is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese alpine skier

Alpine skiing

Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...

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His first international successes were at the 1996 Junior World Championships in Schwyz

Schwyz

The town of is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland.The Federal Charter of 1291 or Bundesbrief, the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the Bundesbriefmuseum.-History of the toponym:...

, with a 5th rank in Slalom

Slalom skiing

Slalom is an alpine skiing discipline, involving skiing between poles spaced much closer together than in Giant Slalom, Super-G or Downhill, thereby causing quicker and shorter turns.- Origins :...

, and a 9th rank in Giant Slalom

Giant Slalom skiing

Giant slalom is an alpine skiing discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles spaced at a greater distance to each other than in slalom but less than in super G....

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Since the 1997 Alpine Skiing World Cup

1997 Alpine Skiing World Cup

The 31st World Cup season began in October 1996 in Sölden, Austria, and concluded in March 1997 at the World Cup finals in Vail, Colorado, U.S.A. The overall winners were Luc Alphand of France and Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden....

 he has been participating regularly in World Cup

Alpine skiing World Cup

The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France and the USA...

 races, nine times ranking in the top ten.
Shortly before the 2006 Winter Olympics

2006 Winter Olympics

The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...

 he ranked 4th in Wengen, Switzerland

Wengen, Switzerland

Wengen is a village in the Bernese Oberland in the canton of Bern, located in central Switzerland at an elevation of 1274 m above sea level, and is part of the Jungfrauregion. Wengen has approximately 1,300 year-round residents...

. At the 2006 Winter Olympics

2006 Winter Olympics

The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...

 in Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 he also ranked 4th, the best result of a Japanese skier since Chiharu Igaya

Chiharu Igaya

is a Japanese alpine skier who competed in the 1952 Winter Olympics, in the 1956 Winter Olympics, and in the 1960 Winter Olympics.He was born in Tomari, Hokkaidō and educated at Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1957....

's silver medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics

1956 Winter Olympics

The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. This celebration of the Games was held from 26 January to 5 February 1956. Cortina, which had originally been awarded the 1944 Winter Olympics, beat out...

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In June 2009, he married Japanese popular freestyle ski

Freestyle skiing

Freestyle skiing is form of skiing which used to encompass two disciplines: aerials, and moguls. Except the two disciplines mentioned earlier Freestyle Skiing now consists of Skicross, Half Pipe and Slope Style...

er, Aiko Uemura

Aiko Uemura

is a Japanese freestyle skier. She participates in moguls and dual moguls.Her family moved to Hakuba town, Nagano Prefecture, Japan in 1986. She graduated from Hakuba High School in 1998, and works for the Kitano Construction Corporation in Nagano city, Japan....

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