Curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics was held in the town of Pinerolo, Italy from February 13 to February 24. It proved to be the sleeper hit in terms of television ratings in Italy. According to a CBC feature, curling at the 2006 Winter Games drew 5 million viewers, eclipsing ice hockey and figure skating. This, and the success of the Italian men's curling team created a surge of interest in curling within Italy, where there was no previous tradition of the sport and only a few hundred players.
Madeleine Kanstrup Dupont is a Danish curler from Copenhagen. She won the Frances Brodie Award in 2004. She currently skips her own team with teammates Mathilde Halse, Jasmin Lander, My Larsen, and Denise Dupont.
Japan competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Shizuka Arakawa won the country's only medal, a gold, in women's figure skating. She was the first person born and raised in Asia to become an Olympic champion in that event. Athletes representing Japan participated in all but one of the 2006 Olympics' 15 sports, with Ice hockey the only exception.
Mari Motohashi is a Japanese curler. She currently plays third on Team Honoka Sasaki.
Yumie Funayama is a Japanese curler, born April 5, 1978, in Tokoro, Hokkaido as Yumie Hayashi. She is currently the coach of Sayaka Yoshimura's team from Sapporo, Hokkaido.
Moe Meguro is a Japanese curler. She was born November 20, 1984, in Kushiro, Hokkaido, but grew up in Minamifurano, Hokkaido.
Sakurako Terada is a Japanese curler, born May 17, 1984, in Sorachi District, Hokkaidō.
Kotomi Ishizaki is a Japanese curler from Sapporo.
Anna Ohmiya is a Japanese curler from Sapporo, Hokkaido. She is the second on the FORTIUS curling team, which won the Japan Curling Championships in both 2015 and 2021. She also won the national championship in 2008, 2009 and 2010 as a member of Team Aomori. She competed for Japan at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, placing eighth. At the international level, she has represented Japan at four World Women's Curling Championship and six Pacific-Asia Curling Championships in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014 and 2021, winning the gold medal in 2021.
Japan competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia from 7 to 23 February 2014. Japan's team consisted of 136 athletes in all 15 sports. The use of Russian alphabet placed it last before the host nation in the Parade of Nations.
Kaho Onodera is a Japanese curler from Sapporo, Hokkaido. She is the second on the FORTIUS curling team, which won the Japan Curling Championships in both 2015 and 2021. At the international level, she has represented Japan at three World Women's Curling Championship and three Pacific-Asia Curling Championships in 2013, 2014 and 2021, winning the gold medal in 2021.
Chinami Yoshida is a Japanese curler. She currently plays third for Team Loco Solare, which is skipped by Satsuki Fujisawa. The team won the bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics and the silver medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Sayaka Yoshimura is a Japanese curler from Sapporo, Hokkaido. She is the skip of the FORTIUS curling team, which won the Japan Curling Championships in both 2015 and 2021. At the international level, she has represented Japan twice at the World Women's Curling Championship and two Pacific-Asia Curling Championships in 2014 and 2021, winning the gold medal in 2021.
James Douglas Lind is a Canadian curler and coach. He led three different Japanese curling club teams at Olympic Games in 2014 Sochi and in 2018 PyeongChang as the national coach, and brought five bronze medals to Japanese women's team in 2018.
The Tokoro Curling Club (常呂カーリング倶楽部) is a curling club in Tokoro Town, Kitami City, Hokkaido Island, Japan. The club has about 40 teams, including a team "Loco Solare" (ロコ・ソラーレ).
Chiaki Matsumura is a Japanese curler from Nagano. She was a longtime member of the Chubu Electric Power curling team from 2012 to 2023. With the team, she won five Japan Curling Championships in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2019. At the international level, she has represented Japan three times at the World Women's Curling Championship and three times at the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships, winning a silver medal in both 2012 and 2019.
Junko Nishimuro is a Japanese curler from Otsuki, Yamanashi. She is the second on the SC Karuizawa Club curling team, which is skipped by Asuka Kanai. At the international level, she represented Japan at the 2005 Pacific Curling Championships and the 2006 World Women's Curling Championship as a result of winning the 2005 Japan Curling Championships.
The 2022 Hokkaido Bank Curling Classic was held from August 4 to 7 at the Hokkaido Bank Curling Stadium in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first tour event of the 2022–23 curling season and the first event of the Hokkaido Curling Tour. The total purse for the event is ¥ 1,700,000 on both the men's and women's sides.
The 2021 Japan Curling Championships were held from February 8 to 14 at the Wakkanai City Midori Sports Park in Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan. Both the men's and women's events were played in a round robin format which qualified four teams for a page playoff.
Mina Kobayashi is a Japanese curler from Sapporo, Hokkaido. She is the alternate on the FORTIUS curling team, which is skipped by Sayaka Yoshimura. At the international level, she represented Japan at the 2019 World Mixed Curling Championship and the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, winning silver in the mixed team competition.
