Emi Hirai

Ice dance is one of those disciplines casual fans scroll past on the way to the jumps — and honestly, that's the discipline's loss, not theirs, because what Emi Hirai does on the ice is genuinely hard to wrap your head around. She grew up in Kurashiki, this beautifully preserved canal town in Okayama that feels more like a museum piece than a launching pad for competitive athletes, and somehow ended up on a rink doing one of the most technically and emotionally demanding things in figure skating: moving in lockstep with another human, every edge and twizzle synced, with nowhere to hide if the chemistry isn't there. She kept competing through Kansai University too, which tells you this wasn't a passing phase — that's real commitment. As a Libra she's supposed to be all about balance and partnership, so ice dance almost feels written for her. I respect the obscurity of the path she chose.

Emi Hirai is a Japanese figure skater specializing in ice dance, born on October 14, 1986, in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. She pursued her competitive skating career through university level, graduating from Kansai University. Most details of her personal and professional life remain private.

Name (English)

Emi Hirai

Name (Japanese)

平井絵己

Reading

ひらい えみ

Born

October 14, 1986 (age 39)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Libra / Tiger (Tora)

Origin

Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

Occupation

Figure Skater / Ice Dancer

University

Kansai University

Motto

Private

• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/emiiiii_hra/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B9%B3%E4%BA%95%E7%B5%B5%E5%B7%B1

Tags

• From Okayama Prefecture
• Figure Skater
• Ice Dancer

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.