Mie Hamada

Mie Hamada (濱田 美栄, Hamada Mie; born October 29, 1959)^[1] is a Japanese figure skating coach and former competitor.

Mie Hamada
Native name	濱田 美栄
Born	(1959-10-29) October 29, 1959 (age 65) Kyoto, Japan

Personal life

Hamada was born October 29, 1959 in Kyoto, Japan. She graduated from Doshisha University in 1983.^[2]

Coaching career

For many years, Hamada coached at the Kansai University Skating Club in Takatsuki, Osaka with Yamato Tamura before relocating to the Kinoshita Academy Kyoto Ice Arena in Uji in 2020.^[3] Hamada is also a member of the Japan Figure Skating Instructor Association.^[4]

At the 2024 ISU Skating Awards, she won the "Best Coach" award.^[5]

Her current students include:

• Mone Chiba,^[6] 2024 Four Continents champion
• Tomoki Hiwatashi,^[7] 2019 World Juniors champion, 2020 US Championships bronze medalist
• Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda,^[8] 2021 CS Cup of Austria silver medalist, 2020 NHK Trophy bronze medalist and 2020–21 Japan junior national champion
• Yuto Kishina,^[9] JGP Lithuania and 2020 Bavarian Open bronze medalist
• Riria Kono,^[10]
• Ikura Kushida,^[11] 2022 Junior Grand Prix Ostrava bronze medalist, 2023 Challenge Cup junior silver medalist
• Ryoga Morimoto,^[12] 2022 Junior Grand Prix Courchevel bronze medalist
• Haruna Murakami,^[13]
• Yuna Nagaoka / Sumitada Moriguchi^[14]
• Shunsuke Nakamura,^[15] 2022 Junior Grand Prix Courchevel champion
• Haruya Sasaki,^[16]
• Ayumi Shibayama,^[17] 2022 Junior Grand Prix Courchevel silver medalist and 2023 Junior Grand Prix Hungary bronze medalist
• Mao Shimada,^[18] 2023 World Junior champion, two-time Japanese Junior National Champion (2022, 2023) champion, 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final champion and 2022 Egna Trophy advanced novice champion
• Sae Shimizu / Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda,^[19]
• Sena Takahashi,^[20]
• Hana Yoshida,^[21] 2022 Junior Grand Prix Courchevel gold medalist, 2019-20 Japan junior national bronze medalist, 2020–21 Japan junior national silver medalist, and Bavarian Open junior champion

Her former students include:

• Rika Kihira,^[22] two-time Four Continents champion and 2018-19 Grand Prix Final gold medalist
• Marin Honda,^[23] 2016 Junior World Champion, 2017 Junior Silver Medalist, and 2015–16 Junior JGP Final bronze medalist
• Sara Honda
• Taichi Honda^[24]
• Ayaka Hosoda,^[25] 8th at 2019 Japanese Nationals
• Riona Kato^[26]
• Mana Kawabe,^[27] 2019–20 Japanese Junior gold medalist
• Mariko Kihara^[28]
• Kim Chae-hwa,^[29]
• Akiko Kitamura^[30]
• Satoko Miyahara (from the age of seven),^[2][31] 2015 World silver medalist and 2018 World bronze medalist and 4-time Japanese National champion (2014-2017) and 2016 Four Continents gold medalist
• Haruna Murakami / Sumitada Moriguchi,^[32] 2023 Japanese Junior champions
• Kana Muramoto^[33] (as a singles skater)
• Satsuki Muramoto,^[34]
• Yukina Ōta,^[35] 2003 World Junior Champion
• Aki Sawada,^[36] 2005 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist
• Yuna Shiraiwa,^[37] 2015–16 Japanese Junior and 2016–17 Japanese Junior silver medalist
• Azusa Tanaka^[38]
• Young You,^[39] 2020 Four Continents silver medalist, 4-time South Korean National champion (2015, 18–20) and 2019 Skate Canada bronze medalist.
• Vincent Zhou,^[40] 2017 World Junior Champion, 2019 and 2022 bronze medalist and 2022 Olympic team event champion

Lawsuit with Nobunari Oda

In April 2017, Nobunari Oda accepted a job as head coach at the Kansai University Skating Club, where Hamada had been coaching at the time. However, Oda would step down from this position in September 2019 and in November 2019, he would hold a press conference claiming that his reason for resignation was due to Hamada morally harassing him. Shortly after that conference, Oda would file a lawsuit against Hamada, seeking 11 million yen in damages for mental distress.^[41][42]

Oda further alleged that Hamada would yell at her students, slam walls and water bottles to intimidate them, and that there was even an incident where Hamada grabbed Satoko Miyahara by the ponytail and slammed her onto the ice. He would also explain that after expressing concerns to Hamada about her training methods, Hamada became enraged and subsequently began ignoring him, talking behind his back, and spreading rumors spread about him. According to Oda, this type of treatment at the rink led to a deterioration in his mental health which was what led to him quitting his job at the Kansai University Skating Club. "There was a power balance between me and Coach Hamada," Oda would explain. "And even though I was the manager, I had no decision-making power."^[42][41]

Hamada would vehemently deny Oda's claims and countersue Oda in response for defamation for what Oda publicly said about her during his press conference and on his blog. A parent of one of the students training at the Kansai University Skating Club would claim that Oda would call students with poor grades "worthless athletes" and angrily tell children who came to train in Osaka from overseas to "go back to their country." This individual further claimed that Oda reduced another parent to tears, saying that they were "unfit to be a parent" because of their child failing to say "hello."^[43][42]

In March 2023, Judge Akitoshi Matsumoto of the Osaka District Court would dismiss Oda's lawsuit and find Oda guilty for defaming Hamada. As a result, Oda was ordered to pay her 2.2 million yen.^[42][41]