December

Ice skating has a long history as skates made of animal bones dating back 5,000 years were found at the bottom of a lake in Switzerland. It’s unknown when the Japanese first strapped on their ice skates, but modern skating did not come organically to the country. According to Joseph Savage, former U.S. Ice Dance Champion, “Japan learned skating from the written word.” Skating may not have been a natural recreation in Japan, but the people were eager students. Japanese figure skaters began competing internationally in the 1932 Olympics, after which they saw a relentless climb up the world rankings. The country had no artificial ice rinks until 1950, but more than 250 indoor and outdoor rinks nationwide. In 1959, Kazuo Ohashi (a Japanese national figure skating champion four years earlier) built a famous ice slide in Osaka for the Mainichi Broadcasting System Sportland Rink. Skaters would climb the stairs to the top and barrel down the course, hoping they’d be able to grab a bit of the wall in an attempt at self-preservation. In 1967, the Fuji Kyuko Express Railway Company constructed the largest manufactured outdoor skating complex in the world in the shadow of Mount Fuji. This consisted…