While she didn’t use the word “retirement” specifically, Mai Mihara’s latest IG post suggests that the upcoming Nationals will mark the end of her competitive career. Not really surprised but still sad! www.instagram.com/p/DSCQdvWGP7...

Five women attempted 3A at Japanese Junior Nationals 2025, though only Mayuko Oka was clean. Mayuko Oka 3A +0.96 Mao Shimada 3A< F Mei Okada 3A< F Sumika Kanazawa 3A<< Reina Kawakatsu 3A< F #figureskating

Mao Shimada won her 5th-straight Japanese junior national title! Mayuko Oka was 1st in the free—3A helped her rise from 8th to silver overall. (Protocol shown) Mei Okada took bronze. The medalists + 4th-place Sumika Kanazawa will compete again at the JGP Final. #figureskating

Japanese Olympian Keiji Tanaka has announced his marriage. Congratulations to the couple! #Figureskating www.instagram.com/p/DRWwA_kEtW...

Japan Junior Nationals is this Sunday and Monday (JPN time)! Note: This is only for singles, as the junior national ice dance competition will be held alongside the seniors in December. No junior pairs entered this year. #figureskating

This free skate music isn’t awful, but it really does nothing to emphasize Kazuki’s strengths. No energy, no real crescendo… Maybe it makes me sound uncultured, but it’s kind of a snooze fest. #SkateAmerica

Oh dear! I didn’t think Japan’s team event ice dance spot was very realistically up for grabs, but if this isn’t seriously cleaned up by Nationals, Kushida/Shimada might have an opening (depending how they do at Golden Spin). #NHKtrophy

Yuna and Sumitada bringing the heat! 👏👏👏👏 #NHKTrophy

JPN Ice Dance Qualifier Ikura Kushida/Koshiro Shimada Moonlight Serenade/Sabrina Rather shocking double fall early on (I think he slipped while holding her), but they recovered well. It’s a dream pairing—I’ll be so sad if they don’t stick around! 92.02, 159.21 🥇

JPN Ice Dance Qualifier Rika Kihira/Shingo Nishiyama Mononoke Hime Significant wobbles on the curve lift and twizzles, but again—they’ve had around a month’s practice and Rika’s new to ice dance. Extremely impressive how far they’ve come! 77.13, 136.74 into 2nd

JPN Ice Dance Qualifier Ayano Sasaki/Yoshimitsu Ikeda The Bells of Notre Dame They’ve clearly put in a lot of work—it would be nice if they could get more opportunities from the JSF to compete. 88.65, 143.41 into 1st

JPN Ice Dance Qualifier Chisato Uramatsu/Atsuhiko Tamura Experience Some lovely moments, and nice costumes, too! And… did they do a side-by-side jump? Is that allowed? I need to brush up on my ice dance! 80.39, 130.86 into 1st

JPN Ice Dance Qualifier Haruno Yajima/Tsukasa Yajima Liebestraume 48.78, 79.67

Catching up on the men at Skate Canada. Only one skater under 80 points in the short? That’s a big step up from the last two events! I hope the free skates go as well.

JPN ice dance qualifier RD protocols for Ikura Kushida/Koshiro Shimada (1), Rika Kihira/Shingo Nishiyama (2), and Ayano Sasaki/Yoshimitsu Ikeda (3). The winning team can be assigned to Golden Spin if the total TES (RD+FD) is at least 85 points. Looking forward to the FD!

I LOVE that we get to see Rika Kihira do ice dance. 😍 I HATE that she has to deal with this cheese ball theme. 😩 Can’t we get the lady a tango or something? 😭

JPN Ice Dance Qualifier Ikura Kushida/Koshiro Shimada Got the Groove/Show Me Something Special No shortage of charisma on this team! They’re a great pair of performers. 67.19, 1st place (Far ahead of 2nd-place Kihira/Nishiyama with 59.61)

JPN Ice Dance Qualifier Chisato Uramatsu/Atsuhiko Tamura Beautiful Life Another new couple looking promising! They’re closer in height than I would’ve guessed, but Chisato seems very at home in ice dance. 50.47, into 3rd

JPN Ice Dance Qualifier Rika Kihira/Shingo Nishiyama Mambo No. 5 I think they look great, especially considering the limited prep time! (To be fair, though, I’m not very knowledgeable about ice dance.) 59.61, into 1st

JPN ice dance qualifier Haruno Yajima/Tsukasa Yajima I Want It That Way/Livin La Vida Loca Kind of shaky, but I think they’re a new couple. 30.89, into 2nd

JPN ice dance qualifier Ayano Sasaki/Yoshimitsu Ikeda Barbie Girl/Be My Lover Nice energy! A bit out of sync on the twizzles. 54.76

In the warmup, Rika and Shingo appear to have really great synchronization. Looking forward to the actual program! #icedance

Would I have chosen the Thong Song for a junior rhythm dance? No. But it does give me some nostalgia… #icedance

Mako Yamashita was a little off axis on the 2A, but held on and looked really strong overall. 67.82, overtaking Saki Miyake for 1st (many skaters still to come) #JapanWestSectionals

Saki Miyake’s short program jumps looked great, but bummer that she had a fluke fall in the steps. 65.87, into 1st #JapanWestSectionals

Have I gotten pumped up about Japan’s ice dance field before, only to see most of the couples split? Yes. Will that stop me from getting pumped up about this year’s field and (again) declaring that the country’s ice dance future is bright? No. I’ll get my hopes up every time!

Excited for Japan’s ice dance qualifier this weekend! Five senior teams, including Rika Kihira/Shingo Nishiyama, Ikura Kushida/Koshiro Shimada, and Chisato Uramatsu/Atsuhiko Tamura. Five junior teams competing, as well!

Saw some pretty close 3A attempts on a public session from a skater who’s never competed it before. 👀 (Even though it was in a public session, I’m being cryptic because I don’t know if the skater’s talked about training it in the press or not…)

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