Japanese contingent leads horde of media at Skate America

EVERETT — As the Skate America competition starts today in Everett, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide will be counting on a small army of journalists to keep them informed and entertained about the action on the ice.

About 400 journalists from Japan, South Korea, France, Canada and other countries on Thursday packed Comcast Arena to cover the three-day event for their audiences.

Anticipation is building fast in Japan, where figure skating has become big over the last few years. Japan has sent more journalists to Everett than any other country, Skate America organizers said. A major national television network, tv asahi, has brought about 40 people and rented a satellite truck to send images to Tokyo.

“It surprises me,” Laura Lee, chairwoman for the 2008 Skate America organizing committee. “It’s just huge. It just makes me feel like it’s happening.”

On Thursday, tv asahi crews kept busy interviewing three figure skaters from Japan — Miki Ando, Yukari Nakano and Takahiko Kozuka — and Mirai Nagasu, an American skater whose parents are Japanese.

The network is investing a lot of time and money because Japan, a nation of about 127 million people, has a great appetite for figure skating, said Hirotake Nakaguchi, sports producer for tv asahi.

“It’s getting as popular as baseball and soccer,” he said in Japanese.

The sport started becoming popular as star skaters such as Mao Asada and Shizuka Arakawa won competitions worldwide. Arakawa won the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Her gold medal was the only medal for the Japanese team.

Arakawa, who retired from competitive skating after her Olympic win, is expected to arrive in Everett today as a commentator for tv asahi, Nakaguchi said.

Russian figure skater Alexander “Sasha” Uspenski, who attended competitions around the world, said he was amazed at how much attention skaters get in Japan.

“Entire crowds of people follow competitors, but the fans generally behave well,” Uspenski, 21, said in Russian.

Uspenski’s coach, Marina Kudryavtseva, said it’s been a long time since people filled the stadiums just to see practice sessions. That’s why it was nice to see so many fans cheering skaters Thursday morning.

An accomplished Russian coach with more than 30 years of experience, Kudryavtseva said that she and Uspenski arrived Wednesday night and haven’t had a chance to catch a breath.

The one thing they did get to enjoy was the night view of downtown Seattle while driving to Everett from Sea-Tac, Uspenski said.

“I’m mostly focused on the championship, but I’m looking forward to taking a walk around Everett when I get a free minute,” he said.

As female competitors practiced on the rink at Comcast Arena on Thursday afternoon, Masashi Inoue and Akihiro Nakamura took note. The two sports writers flew from Tokyo to Seattle to cover the first round of the 2008-09 International Skating Union Grand Prix of Figure Skating.

Inoue works for Kyodo News, a Japanese news wire service; Nakamura works for Chunichi Shimbun, a daily newspaper of about 2 million circulation, a mid-size regional paper in Japan. It’s unusual for the paper to send a reporter to cover an event abroad, Nakamura said.

Here’s the secret: The paper is based in Aichi Prefecture, where three popular stars — Ando, Nakano and Asada — were born and raised. Their popularity even prompted a local university to build a new ice skating rink, Nakamura said.

Figure skating has won fans in multiple generations in Japan, Nakamura said.

“It’s beautiful,” he said. “It’s fun to watch. It’s entertaining as well. And above all, Japanese skaters are among the best.”

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Southbound lanes on Highway 99 reopen after crash

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, blocked traffic for over an hour. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.