Skating Day

What Is Skating Day?

Every December 25th is also "Skating Day" (スケートの日, Sukēto no Hi) in Japan. The day was established in 1982 by the Japan Skating Rink Association. It is said that on December 25, 1861, Thomas Wright Blakiston, a British explorer staying in Hakodate, Hokkaido, went skating — the first time anyone skated in Japan. (Another theory holds that members of Adam Laxman's Russian mission skated at Nemuro in 1792.) The day commemorates this introduction of a sport that would eventually be embraced by Japan with great enthusiasm, producing world-class figure skaters and speed skaters who have competed at the highest international levels.

Ice Skating Comes to Japan

Hakodate, Hokkaido — Japan's most northern major city and one of Japan's earliest treaty ports open to foreign ships — was a natural place for cultural exchange between Japanese people and foreign visitors. Blakiston's skating in 1861 was one of many instances of Western recreational activities reaching Japan through its international treaty ports in the late Edo and early Meiji periods.

Japan's Ice Skating Heritage

Ice skating developed in Japan through the Meiji and Taisho eras, with outdoor skating rinks established in cold-weather regions of Hokkaido and Tohoku. Japan competed in the Winter Olympics from 1928 onward, with figure skating and speed skating becoming particularly strong national disciplines. Japan has produced exceptional figure skaters — most recently Yuzuru Hanyu (羽生結弦), who won back-to-back Olympic gold medals in 2014 and 2018 and became one of the most popular athletes in Japanese history, attracting enormous national following and media coverage.

Yuzuru Hanyu and Figure Skating's Japanese Revival

Yuzuru Hanyu's extraordinary performances at the 2014 Sochi and 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics — and his subsequent world record-setting performances — raised the profile of figure skating in Japan and drew many new fans to the sport. His combination of technical brilliance, artistic sensitivity, and personal charisma made him a cultural phenomenon, and the passionate fan following he attracted ("Hanyu fans," "Team Hanyu") is one of the most devoted in Japanese sports.

Fun Facts

• Discount day: On Skating Day, many rinks in Japan offer reduced admission.
• Speed skating: Japan has also produced world-class speed skaters — Nao Kodaira won gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, and Miho Takagi won one gold and three silvers at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.