Nihito Arakawa Nihito Arakawa Arakawa was born in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan, and move to Fussa soon after. Fussa is the city well known by U.S. Air Force Base and Ryū Murakami's novel "Almost Transparent Blue". He enjoyed basketball with fellow kids while living there from the age of two to thirteen, then relocated to Minamiizu, Shizuoka. He became involved in middle-distance running and tennis during junior high school, and served as the captain and pitcher for the high school's baseball team. It was also during high school that he watched the Félix Trinidad fights on WOWOW and was inclined into boxing. He
Shizuka Arakawa for the ISU Grand Prix Final, where she finished fourth. She later placed third at the Japanese Nationals, marking her fifth medal from this meet, with two golds and two silvers from previous seasons. In 2004, she won the World Championships in Dortmund, Germany, after landing seven clean triple jumps. She was the third Japanese woman to win this title after Midori Ito who won in 1989 and Yuka Sato in 1994. Arakawa had planned to retire after the 2004 World Championships, but her victory there convinced her to change her plans. At the 2005 World Championships, Arakawa finished 9th,