Published on September 3, 2019.
This essay discusses Mao Asada’s rare talent and the responsibility of the Japan Skating Federation for failing to help her win an Olympic gold medal.
Through criticism of rule changes involving South Korea, and reflections on Yuna Kim, Shizuka Arakawa, and Rika Kihira, it argues that Japan must protect its truly world-class talent and show the world the beauty and strength of Japan.

September 3, 2019.
Shameless and vicious South Korea suddenly made the score for two triple jumps higher than the score for the triple axel.
Against this vicious outrage, the Japan Skating Federation did not raise a single strong voice of opposition.
After taking care of some business, having a delicious meal, returning home, and opening my PC, this was presented to me as a recommendation.
Mao Asada at the Paris exhibition during her first Olympic year… I will write later about today’s Rika Kihira, Rikako Ikee in swimming, and Hinako Shibuno in golf.
As for Mao Asada mentioned at the beginning, I first saw it on a figure skating program on CS broadcasting called “Great Performances We Want to See Again.”
I am someone who has watched figure skating more continuously than ordinary people, but this was a program that made me take off my hat to the true fanatics of that field.
That is because, having lived my life as a businessman, there is no way I could have watched to that extent.
I was also impressed by the accuracy of the discerning eyes of the true watchers.
After all, Mao Asada was a world-class talent no less than Rika Kihira.
The figure skating federation that ultimately failed to let her, the true world’s best whom everyone recognized, win an Olympic gold medal was the lowest kind of organization.
When Mao Asada brilliantly landed the triple axel at the age of fourteen and became the champion of the All-Japan Figure Skating Championships, the world recognized that she was the world’s best.
Around that time, I was frequently traveling back and forth between Tokyo and Osaka.
Hotel Okura was my regular hotel.
That was because it was no exaggeration to say that Okura was the best hotel in the world when it came to food.
At the time, I was one of Osaka’s leading heavy drinkers, and I loved the bar at Okura.
On that occasion, it was at the bar in the annex… and it was early in the evening.
Sitting next to me was Ms. Shirota, who at that time controlled figure skating.
Across from her were two men.
Naturally, I introduced myself.
After the conversation became lively, I stopped talking and drank alone.
Their conversation was just like that of show promoters or fixers.
Today, a twelve-year-old genius has appeared in the world of men’s diving, and an Olympic gold medal is no longer a dream.
There is an age restriction in the world of figure skating, but the president of the world federation at that time was Italian.
He said at a press conference that if there had been a strong recommendation from Japan, he would have considered it, but there was absolutely nothing.
Mao Asada was the appearance of the world’s greatest talent, recognized by everyone in the world, and everyone wanted to see her.
Yet she did not even recommend Mao Asada and was absorbed in things like a fixer.
Fortunately, perhaps because it was a time when the place was almost empty, their behavior touched my wrath.
I rebuked her in a voice as loud as Nobunaga’s.
If you have time to do such things, let Mao Asada compete.
You are not qualified to be involved in sports!
It is now clearly evident that South Korea is a country of “bottomless evil” and “plausible lies.”
Despite this, for some reason, in the international community, South Korea has raised its voice loudly in inverse proportion to the size of its country and has occupied a greater presence than Japan.
That South Korea had the International Skating Union accept a completely cowardly rule change in order to make Yuna Kim win the gold medal.
Yuna Kim cannot jump the triple axel, which is the most difficult technique in women’s figure skating.
She can beautifully jump two triple jumps, which anyone can jump.
So shameless and vicious South Korea suddenly made the score for two triple jumps higher than the score for the triple axel.
Against this vicious outrage, the Japan Skating Federation did not raise a single strong voice of opposition.
That Mao Asada was a rare talent is obvious at a glance if one watches the Paris exhibition mentioned at the beginning.
The figure skating federation, and by extension Japan, that could not make this talent win a gold medal was the lowest.
It goes without saying that here, too, the pro-South Korea Asahi and NHK exerted their power.
It goes without saying that they did not criticize anything at all.
If, at the coming Beijing Olympics, Japan cannot make Rika Kihira, who appeared after Mao Asada, win the gold medal, all the executives of the Japan Skating Federation should resign.
All the more so because in Russia there has appeared a skater named Kamila Valieva… who, if she continues to grow in this way, will likely become Kihira’s greatest rival in Beijing.
The Japanese federation must not do the outrageous thing of using Kihira as a tool for entertainment business.
It must make her concentrate solely on completing a performance that includes the quadruple jump and the triple axel.
If it cannot make Kihira win the gold medal on the Olympic stage by giving eternal emotion to all the fans and spectators around the world, then all the federation executives must commit seppuku as samurai.
It was by chance that Shizuka Arakawa won the gold medal in Turin.
She was not the world’s best recognized by everyone.
It is a well-known fact that the world’s best at that time was overwhelmingly Mao Asada.
It is also a well-known fact that second and third place were being contested by Russia’s Slutskaya and America’s Sasha Cohen.
These two made fatal mistakes in Turin, defeated by the pressure of the Olympics.
Arakawa, on the other hand, so to speak, put everything together safely and perfectly.
It was a windfall gold medal.
This time, Japan must make the true world’s best win the gold medal and make the world recognize the splendor of the nation called Japan.
This is not a matter of a single figure skating federation, but a matter of Japan’s power and beauty, national strength, and the shape of the nation.
It is also the duty of Japan, the country where “The Turntable of Civilization” is turning, to absolutely make Rika Kihira, a descendant of Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon, win the gold medal.