sweetwater

Chih-i Tsao on rollerblades https://www.instagram.com/p/CGsKpCPAnzo/

"I love hurrying back home after morning practice and climbing back into bed on Saturdays."

Correction from Sponichi: Rika Kihira won't take part in Romand Cup. Sponichi says that Rika hasn't even entered the competition. It seems that she was added to the list by mistake.

The short segment Yuzu and Nobu skate together in this opening was choreographed by Yuzu

Satoko's update from Canada. She is quoting a phrase from a poem by Kenji Miyazawa, titled, "雨ニモマケズ (Ame ni mo Makezu)" The poem in Japanese Translation by Roger Pulvers

This is probably the latest info regarding entering Canada

This exemption applies only to the athletes designated under JOC's high-performance program--Olympic hopefuls. For example, Yuzu, Shoma, Satoko, Rika are part of this program, but Koshiro currently isn't. (source) They have to get tested negative upon entering Japan, and after entering Japan, they have to move without using any public transportation for 14 days. During this period, they should stay in their home/hotel or where they train and can only go out to move between the place to stay and the place to train. They have to stay in contact with the public healthcare center and update their condition, use a designated contact-confirming app., and make their location data available. (source) If you are one of these designated athletes and have a home and training base around Tokyo and Osaka, you may have fewer troubles getting back on the ice. However, if you stay/train somewhere else, you have to drive long hours to get there and have to avoid contacting people along the way. You will have to charter the rink to train because local people including your rink mates and their family may want to avoid contacting someone who has just come back from abroad or hot spots like Tokyo and Osaka. If you move and stay with your family, your family may need to avoid contacting people as you do. Our government is promoting domestic travel to revive the economy, but many avoid travel because they contact people at work. Some companies even demand their employees to avoid travel or meeting someone came from hot spots, and the employees' families are feeling the pressure like theirs. I think only a selected few can utilize this rule with luck and a lot of supports from around them. Top skaters in Japan may be able to utilize the new NTC near Kansai airport, finding a place to stay around it. However, especially when they come back to compete in Japan, they may also need to hire a physiotherapist for a long period of time to condition themselves properly. They will also need someone based there to deliver the things they need, etc. It would be better than just-quarantining, but it would not be like training as usual at all, and they will have to risk their health nevertheless. The rest is a rant.

Rinka Watanabe competed as a senior at Tohoku-Hokkaido and finished 1st in the SP. She also attempted 3A, although it got downgraded. She came back from Canada and took part in this competition after 14 days of self-quarantine. In Canada, she had to remain off the ice for about a month while her home rink was closed, then resumed training in other rinks that were away from her home until she could go back to her home rink in July. However, she feels that the experience of controlling herself to train under such circumstances helped her in this competition. Due to travel restrictions between Canada and Japan, she is planning to stay in Japan until February, while training under coach Hamada. https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2020/10/10/kiji/20201010s00079000494000c.html

https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/202010100001059.html Although she didn't give an interview this time, Yuna Aoki also qualified for East Japan Sectionals after coming back from injury.

Top 3 ladies at Tokyo Regionals: (from left to right) Akari Matsubara(2nd), Yuka Nagai(1st), Ibuki Sato(3rd) https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/202010100000698.html According to this interview, Yuka has already found a job and is going to start working for a company next spring. She chose to revisit East of Eden with which she leaped forward and finished fourth at Nationals 6 years ago. She says she has a good impression of this piece. She has gone through ups and downs since then, and now her program is laden with such experiences. She says she is hoping to train well until the next competition to be able to be confident. She also wants to deliver a performance that would convey her feeling of gratitude even through the screen to the people who have been supporting her.

They have to qualify for the East Japan Sectional and be raked in the top 7 first, though I am not sure how difficult/easy it would be because I haven't been following novice and juniors so closely. Wish them good luck tomorrow. ETA: Sorry, Mone will be able to compete at Junior Nationals this year regardless of her result at regionals and sectionals since she is the reigning champion. ETA2: Please forget about ETA 1 since I was seeing the result of East Japan Sectional 2019. Mone and Hono need to be ranked in the top 7 at EJS this year to compete at Junior Nationals.

She is Ami Nakai, based in Niigata, where Tohoku-Hokkaido Regional this year is taking place. She is hoping to be able to rotate fully and land 3A until Nationals. (for novice level) She says she admires Mao Asada and Rika Kihira as a role model in jumping and expression, respectively. https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/202010100000935.html I am happy for Mone. According to an interview after SP, she had not been able to train on the ice until June because of the spread of the virus. She assesses her current state as 90 percent of how she was a year ago but is still thankful that she has been able to train in a better environment compared to other skaters. On her SP music from Martian OST, she says that she is hoping to be able to express the strength of the astronaut who tries to come back to earth risking his life in a desperate situation. https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/202010100000356.html

Photos of some ladies at Tokyo Regional http://mainichi.jp/graphs/20201009/hpj/00m/050/001000g/1

Happy belated birthdays, Jean Luc Baker and my lovely uncle Sergey! https://www.instagram.com/p/CGDiCFAJKIB/ (Not sure why but I couldn't make this Instagram post by Kaitlin be embedded properly so I share it as a link)

Yeah, as you guessed, the small clear file folders in the picture above are the "multicase." Looks convenient to carry a disposable mask, a ticket, a payment slip, a shipping label, etc...

Information on ISU bio is often outdated. For example, Sota Yamamoto has been training under Yoshinori Onishi since last month, but on bio, he is still coached by his former coach. Mitsuki Sumoto has left Yoshinori Onishi early this year and now is training under Takeshi Honda, but on bio, he is still training with Onishi. Yuka Nagai's bio hasn't been updated for 3years. So I wouldn't think ISU would update the bio for no reason, but I can't say their update is accurate either

Now I think she really wanted to train with someone who lands quads constantly. I heard that Team Hamada is now training mostly at the Kinoshita Ice Arena in Kyoto, although they come back to Kansai Univ once a week. If Rika stayed with the team, she would be the strongest skater among them in terms of technique, since none of their boys has a quad yet (although they must be practicing it.) If she had stayed in Japan, she might have been able to train with some of the guys who had quad once a week at the new national training center, but she has already done it in the past. Champery may not have a skillful jump coach, but there she can train with Shoma, Koshiro, and Deniss. I wonder how she will prepare for Nationals though...

According to ISU bio, Rika Kihira is now coached by Stephane Lambiel and coach Hamada, and her training base is Champery. Satoko Miyahara is now coached only by Lee Barkell. http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00012461.htm

so which index finger moment do you like most?

You could dance with the Yuzu doll in a hologram at Madame Tussaud Tokyo. I don't remember this feature well since I didn't try it myself, but it was probably like people sat here and took a picture, and then their face got superimposed on prima ballerina's face or something. At that time, I didn't think this looked like him at all, but now, somehow I think this ballet dancer Yuzu's move looks a little bit like real Yuzu's, especially around 00:04.