Umebachi

I would like to suggest that when you send the journal article, you emphasize that this is a FEASIBILITY STUDY and please could you not link it to Martina's articles? While she is trying to be helpful, her articles are quite inflammatory and is attracting many haters, and it would raise defensive reaction and negative emotions in anyone receiving any translation of Yuzu's research work. This would be highly counter-productive and I believe this would undermine what Yuzu is trying to do - which is to move the discussion toward the future well-being of figure skating and not relive the past amertume. I have noted that the "feasibility study" aspect of the research goal is not sufficiently highlighted in the ongoing internet discussions. By using this rubric, it is clear to me that he is not focusing on highlighting the current problems with scoring, but on offering useful and feasible solutions to addressing the very difficult and challenging task of judging the quality of jumps in figure skating. Feasibility studies are conducted to help funders/governments/institutions make a decision on whether to invest in a certain instrument or adopt a policy. Clearly, he is inviting the skating world to consider investing in this technology, and demonstrating that this is not such an insurmoutable task, but quite feasible one using readily available and not so costly technology.

Wow, I would never have thought Canada's FS world would go up in flames in a Russian-style drama. Has FS become so marginal in Canada that they don't allocate any serious human resources to managing its PR? Probably left to some poor, inexperienced intern to manage the flames - and get burned further. This will make the FS sports even more distasteful for the general public. Meanwhile (as a pallate cleanser): back in Japan Tatsuki Machida is pushing the narrative of FS as art... he is launching his "Legacy/Inheritance" project to hand over memorable programs to the new generation of skaters, so that these programs become treasures to be cherished and nurtured for generations (like classical ballet). We have Keiji Tanaka dancing as a cool Parisien dude in Fedora, as a starter.

This is mind-blowing! Machida-kun is truly taking figure skating to new level of artistry. This is an introductory documentary by TV Tokyo (one of the more progressive stations - so glad its not Fuji or TV Asahi), in which Machida introduces his new "Inheritance Project". Machida explains that through the long history of Figure Skating, there have been many memorable and artistically superb programs which become forgotten and no longer performed when the skater retires. Machida wants to create a new movement in which these masterpieces are not forgotten or lost, but are handed over and further developed and refined by the next generation of skaters - just as in classical ballet, where choreographic masterpieces are inherited and cherished and performed continuously, like Swan Lake by Marius Petipas. In this first piece, Machida wants to have his program "Je te veux" to be performed by Keiji Tanaka. He chose Keiji because this piece of music evokes the image of a Parisien man in his 30s or 40s - worldly and confident. Keiji's physique and mature expressions seemed to fit the piece very well. The video shows them practicing together. Keiji looks fabulous in his trench coat and fedora hat and cigar (not actually smoking it). Keiji has been practicing ballet movements in preparation for this event. Looking forward to this program to be shown on TV Tokyo! ETA: This will be shown as part of Prince Ice World show on May 1 - 5, 2021. BTW, Machida-kun has furthermore published a paper proposing these memorable programs to be managed like an intellectual property (legally copyright eligible). He would like to develop an inventory of such memorable masterpieces that could become part of the legacy and rich history of figure skating as artistic sports. It seems in Japan we are growing a bevvy of intellectual skaters! (Well, at least two - Machida the artistic philosopher, and Hanyu - the hardcore scientific researcher).

This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

Isakura has updated its system and no longer using flash (at least that is what I read somewhere). Both isakura and forjoytv carry the CS TBS channels for live broadcasting of SOI. I checked on isakura subscription price and found that it's not much different from ForJoyTV. They used to have a short (one week) trial option but that is not showing up any more. FYI: isakura is $30 per month and forjoytv is US$27.99 (on 20% discount sale) per month.

This is a very confusing site - seems it gives access to various Japanese channels but not sure how and quality seems poor.

A Sponichi spread on Uchimura Kohei's words of encouragement to Yuzu - "From the King of Summer Olympics to the King of Winter Olympics, who is attempting the unprecedented 4A" This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

OK I have started a thread on access to Japanese TV in this thread. Please add your suggestions and share your experiences here:

I am starting this thread to help overseas (i.e., outside of Japan) viewers access Japanese TV channels. isakura and forjoytv are two main websites that offer fairly comprehensive access to Japanese TV channels. I personally prefer the format of forjoytv which has an easy download option, but it does not include Fujitv channels - which is where ISU World Championship events are shown. Here are the respective weblinks: http://www.isakuraiptv.com/ https://forjoytv.com/subscriptions On this thread, we can share our experiences in accessing these and other sites and avoid turning our event threads into tech support discussion blogs!

OFF TOPIC but important for accessing more Yuzu sightings. Perhaps it would be helpful to set up a special thread for accessing Japanese TV from overseas? As I have mentioned before, I use ForJoyTV (weblink: forjoytv.com ) to access Japanese TV which includes almost all the major channels as well as satellite and cable channels. The only channels not included are FUJITV and affiliates (which is fine by me because I really dislike FujiTV). I use service website for my everyday viewing of Japanese TV (from Canada), and I am often better informed than my family back home in Japan (lol). TBS channels are included, so I will be able to watch SO live on CS-TBS. You can see from the screen that TBS is included, along with TB Asahi, FujiTV and all the other major channels.

Sharing my comment on a tweet about Yuzu's thesis. The original tweeter was referring to that tabloid article and noted that his thesis was not written in anger, but an expression of his love and dedication for the benefit of future skaters. I said I agree with her, and that it's because he truly loves Figure Skating that we can feel the passion in his research. (The google translation does a miserable job in translation here). This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

It is not a specific woman reporter. This is a women's magazine that is well-known for producing gossip articles. A tabloid, in other words.

WARNING: Please be careful and don't give clicks to this article! This is published in that notorious women's gossip magazine that stalked him. The article misreads the thesis and ascribes incorrect meaning to certain terms: there is no "anger" in his thesis.

Well, sorry but not sorry. I had to chime in to support Umedonguri’s response to JW's comment.

Adding to the comments above, Ichiro said it best here: "There is something odd (wrong) about letting those who cut corners to flourish."

I also think that he wanted to get a good video recording of his 4A to add to his "collection of 4A specimen" to advance his research. Mission accomplished! Yuzu has been doing this since his junior years, i.e., letting the media record his comments and performance so that he can review them later and build up a better understanding of his own mental condition and behavior. He takes copious notes based on these scientific observations! By doing so, he ends up compiling - in print, video and in digital cloud - a large archive of his long journey toward his vision. The young man is truly a visionary, and is getting even better at this art of creating, evaluating and sharing the narrative with the public. Someone in the twitter made reference to the words of Yu Darvish in connection with Yuzu. Darvish recently made news with a new type of curve ball. Instead of keeping the technique secret, he has shared a video revealing in great detail the new technique. He said he wanted to share this with everyone because the purpose of his effort in developing the new pitch is to raise the quality of baseball overall and have many people try this new technique. It's an equivalent to Open Source system in IT - to promote greater equity and democratic values. The Japanese TV is celebrating these young men from Tohoku - the pro golfer Matsuyama, Darvish and Ohtani - who are following the footsteps of Ichiro in combining great atheleticism with deep commitment to ethical values. It's a nice change from the usual media frenzy digging into the negative side of things, and hopefully it will have a lasting effect from the sheer number and level of accomplishments by these athletes. Sportsmanship at its best, and what the Olympics was supposed to embody, alas, before commercial greed ate into its core...

A great article on Tokyo Sports: ４ＡとＡＩ。羽生選手が思い描く輝かしい未来... "4A and AI. The brilliant future envisioned by Skater Hanyu" Written by a former FS judge, Hiramatsu Junko who retired in June 2018. She refers to Yuzu's thesis and the importance of combining AI technology with human evaluation to enhance the quality of Figure Skating. Although he ended up second at WTT, she sees Yuzu continuing to make pathbreaking progress by combining AI and 4A. She foresees a brilliant future for Yuzu in this direction.

Yuzu interview after the Free program: 「今シーズン、やっぱり４回転半が入れられなかったことがすごく残念に思います。ただ４回転半を練習してきたからこそ見えてきた曲とのつながりとか、トリプルアクセルとの違いとか、他のジャンプへの体の使い方の考え方とか、いろんなことが見つかっています。そういった今の知識、経験、いろんなものを結集させて、来季４回転半を目指して、そして４回転半が揃った、完成された演技を目指して頑張ってきたいと思います」 I really regret that I was not able to incorporate 4A this season. But because I was practicing 4A I was able to gain new insights into how to make better connection with the music, understand the difference with 3A, and think about using my body in the other jumps - I have discovered many new things. I want to bring together all the knowledge, experience and other things I have accumulated (this season) and apply them toward next season's 4A. And I will aim for a perfect performance that incorporates 4A. A beautiful closing statemtent for a very special season. Thank you! This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

This was a uniquely tough season, but Yuzu managed to come through it with even more beautiful performance and skating skills. Thank you for not continuing to face the challenges and sharing the experience with us! Through this non-sensical WTT event, he has managed to discover the pathway to his 4A dream and has shown us how much he is able to maintain emotional balance by drawing strength from all of us and turning it into his own core strength. We are proud of you and look forward to accompanying you on this special journey. Isn't it amazing that he is still competing and still evolving into his third Olympic season!!?? And THANK YOU! to all the satellites on this PH Forum! The new banner is beautiful!

The translation captures the gist of the article, but with some usual mix up of personal pronouns (it's hard to know who is talking - Yuzu or the professor) and one hilarious mistranslation! When Prof first "met" Yuzu on Skype, the translation says: "I felt an attitude" lol (I am sure Yuzu always has a certain "attitude"!!) However, here is the original Japanese sentence: 彼は疲れも見せずしっかり受け答えをしていて、学ぶことへの真摯な態度を感じました。 "He didn't even show any fatigue (the Prof makes this point because the interview was right after Yuzu's 2012 competition) and answered my questions clearly and with certitude (i.e. not waffling about with vague responses), and gave me the impression that he has a serious/sincere attitude toward his studies." In other words, "I felt an attitude", which is a good summary! This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

He has formed the pun on several levels - Lae caught of it but missed one! EDIT: OK, I didn't look at the previous twitter - she did catch all of them! Good for her! He says he made mistakes on a program in which he had had confidence ( JISHIN　自信 ), and now he wants to regain his sense of "being himself" (jibun JISHIN　自分自身) by recovering his center/core (JIbun no SHIN　自分の芯). Then he breaks out into a giggle. 　This was quite good！　 In case you are having problems deciphering the Kanji, every single "shin" that he used above is represented by a character with totally different meaning.

This Japanese artist living in Italy was inspired by Yuzu's performance at the Worlds to produce this beautiful piece of art entitled "A Ray of Hope" (reference to Ryunosuke Akutagawa's novel, Spider's Thread). He says Yuzu is like the light shining through the world suffering from Corona virus pandemic.

I agree (see my post above). He is in an excellent physical conditiion and getting stronger and his skating is really getting better. And his landings are so light that they do less damage to his body compared to other skaters, and he will be able to continue competing for a bit longer. The fact that he changes his boots only once every season is a sure sign that his landings are light!

The main take-away from this interview: Yuzu has been very much focused on 4A - and sometimes spends 3/4 of his 2 hour practice on 4A only. Shuzo-san asks why? why not leave the 4A aside for now and concentrate on winning the next Olympics and beating his rival NC? (he is asking what everyone wants to know)! Yuzu frames his response in the following way: Figure skating is both competitive/athletic sports and an artistic expression. His ideal goal is now is not to pursue 4A on its own ("just land it and declare victory" version) but to jump it "perfectly", meaning (and he himself elaborates) to integrate 4A as part of the entire performance, so that it become part of the flow (and beauty) of the program. He has this image clearly as the legacy of "Yuzuru Hanyu" that he wants to leave behind in his skating career. Winning the Olympics is no longer the goal. From this interview, I am beginning to see TTCT as an ideal program in which to integrate the 4A into the program: he will be able to keep all his edge jumps and present his athleticism in a beautiful narrative that expresses his philosophy as well as way of life. If he is not able to perform this program to his satisfaction by Beijing 2022, then I think he will continue to compete until he attains his goal. We have another year until Beijing: it will be a challenge to land (he hasn't landed one yet, although he has already jumped 4A more than a thousand times) and to perform it with a perfect flow. So, my speculation is that he will persevere in this quest regardless of the Olympics outcome. This is both a frightening and exhilarating vision. He has clearly thrown the glove on the ice (a la Masquerade) in a major challenge - to himself and no other. This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

Without Orser and his team, Yuzu will not have built up the fantastic skating skills. Yuzu himself knew he needed to develop new skills that he could not get while skating in Japan, so he personally chose Orser and TCC as the place to continue his growth. NHK documentary on Yuzu's early days at TCC in 2013 offers great inside look at this story. I am deeply deeply sorry you feel this way and recommend that you watch this (must be in the PH video archives).