Reigning world champion Shoma Uno topped the men's short program with a near-flawless performance at Japan's national figure skating championships on Friday.
Uno scored a whopping 100.45 points at Towa Pharmaceutical RACTAB Dome in Osaka Prefecture to take a 12.76-point lead over second-place Koshiro Shimada into Sunday's free skate.
Sota Yamamoto placed third, 13.56 behind Uno.
Earlier this month, Uno and Yamamoto finished first and second, respectively, at the Grand Prix Final in Turin, Italy.
"I was able to give my best possible performance," said the 25-year-old Uno, who is looking for his fifth national title and first since 2019 after Yuzuru Hanyu won two in a row.
The Beijing Olympic bronze medalist felt discomfort during his six-minute practice but made adjustments to nail a quadruple flip and then a quad-double toeloop combination.
"I managed to bring things under control in a short period of time and skate carefully."
Beijing Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama made his season debut after sitting out the Grand Prix series with a left ankle injury.
Kagiyama had 81.39 points to sit in sixth place, falling on the second part of a triple flip-triple loop combination and failing with a triple axel attempt.
"I'm disappointed," Kagiyama said. "I have to do something about the triple axel because it's been an issue for me. I'll try to come up with a decent free skate."
Haruna Murakami and Sumitada Moriguchi, the only team competing in the pairs event, scored 54.21 in the short program.
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who became the first Japanese to win the Grand Prix Final pairs title, had to miss the event due to a delayed flight and lost baggage while traveling from their training base in Canada.
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