New pair Ayumi Kagotani/Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda debuted their free skate at the JSF qualifying event yesterday. Lots of room for improvement, but Ayumi seems unfazed by the new discipline. Lucas seemed a bit lacking in stamina, so I hope he’s ok health-wise! #figureskating

Ayumi Kagotani / Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda debuted at the JPN pairs qualifier today! Double twist/throw and slow on the pair elements—as expected at this stage—but the SBS 3Lz was perfectly in sync🤌 Looking forward to their free—and how they look in a year! #figureskating

Just a triple-double, but still a very solid short program for Mai Mihara at Kinki Regionals. 2A 3F 3Lz2T 65.60, into 1st #figureskating

Reportedly, Rika Kihira has been training with Shingo Nishiyama in Canada since late Aug. They’ll debut at the Nats ID qualifier in Nov. RD is Mambo No. 5; FD is Princess Mononoke. They’re working toward the possibility of making the Olympic team event. hochi.news/articles/202...

If current couples all stay together, the ice dance competition in Japan has the potential to be 🔥🔥🔥 going into the next Olympic cycle…

Rika Kihira and Shingo Nishiyama form a new ice dance team—I’d wondered why Shingo’s new partner announcement required a press conference, but now I get it. 😄 Happy for them and relieved—I was afraid jump training would leave Rika endlessly re-injured. news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/600...

Shingo Nishiyama has a new ice dance partner, to be announced on the 29th. His previous partner, Azusa Tanaka, retired after last season. deepedgeplus.kyodonews.jp/news/124719/

Japan Skating Federation announced it had a deficit of around 434 million yen (around 2.9 million USD) for 2024, due in part to the weak yen and high prices. news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/c62...

Rika Kihira announced she will not compete at the upcoming Chubu regional competition (and is therefore out of contention for Nationals). She says her injury recovery is going well, but she can’t yet practice toe jumps enough to be fully prepared. www.instagram.com/p/DOqccBVDjV...

In their first event of the season, Yuna Nagaoka/Sumitada Moriguchi increased their PB by just over 18 points. I don’t want to jinx anything, but a second Olympic pairs spot for Japan looks well within reach! #figureskating

Wow! Mako Yamashita did everything possible to make up for the mistakes in her short program! Clean free skate, beautifully performed! #KinoshitaCup

Nagaoka/Moriguchi looking great! Spin got a bit out of sync, but otherwise green! Fantastic! 👏👏👏👏🎉 #KinoshitaCup

Nice RD by Utana and Masaya (although I’m not feeling this season’s RD theme). Given the nature of ice dance, though, I’m thinking it’ll be pretty difficult for them to climb until after the Olympics. #KinoshitaCup

Great start to Saki Miyake’s first international event! Fitting that Akiko Suzuki did the choreo, considering she gained career steam a bit later, too. #KinoshitaCup

Had to hang onto the lutz landing, but a clean short for Mone Chiba. Clear leader so far! #KinoshitaCup

Just a triple-double, but all clean jumps from Wakaba. Unfortunate fall on the step sequence! #KinoshitaCup

Rinka Watanabe unfortunately down on the 3A, though she landed it in the warmup. Also down on the 3Lo, so no combo. #KinoshitaCup

Oop! Kaori’s planned 3F3T ended up a 2F+combo. Program looked pretty good up until then, though she didn’t look confident at the boards. #kinoshitacup

#SummerCup2025 Senior women top 10 🥇Ami Nakai 192.84 🥈Mone Chiba 192.44 🥉Mai Mihara 188.77 4 Saki Miyake 188.07 5 Maria Egawa 187.45 6 Mako Yamashita 186.88 7 Rion Sumiyoshi 186.61 8 Rino Matsuike 183.04 9 Rinka Watanabe 167.06 10 Yurina Okuno 166.35

Saki Miyake 3A step 3T3T 3F 2Lz 3Lo2A2A 2S 3Lo hangs on 116.56, 188.07 into 4th Unfortunate pops, but she’s definitely giving it all she’s got! #SummerCup2025

Rion Sumiyoshi 2A3T 4T< hand 3Lo 3S 3Lz fall 3F2A2T 3Lz step 121.39, 186.61 into 6th #SummerCup2025

Ami Nakai 3Aq? 3Lo2T 3Lz3T<<? 3S 3Lz2A2A 3F 3Lo 129.18, 192.84 into 1st I kind of hate the music, but happy to see her 3A looking better! #SummerCup2025

Mana Kawabe 2A 3Lz?1Eu3S 3Lo< 3F 3F step 3Lz fall 2A2T 103.38, 165.55 into 8th Not a terrible early outing, though some iffy landings/rotations. #SummerCup2025

Mai Mihara 3F2A 3Lz2T 2A 3S 3F2T2Lo 3Lz 3Lo 127.79, 188.77 into 2nd No 3-3, but it looks like she’s recovering well! Standing ovation! 💕 #SummerCup2025

Mone Chiba 3F3T 3Lo 3S 2A 3Lz2A 3Lz2T1T? 3F< 131.84, 192.44 into 1st Pretty program; a little worried on some of the rotations. #SummerCup2025

Mako Yamashita La vie en rose 3Lz3T 3F 3S2A turn 3Lo 3Lz 3Lo2T2T 2A 64.75, 186.88 into 1st She looks very well trained! #SummerCup2025

Rino Matsuike Nutcracker 3Lo 3Lz3T2T 3F hand 2A 3Lz2T 3F2A 3S 126.00, 183.04 into 1st Lovely program that really suits her! Shows off her spirals well. #SummerCup2025

Yuma Kagiyama Turandot 4S 4T3T 3Lz 3A1Eu3S 4T turn 3F3Lo 3A 204.78, 289.72 1st overall Wow, huge difference from the short! One turn out, but otherwise so confident and comfortable! #SummerCup2025

Sota Yamamoto Hallelujah 4F<< turn 4S Fall 4T3T 3A turn step 3A1Eu3S 4T hangs on 3F step, hands down 148.07, 231.79 into 1st Very ambitious layout! #SummerCup2025

Shunsuke Nakamura 4T2T 3?T 3A3T fall 3Lo 3A fall 3F1Eu3S 3Lz? (I didn’t catch it) 122.45, 203.51 into 4th Second fall seemed to stun him a bit(forehead hit?)—was worried for a moment he’d need to stop. #SummerCup2025

Takeru Amine Kataise Bring Him Home 3A fall 3A2T 3Lo 3S fall 3Lz2A2A 3Lz2T 3F 136.30, 214.78 into 3rd #SummerCup2025

Tatsuya Tsuboi 4T fall 4S 2S3T 3A step, hand 3A1Eu3S 3Lz 3Lo 151.92, 229.37 into 1st Another imperfect but not-bad outing from the men here. #SummerCup

Kaito Sugiyama Nureyev 3A2T 3S 2Lo 3A 3Lz2T 3F fall 3Lz 128.68, 200.49, into 2nd Elegant, as always! #SummerCup2025

Kazuki Tomono Halston 2T 4T hand 2T 4S step 3Lo 3A1Eu2?S 3F2A 3A 150.93, 222.58 into 1st Kind of shaky jumps but really not that bad for a senior man in August. #SummerCup2025

Mao Shimada 4Tq? 3A 3Lz3T 3S3T 3F2A2A 3Lo 3Lz 151.47, 219.28 1st Wow! This form so early in the season! I support the age rule change, but it is unfortunate for Mao. #SummerCup2025

Hana Ishizaki (aka Hana Bath) 3A fall 3A turn (step?)2T* 3Lz3T 3Lo 3F 3Lz2A2A 3?S Fall on spin 109.10, 176.19 into 4th Hana’s FSC is in Australia and it seems she has dual citizenship there. #SummerCup2025

Ikura Kushida 3Lz3T 3S 3Lo 3F2A 3Lz2T2Lo 2A 3F 127.91, 194.45 into 1st Elegant and so well prepared! Hard to believe she’s training two disciplines at once! #SummerCup2025

Mayuko Oka Some Bright Morning 3F turn 3T turn 3A🌟 3Lz 3Lo 3F2A2A 3Lz 3S2T 128.19, 191.83 into 1st She’s come prepared! #SummerCup2025

Sumika Kanazawa Peter Pan 3Lz3T 3A fall 3S 3Lo 3F2T 3F2A2A 3Lz 116.43, 176.26 into 1st Ambitious and charming! #SummerCup2025

Saki Miyake Think of Me 3T3T 2A 3Lz 🌟71.51, 1st in the short by several points! Some of the biggest jumps around! Nice finish to a very long women’s short program lineup. #SummerCup2025

Mone Chiba Sakura 3F3T 2A fall 3Lz fall 60.60, into 5th Not sure what happened on those jumps—not over the blade on the landing maybe? #SummerCup2025

Rino Matsuike Lux Aeterna 1A* 3Lz3T step 3F 57.04, into 8th Lovely program, but she still seems to have jump trouble in the short for some reason. #SummerCup

Mai Mihara Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 2A 3F (hangs on) 3Lz2T 60.98, into 4th Happy to see her looking in good condition after the tough season she had last year! #SummerCup2025

Mai Mihara is skating in the next group at #SummerCup2025 I hope she’s recovered well from her injury! 🤞

Rinka Watanabe El Tango de Roxanne 3A fall 1Lz* 3Lo3T< 53.67, into 8th Oops, wrong music (“Get Lost”?) came up, and she had to pass over a different CD. #SummerCup2025

Ami Nakai La Strada 3A fall 3Lz3T 3Lo 63.66, into 2nd *Missed Mana Kawabe’s program, but she’s in 3rd at 62.17 #SummerCup2025

Rion Sumiyoshi Alba Lullaby 2A 3Lz turn 3T 3F turn/step, hand down 65.22, into 1st A little rough on the jumps, but a pretty program. #SummerCup2025

Based on the choreography I’ve seen today, I can confidently say: Cartwheels are back, baby! (Maybe they never left…) For me it’s one of the odder trends in figure skating choreo… But I can’t argue that the crowd doesn’t love them! 🤸🏻‍♂️ #figureskating

Kao Miura Sunset on M/Sturm I-Fear 4S3T 3A hand 3?T step Fall after cartwheel 71.53, into 5th He’s had injuries, so considering that, not too bad. #SummerCup2025

Shuntaro Asaga The Fire Within 3A 3Lz3T 3F step 68.13, into 5th No quads here, but still solid and a great performance! (I’m eternally trying to will Shuntaro to rise up the ranks.) #SummerCup2025