Japan 2005 Report By Nick Apperley, 16 April 2005 Our delegation of 10 people (which included 2 ski coaches, head of delegation, assistant skating coach and 4 athletes including myself) arrived in Tokyo after a tiring 12-hour flight from Auckland. We were given the express treatment bypassing customs as soon as we had put on our credentials which was a real surprise. The hotel our delegation was staying in was the Shiba Park hotel located 1 hour from Narita airport in the centre of Tokyo. Situated within 10 minutes walk from the hotel was the 333m Tokyo Tower from which we observed the city at the top observation platform. It was a very smoggy day so we could only just see the top of Japans tallest mountain, Mt. Fuji. For 3 days I was staying with a host family in Hara Mura village which is 30 minutes by train from Nagano. Bread was abundant, as the father of 3 girls happened to be a professional baker so subsequently he was busy in the bakery, which is situated right beside the house I was staying in. Every member of the host family was heavily into music so luckily enough there was a chance to see the father playing the Oboe in an amateur orchestra. Parking the huge family van was a real challenge for the mother as Japanese parking buildings are extremely narrow inside with tiny parking spaces, therefore the parking building was a real obstacle course. Food was very well presented and professionally cooked. Heaps of rice was divulged as well as the odd bit of chicken. Fish was available everywhere and cheap with meat except chicken being hugely expensive, especially all types of steak. One case of food poisoning appeared on the news which occurred for the US Figure skating team but apart from that no other major cases were reported so food safety was high. Once in Nagano the New Zealand delegation attended the opening ceremony in the M-Wave ice rink. Heaps of time flew by as we waited for over an hour for all buses to arrive carrying all the various countries that were attending the games. All countries had their chance to be viewed on TV as they entered the rink before being seated in the middle of the building. Speeches were made by various speakers at the ceremony including the founder Mrs Shriver, the president of the games, and for the first time the Crown Prince along with the Japanese president. An exception was made as the president and crown prince are not allowed to by law to be present at the event together. The dances and other performances were spectacular. Practising for skating did not happen very often unfortunately because every major ice rink was very busy during the winter season. Most of my practises leading up to the competition were done in Yamabiko Ice Complex located in Okaya up in the mountains. Yamabiko is mainly used for ice hockey and has held previous NHK championships there. It is surprising that there were no figure skaters in Nagano even though there are 2 ice rinks there After spending 2 days at Tokyo we headed to Nagano on the bullet train which travels at over 300 kph. Once in Nagano we stayed for 4 days in the Mitsui Garden Hotel for the duration of the competition. When no official practices and competitions were on there was time to sightsee in Nagano. A great deal of time was spent looking at temples including the famous Zenkoji temple. My coach and I were able to go underneath the temple which is quite spooky as there is no lighting and touch the key to paradise. Also while at the temple my coach and I bought a fortune paper. On mine it said I would be successful with a major event if I listened to my elders and I would meet an unknown person very soon. Marina's paper said that her health was not the best and also said that if she calmed down then great things would happen for her. In the competition I had a very good skate landing nearly all my doubles including the double axel. Results were very close as the Canadian competitor had a very good skate also but I ended up in first place. Once the competition had finished the head Russian coach bit into my medal to see if it was real gold! Numerous gifts were received from the Russian figure skating team including an antique wooden spoon and chocolate unique to Russia. The closing ceremony was spectacular with a huge dragon waving around people seated near it in the centre of M-Wave Ice Arena. Our last 4 days in Japan was spent sightseeing in Tokyo and doing some last minute shopping. Second to last day in Japan everyone headed to Disneyland which is a huge place and has its own train that connects Disney Land to Disney Sea Resort. We chose the wrong time to go to Disneyland as it was the start of the school holidays which meant that we were not able to go on many rides. However most of the delegation decided to be brave in attempting the Space Mountain ride, which is very rough so eating quite a bit of food beforehand is definitely not recommended! There was a chance to go on the castle tour but unfortunately all the narration is in Japanese. Everywhere in Disneyland from what was observed a majority of teenage Japanese girls were wearing Mickey Mouse hats - it seems to be the trend for them. Overall an enjoyable experience in Japan with great success achieving a gold medal. Thank you to Marina for giving up some of her time to support me at the Games. A big thanks goes out to everyone who helped to fund the trip - including the NZISA, SONZ and their sponsors, SO Canterbury, CISC, Mr John Morrissey, and Kim Lewis. Without their funding to underpin my extended training plus the large participation fees this adventure could not have gone ahead.