With the Vancouver Olympics only 50 days away, Mao Asada will take the ice on Saturday in Osaka looking for redemption at the Japan nationals, having not skated competitively for two months.
Mao last competed in October at the Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, where she finished a shocking fifth. Compounding this result was the fact that she was coming off a 36-point loss at the hands of reigning world champion Kim Yu Na in the Grand Prix season-opening Trophee Bompard in Paris the week before.
The nation's eyes will be on Mao to see if she can regain her form following the long layoff and capture her fourth straight national crown. In what once seemed almost unimaginable, Mao has now gone an entire year without a victory. Her last title came at last year's nationals in Nagano.