HIGHLIGHTS FROM OSAKA

Though an injured Yuzuru Hanyu did not contest the 2019 Japanese Championships in late December, the excitement level was still at a fever pitch at the Towa Pharmaceutical Ractab Dome in Kadoma City, Osaka.

And most of the attention was focused on Daisuke Takahashi, who was on the comeback trail, competing at the Championships for the first time in four years. Despite his long absence, it was obvious Takahashi’s hero status in his homeland had not diminished.

Shoma Uno, the two-time and reigning national champion who was in the hunt to make it three in a row, felt he benefited from the attention being focused