Arakawa to host a Charity Show in May

(Translation by MINAM, FSU poster)

Arakawa will appear in "Charle Presents Shizuka Arakawa Friends on Ice" on May 8th at the Shin Yokohama Prince Hotel Skate Center. A portion of the profits will be offered to help with young skaters' training fees.

This show was planned by Arakawa, who wanted to "Give dreams and hopes for children who love figure skating". Yoshie Onda, Yukari Nakano, Daisuke Takahashi and others have joined in with this plan. The show will consist of 2 parts.  It is uncommon in Japan to have one's name on a show, however as the Promotional announcement explained, "We are planning to offer part of the profits for training fees." On her return from Turin, Arakawa has been thinking how she can repay to the sport. This show will be the first of her ideas, with others to continue in the form of ice shows and skate clinics.

Despite the sudden popularity of figure skating in Japan, the current situation is critical. Ice rinks are shutting down and many top skaters are forced to move out of Japan. "Izumi Ice Skate Rink", where Arakawa first trained closed in 2004, and her (first big name) coach Nagakubo had to move to Nagoya (far from Sendai). Arakawa explained this situation at her Gold Medal press conference and called for support to provide facilities throughout Japan. Her primary wish is to re-open the "Izumi Ice Rink", but of course this will take time, so she took her first step by contributing to the development of figure skating.

Sankei Sports mentions that Takeshi Honda and Yamata Tamura are also listed.

Sankei Sports also reports that Arakawa will make several radio interviews in the coming weeks to promote her first of many future shows and exhibitions to give back to her sport.

Also, Lotte (sweets company) has made an Arakawa figurine.

Original Article from Sports Nippon