Having attended many summer olympic sports I thought it was time to turn my attention to some winter action but it was actually my lack of attention which nearly resulted in missing this figure skating event!

Only a few days before this NHK Trophy tournament did I even remember it was on and that I had a ticket as it’s not exactly a sport I follow in any way! I purchased the ticket about half a year ago and then forgot all about it. When I found it, I was a bit taken aback by how much I had paid for it all those months ago!! With all the extra fees charged, it cost nearly 5000 yen! I guess I got caught up in the excitement of seeing that another sport I’d never seen before was taking place in Tokyo on my day off!

My figure skating knowledge is severely limited and pretty much bookended by the legendary British pair Torvill and Dean. Their iconic Olympic gold performance in 1984 is one of the first sporting events I can remember watching, and one of the last times I took any interest in the sport was for their return in 1994 when they won bronze.

An iconic British sport moment in history

In the 1980s I also used to enjoy watching Britain’s Robin Cousins’ solo performances and of course the whole Tonya Harding ordeal in 1994 didn’t pass me by. Other than that I can only recall an ice skating themed Robbie Williams music video for ‘She’s The One‘. ‘Dancing On Ice‘ is a popular TV series in the UK hanging on to the coattails of the overly successful ‘Strictly Come Dancing‘ but I’ve only ever seen a couple of clips of that.

In Japan though, figure skating often seems to be on TV and is a popular sport. It is considered to be the country’s most popular winter spectator sport and the likes of Mao Asada and Yuzuru Hanyu were big names in skating here but they’ve retired in recent years so it would be interesting to see how things are faring in the wake of their exits from competitive action.

On a warm afternoon I arrived at Yoyogi 1st Gymnasium in Shibuya-ku at about 2:30 pm just in time to see the first group of four pairs introduced to the crowd. The lights were off meaning it was difficult to find my seat as is the case for those who arrive at the cinema late!

For some reason the back two rows were really full and my seat was there too. However, there were rows and rows of empty seats below them closer to the rink so I went there instead.

It wasn’t too long before Britain’s Luke Digby and Anastasia Vaipan-Law were on the ice rink so it was another opportunity for me to whip out my Union Jack flag in support. Each short program performance clocked in at just under three minutes which was perfect for my poor modern-day attention span!

As is the way with sports decided by judges, it was difficult for me to notice too many differences in the performances. They all looked pretty spectacular to me!

For a Friday afternoon, the atmosphere was pretty good. There was a standing ovation by much of the crowd for some of the performances, especially the Japanese competitors.

There were many Japanese flags present but also quite a few American ones too, and even some of the other countries too. Not bad for a partisan crowd but that is often the way in this country where support is often given fairly to all. I don’t know if it’s just to get on camera but I do remember once seeing a Japanese guy armed with mutltiple flags at one sports event who just switched them and waved the appropriate one in the air each time.

A guy pretending he knows all about figure skating but not realising the action is behind him!

The Japanese pairing of Miura and Kihara came out on top with the Georgian pair behind them. Kam and O’Shea of the USA brought grace and strength to the ice and secured third ahead of the free skating program the following day. I can’t say I followed the action on day two but it seems like the Georgian pair went on to win the gold.

The men’s short program was to follow but first there was a 20 minute break whilst the mascots did a short performance and the rink was smoothed out or whatever it is they do with those machines.

The break gave me a chance to get the following couple of cheesy shots. I’m not sure if this is common in the western world but Japan always seems to have such photo opportunities at events. They’re always good for thumbnails though for past-it bloggers!

One quirk of many sports events in Japan are designated boxes for fans to leave gifts for their favourite competitor. Home-made gifts are especially common here.

Don’t put your rubbish in these boxes!

The men’s solo performances were a different spectacle from the pairs and was enjoyable too. I’m not sure if it was his simple name but I feel like I had heard of the American Jason Brown before this tournament. Both he and an Italian guy were the first competitors to fall over in their performances but they recovered well with support from the crowd each time.

Maybe it’s that 1984 gold medal performance to the tune of Ravel’s ‘Bolero‘ by the aforementioned Torville & Dean that has corrupted my thinkinng but I’m not so keen on seeing performances with anything other than classical music accompanying the routine.

There was the women’s short program after that but I had to get back home. Besides, a few hours of live skating is enough for me. In the past I’d have stayed at any sports event till the end to get maximum value for my ticket but these days I am happy with a few hours.

Click here to read ‘I Watched 15 Sports In Japan For The First Time In 2023’

Click here to read ‘Getting Ready For The Paris 2024 Olympic Games At This Qualifying Event In Tokyo (+ Ice Hockey In Yokohama)’

Click here to read ‘Live Ice Hockey In Tokyo’

Click here to read ‘How Many Olympic Sports Did I See Live In The 18 Month Build Up To Paris 2024?’