Minako Okukawa

**Minako Okukawa** (奥川 ミナコ *Okukawa Minako*) is a former ballerina who currently teaches ballet at her studio in Hasetsu and the ballet teacher of Yuuri Katsuki.

## Appearance

Minako has upper-back length brown hair that has bangs tied in a short ponytail on top, dark gray eyes, a single mole under her left eye and she is fairly tall with long legs/the slim figure of a ballerina.

She is usually seen wearing a brown trench coat over a blue-gray cardigan and a white blouse, with dark blue skinny jeans and brown ankle boots.

## Personality

Minako is an energetic and outgoing woman who is often striking ballet poses whenever she gets enthusiastic about something. She insists on manners, discipline, and body management, though she also enjoys alcohol, which contradicts her emphasis on manners and causes her to be quite brash and loud. She tries to keep Yuuri Katsuki motivated as a skater because the number of youth in Hasetsu is declining, putting her job as a ballet teacher in peril.

She is a big fan of figure skating and constantly expresses her attraction towards the male skaters while drunk, especially to Victor Nikiforov and she is also a big fan of Christophe Giacometti's, cheering for him when he performs and becoming flustered when noticed by him.

## Background

Minako is a Hasetsu native who was able to garner some amount of international fame for her skill in ballet, having traveled the world during her career as a dancer where she is one of the recipients of the Benois de la Danse, one of the ballet world's greatest honors.

Minako has since settled down in Hasetsu and started up a ballet studio, where she teaches local students. Currently, Yuuri Katsuki is her only student, since in recent years fewer and fewer people have been coming to her for lessons due to Hasetsu's shrinking population. In addition to her ballet studio, Minako also owns and operates a snack bar called Kachu Snack Bar.

## Relationships

### Yuuri Katsuki

Minako is a friend of the Katsuki family where she is particularly close with Yuuri as his former ballet teacher and long-time supporter. She is the one who encouraged him to go into figure skating and she often accompanies him on late-night practice sessions either at her studio or at Ice Castle Hasetsu .

Aside from the Rostelecom Cup, she goes to almost all of Yuuri's competitions so she can support him, though she also goes due to being a skating fan.

### Hiroko Katsuki

Minako and Hiroko are old friends with Minako being on a first-name basis with Hiroko and often visiting Yu-topia. Hiroko refers to Minako with the "-senpai" honorific since the two of them went to school together at some point  and Minako is older.

### Mari Katsuki

Minako gets along well with Mari, whom she refers to as "Mari-chan".

They travel together to Barcelona so they can see the Grand Prix Final live.

### Axel, Lutz, and Loop Nishigori

Minako and the triplets are seen to have a decently close relationship, planning "Hot Springs on Ice" together and celebrating in dance when putting up posters. She sits with them in the stands during the event.

## Quotes

* "*Toshiya-san! It's no laughing matter! This is not the weight a figure skater should have!*" (to Toshiya Katsuki after seeing Yuuri Katsuki's obese appearance)
* *"Yuuri was able to grow because he had a place where he could practice alone whenever he got anxious. He's no genius, but he was gifted with more free time than anyone else to practice."* (to Victor Nikiforov)
* *"I pulled an all-nighter to help Yuuri practice, and he's no ordinary pork cutlet bowl."* (to herself)
* *"Yuuri, you are known for your step-sequences and spins."*(to herself)
* *"I've never seen you wearing that ring before."* (to Yuuri)
* *"He's changed since Yurio taught him how to do the Salchow."* (about Yuuri)

## Etymology

* The name **Minako** can have a number of meanings depending on the kanji being used, but since it is written in katakana (ミナコ), it has no inherent meaning. However, when written in kanji (美奈子), it could possibly mean "beautiful" (美) (**mi**), "apple tree" (奈) (**na**) and "child" (子) (**ko**).
* Minako's surname **Okukawa** means "back, inner part, heart, interior" (奥) (**oku**) and "river, stream" (川) (**kawa**).
	+ **Okukawa** (奥川) would normally be romanized as **Okugawa** in most parts of Japan. However, as she is from Kyushu, the correct romanization of "奥川" is **Okukawa**.

## Trivia

* Minako's Instagram is minako-okukawa .
* Minako's official age is unknown, but it has been confirmed that Hiroko Katsuki is younger than her .
	+ Since Hiroko is 49 years old, this would mean that Minako is at least 50.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Yuri!!! on Ice* Episode 2
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Yuri!!! on Ice Blu-ray Vol. 2 Booklet
3. ↑ *Yuri!!! on Ice* Episode 1
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Yuri!!! on Ice* Episode 3
5. ↑ *Yuri!!! on Ice* Episode 10
6. ↑ *Yuri!!! on Ice* Episode 11