Japan Names Its World Tour Team, and Its ◆7M Skater Is Only In for Seoul

Japan's federation has named the skaters it is sending to the first five World Tour stops, and the list answers the question that matters most to anyone holding Japanese skaters: who actually starts in Vancouver. Five men and five women are marked for the opener, nine of those ten are in our pool, and five of the ten cost ◆1M. The less obvious part comes later in the list: Japan's second most expensive skater is selected for only one of the five stops.

What Japan Announced

The Japan Skating Federation (JSF) published its dispatch list for World Tour stops 1 to 5 on October 4. It names 12 men and 7 women. Each skater is marked per stop as either dispatched (○) or reserve (S, 補欠). The list does not give relay lineups or event assignments.

How the Team Was Picked

The JSF's 2026/27 selection criteria, published on July 22, tie the first five stops to one event: the 37th All Japan Short Track Distance Championships on October 3–4 in Minamimaki, Nagano.

• Each skater first has to beat a time-trial standard set by the federation's short track department.
• The winner of each distance (500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m) goes straight onto the team.
• The remaining places, up to five per gender, go to the best 500 m and 1000 m finishers.
• Up to five reserves per gender are picked the same way.
• The criteria allow at most five dispatched skaters per gender, and Japan has three individual entries per distance plus one relay team each.

We could not find the championship results, so we cannot say who won which distance. The list is therefore a direct result of those two days, and the federation's own wording is that the committee can step in where the rules do not decide.

Who Starts in Vancouver

Ten skaters are dispatched for the opener. Prices are from prod on October 5.

Four men (Miyata, Yoshinaga, Wada, Matsuzu) and three women (Nagamori, Kanai, Yamana) are listed for all five stops. If you want a Japanese skater who is guaranteed a start on every stop of the first block, this is the group. Wada, Matsuzu and Yamana do it at ◆1M each.

How the List Changes Along the Way

• Seoul (#3): Mirei NAKASHIMA and Ayano SEKIGUCHI come in. Kenjo and Kinami drop to reserve.
• Shanghai and Beijing (#4–5): Sekiguchi stays and Kenjo returns. Kinami stays on the reserve list. On the men's side, Taiga SASAKI is dispatched and Iwasa moves to reserve.

Nakashima is the one to watch. At ◆7M she is Japan's second most expensive skater in the pool (trend: down), and the list dispatches her for Seoul only. She is not listed for Vancouver, Montréal, Shanghai or Beijing. A skater who is not dispatched scores nothing, so holding her through the first block would mean four stops with no start.

Sasaki and Sekiguchi are both listed under Koumi High School. Neither was in the pool before this list, and neither were Kenjo and the reserve Raito KIDA. All four are now in the pool at ◆1M (snapshot of October 6), trend flat.

Who Was Left Off

Eight Japanese skaters already in the pool are not on the list for any of the five stops. The list gives no reason, so this says nothing about injury or form. These prices are from the pool snapshot of October 6:

One caution on this table. The list shows a reserve named 林 大剛 (Hayashi), and we read that as Daigo HAYASHI, who is in the pool. If it is instead Kosei, the two Hayashis swap places in this section.

Ami Hirai and Keita Watanabe stand out because they are the most expensive names on the omitted list. Check the next JSF announcement before relying on either of them for the first block.

The Reserves

Seven men are listed as reserves at some point. Five of them are reserves for Vancouver: Kida, Katsunori KOIKE, Daigo HAYASHI and two university skaters, Kakinami and Miyoshi. The JSF publishes their names in kanji only, so we have not matched those last two to profiles yet. Yuta FUCHIGAMI is a reserve from Seoul onward. Koike, Fuchigami and Hayashi are each ◆1M in the pool. Among the women, Kinami and Kenjo take turns as the reserve.

A reserve scores only if the federation moves them into a start. Treat them as cheap options, not as starters.

The Universiade Nominees

A second JSF document, also dated October 4, names the first skaters for the Winter Universiade in Changchun, China (January 15–25, 2027, short track on January 22–24). No men are nominated yet. Three women are: Rika KANAI (◆3M, trend up), Wakaba KENJO and Sarasa KINAMI (both ◆1M). All three are on the World Tour #1–2 list. The criteria allow up to three nominees per gender, taken from skaters picked for World Tour #1–2. The other six men and three women will be named after the Universiade selection meet on October 31 to November 1.

What Happens After Stop 5

This is the first block, not the season. According to the criteria, stops 6 and 7 (Gdańsk on February 5–7, 2027, and Tilburg on February 12–14) and the World Championships in Seoul (March 12–14, 2027) are picked from the All Japan Championships on January 10, 2027. The Worlds team is three or five per gender, depending on an ISU notice still to come, and relay entries depend on the final World Tour ranking. Do not read this list as the Worlds squad.

The Relay Angle

The list names five dispatched skaters per gender at every stop, and does not say who races the relays. Relay points count triple toward the new Team Crystal Globe this season, which makes the relay lineups worth watching. We can't say more until they appear.

Updated October 13, 2026: Ami Hirai's price corrected to ◆3M, the four new profiles are now in the pool, and the selection process and Universiade nominees were added.

A reminder: prices move. Every athlete and relay team is repriced after each competition, so treat these figures as a starting point, not a fixed cost.

---

Sources

• JSF — 2026/27 Short Track international competition selection criteria (PDF, in Japanese) (July 22, 2026)
• JSF — Universiade 2027 nominated skaters (PDF, in Japanese) (October 4, 2026)
• JSF — 2026/27 Short Track World Tour #1–5 dispatch team (PDF, in Japanese) (October 4, 2026)
• JSF — 2026/27 Short Track international competition dispatch team (in Japanese)
• JSF — Short track designated athletes (spellings of Kida, Sasaki, Sekiguchi, Nakashima) (in Japanese)
• JOC — Team Japan roster, Winter Universiade 2025 (spelling of Kenjo) (in Japanese)