Northeast Asian Weekly: 06/02/07

June 2, 2007

Last year, Shizuka Arakawa became the first Japanese figure skater to win Olympic gold. She performs at the Everett Events Center this Saturday.

Cool as ice

By Bryan Fung
For the Northwest Asian Weekly

Olympic gold medalist Shizuka Arakawa and U.S. pairs skating champion Rena Inoue are making their way to the Pacific Northwest for the “Champions on Ice” show June 2 at 3 p.m. at the Everett Events Center. Both skaters are of Japanese decent, but Inoue now skates for the United States with her partner John Baldwin.

A little over a year ago, Arakawa capped off an impressive amateur career with a gold medal at the Turin Olympics to go with the world championship she won in Dortmund, Germany, in 2004.

Inoue won the U.S. champion in pairs skating in 2006 and 2004 along with Baldwin, her partner on and off the ice. Amazingly, the 30-year-old’s best skating came after her battle with lung cancer. Baldwin and Inoue wowed the crowds in Turin when they became the first to land a throw triple axel in the Olympics; they had already become the first to perform the move in competition, at the U.S. championships in 2006.

While Arakawa, 26, is enjoying her new multifaceted life as a professional skater, Inoue and Baldwin are still skating competitively and have no current plans to retire from the amateur circuit.

Learn more about Arakawa and Inoue in their recent phone interview with the Northwest Asian Weekly. The talented Inoue acted as the interpreter for Arakawa.

NWAW: Shizuka, with an Olympic gold and a world championship under your belt, what is left for you to accomplish in skating?

Arakawa: I don’t have any regrets or anything left for my amateur career. I feel satisfied with my career. As a professional, I’m still in the process of learning. I feel like I haven’t connected with the audience. I’m working on it with the professional skaters. There is a lot more I can do to connect, to get close to the audience. I want them to feel my joy out there.

NWAW: How is life different since you retired from competitive skating?

Arakawa: I don’t get any time off. When we were competing, there was an off-season, but now there is no off-season because I have to train all year long. Becoming a professional skater, I feel more responsibility.

NWAW: Do you enjoy it more now?

Arakawa: I enjoy it in a different way. Skating is more like a business now. Besides skating, I have a lot of different jobs and stuff to deal with in Japan. It’s forced me to divide between my regular life and business. My life totally changed, but I am really enjoying my new life. It’s a lot more interesting now.

NWAW: Rena, you are now an American citizen. Was it difficult to decide to compete for the U.S. instead of Japan?

Inoue: When I had to get citizenship to be able to make the Olympic team, that was an even harder decision. Unfortunately, Japan doesn’t allow dual citizenship. Because of that, I had a really hard time. I wasn’t sure how my family was going to feel. But it made more sense for me and Johnny to compete for the U.S. because we already train in L.A.

At the same time, it kind of made me a little sad … especially when we went to international competitions and I saw my old friends. I thought, “I used to be there.” It all worked out in the end, and I’m very pleased with it.

NWAW: Rena, you were diagnosed with lung cancer in 1998. How did that affect your family and your skating career?

Inoue: My entire family was shocked, including me, because just the year before, my dad passed away (from) lung cancer. My family, especially my mom, was freaking out. They found it at the very early stages, so it wasn’t a life-or-death situation in my case. I was very scared too. But I had really good doctors and nurses. They helped me a lot.

I don’t think it hurt my skating career in any way. I did take a year off (from) skating. That whole experience made me appreciate everything that happened in my life.

NWAW: Shizuka, what do you plan to do after your skating career ends?

Arakawa: I haven’t come to one decision, but I have a lot of things on my mind that I want to do. I have a long way to go with my skating career, so I don’t have to rush myself to make any kind of decision at this point.
I love dogs. I have three puppies in my house in Japan. I enjoy thinking about dogs’ little clothes or fashion. I may be interested in that.

NWAW: How did you get into figure skating?

Inoue: I had really bad asthma. My doctor recommended that I go ice-skating and also swim. My parents took me to the little kids’ swimming pool, and they also brought me to the regular public session for skating whenever they had time. They both used to work. The only time they had time to take me skating was maybe Saturday or Sunday during the public session. That’s how I got into skating.

Arakawa: I just went to a regular public session with my parents. It wasn’t like my parents were doing it. And I really liked it.

NWAW: Both of you have traveled to quite a few places in the world. Are there any favorite places?

Arakawa: I like Italy a lot. But the only time I (was) there, it was skating-related. I want to go back to Italy without having skates in my hands. I want to enjoy touring around Italy.

Inoue: In the U.S., I like Boston. I like the historic buildings. Worldwide, I like Italy. Every time I go to Italy, I have a great experience.

Tickets to Champions on Ice range from $40 to $96. For more information, visit www.championsonice.com