really trying to clean up his elements, but hers just continued to decline. I hope they find magic with other partners, but this was never going to work. They're actually extremely fortunate that they got opportunities like the Olympics and Worlds, when many superior pairs never got the chance.

 

[Barb]

i just dont understand why japan have not strong pairs or ice dancers? their women are so skinny and tiny, perfect for pairs. Mao could be perfect for ice dance if she tried since she was a kid.

 

[NMURA]

i just dont understand why japan have not strong pairs or ice dancers? their women are so skinny and tiny, perfect for pairs. Mao could be perfect for ice dance if she tried since she was a kid.

Because there are very few tall and well-built men. In many cases, pair skaters and ice dancers are considered failed singles skaters. Such tendencies are very much obvious in Japan.

 

[inskate]

No, it weren't only Narumis 'horrible' jumps that held them back. Why didn't her jumps hold Takahashi/Tran back then?

Shortly after winning the bronze medal Narumi suffered a serious sholder injury while practicing a lift (in April 2012). The injury kept on recurring, and after dislocating her shoulder 5-6 more times she decided to undergo a surgery in October, which caused her to withdraw from the GP series. Shortly afterwards (in December), she decided to split with Mervin.

I always thought that her decision was at least partially motivated by her injury. After winning the first ever pairs medal for Japan the expectations for T/T were very high, but Narumi's jumps just weren't the same after the surgery. If she continued to skate with Mervin, she would hold him down, while skating with Ryuichi there were no expectations of a medal and she could hope to recover by the time their pair elements would gel. Shame it didn't work.

Ah, I heard a slightly different version? Mervin was offered Japanese citizenship, but he would have had to renounce his Canadian citizenship, and Mervin opted not to. Correct me if I'm wrong though, I don't remember the source of this information.

As it was already mentioned, it was the other way around. Marvin was ready to renounce his Canadian citizenship, but getting the Japanese citizenship is extremely difficult - it requires fluency in Japanese and actually living in Japan for a required amount of time (T/T trained in Canada). Gauthier, T/T's coach, revealed later on that T/T were actually considering getting married (in was literally the only way Marvin could get the Japanese citizenship in time), but he advised them not to:

EV: Was it possible to prevent the break up of your Japanese pair?
RG: I know Japan were trying to find a solution so that Takahashi/TRan could skate in Sochi Olympics. The only solution for Mervin to gain a Japanese citizenship was to marry Narumi. I was strongly against it. I said starting a family just for the games is nonsense. There is a life after the sport and you shouldn't ruin it in advance.

Source: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/ind...with-gauthier-how-can-you-control-love.89239/

 

[Barb]

interesting inskate, I always thought Narumi was a little witch because she left to Mervin , but things were really complicated.

 

[Flaya]

Japan will have to get a pair to compete in the Team event in PyongChang. there is still time to do that. It's not like there are no guys that are 6 feel tall (180 cm) in Japan. Some of these skaters that have no hopes to ever represent Japan internationally in singles should look at that...

Hell, even the "World Team Trophy" that most people do not care about requires a Pair... I cannot see Japan missing the Olympic Team Event, so they'll get another Pair, but the goal would be also for that Pair to at least not place 9th or 10th in that team event... there is still a lot of time.

 

[Sandpiper]

While there certainly are Japanese men who are over six feet tall... how many of them go into figure skating? Japan is drawing its pairs supply mainly from singles, where you're unlikely to find the taller men...

About half of China's pairs men are six feet even, and the other half is shorter than that--but they start pairs at a much younger age. I wonder if Japan could start a pairs team at an earlier age, instead of a singles skater switching when they're 20.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Japan will have to get a pair to compete in the Team event in PyongChang. there is still time to do that. It's not like there are no guys that are 6 feel tall (180 cm) in Japan. Some of these skaters that have no hopes to ever represent Japan internationally in singles should look at that...

Hell, even the "World Team Trophy" that most people do not care about requires a Pair... I cannot see Japan missing the Olympic Team Event, so they'll get another Pair, but the goal would be also for that Pair to at least not place 9th or 10th in that team event... there is still a lot of time.

They were able to piece meal Takahashi/Kihara, but getting the minimum TES score will be the big question mark. There is indeed still a ton of time, but let's be honest -- in Pyongchang, Japan will still be gunning for bronze at best, if there's a team event, regardless of whether they have a strong pair or not.

 

[Flaya]

They were able to piece meal Takahashi/Kihara, but getting the minimum TES score will be the big question mark. There is indeed still a ton of time, but let's be honest -- in Pyongchang, Japan will still be gunning for bronze at best, if there's a team event, regardless of whether they have a strong pair or not.

I think bronze would be a huge success for them and agree that this is likely the best they could score under the top 10 and then top 5 system but even that is unlikely at least at this point.

Now, the WTT is a different story, here the bronze is more likely but let's face it, the competition is tailor made for the Japanese with more emphasis on singles.

I hope they will keep the Team event, I loved the formula. I would love to see everyone do the free skate. Also, it would be interesting to see what 10 countries would qualify besides the 7 obvious ones (WTT ones plus Italy). Oh, that made me think that Koreans need a Pair too. They will not want to miss being part of it on HOME SOIL

 

[ks777]

are ladies allowed to throw men? I am thinking maybe shizuka can throw Shoma or Nobunari Oda to do throw triples.

 

[vadrouille]

The problem of Japan not having a pair in good standing to compete at World especially in the Team event at the Olympics can be resolved only by their federation to put more efforts to pairs like the Chinese have done since 20 years.
Japan has more problems than China in developing good pairs in part because they seems to have only average height or small size skaters, especially in their men.
For the present time, to help JSF to have a pair for WTT or for Team event in next Olympics 2018, they must ask for the changes in the rules, highly not realistically feasible, so they can have like:
- Rika skating with Sotoka/ or Shoma
- a mixed pair of Japanese + other nationality like Russian or American or Canadian
- Asking a tall japanese skater like Kento Nakamura to come back to skate pairs with Sotoka
It is a pity to look in youtube at Japan Nationals in senior, there is only one pair on the podium, that is narumi and Kihara.
This team would not be able to compete in others countries like Canada or US.

 

[Rissa]

It's off topic when it comes to Takahashi/Kihara and pairs skating, but Japan could make some efforts to develop Dance, which would be easier than Pairs. You don't need giants in Dance and their ladies are often tiny so a viable Dance team could be built, especially in a country with 120 million population where figure skating is already popular. I bit of funds and promo, imported coaches and the program could be feasible.

 

[StitchMonkey]

It's off topic when it comes to Takahashi/Kihara and pairs skating, but Japan could make some efforts to develop Dance, which would be easier than Pairs. You don't need giants in Dance and their ladies are often tiny so a viable Dance team could be built, especially in a country with 120 million population where figure skating is already popular. I bit of funds and promo, imported coaches and the program could be feasible.

And as you get more of a program going, you get more kids interested. As you get ore kids interested you get to find ones that just work well in partnerships, and learn how to manage kid partnerships, and how to match them up - that can be applied to pairs. Also, it is only a matter of time before some of the kids that are drawn to dance start thinking "I want do dangerous stuff" and get an interest in pairs.

And Ice Dance with a concurrent jump test track/competition track could be very promising.