Geo1

A couple of crucial saves in Yuzu's career. The quad Salchow and the 3Lz-Euler-3S combination in the 2014 Saitama Worlds free skate. Chris Howarth re the 4S: "Wow! How in "how" he hung onto that?" And during the replay: "Take a look at the 4S at the beginning of this program, cleanly landed, and how he stayed on his feet... I mean that is the measure of the skill of this guy. Look at it, the angle of his skate there. A lesser man would have been on his right ear." Chris Howarth re the 3Lz-Euler-3S combination: "Oh no! That should be 3S!... How he did that I have no idea!"

Yuzu at JNats, especially Ten to Chi to.

Small correction regarding English subtitles. Yuzu said that he likes tonkatsu and this has been translated as “beef cutlet”, but this is incorrect. Tonkatsu is Japanese-style pork cutlet.

Thank you!

Where do I find these?

Speaking of 'blurry fancams of Yuzu taken with potato cellphones at competitions' reminds me of what may be the best fancam of all time – the blurry low resolution, bleached out colour fancam of Yuzu's world record FS at the 2017 Helsinki Worlds taken from one of the farthest seats in the venue by a totally invested Enrique CoMa who provides a wonderfully tearful and joyous commentary as he recorded what would turn out to be the best free skate in history. "Yuzuru Hanyu – I love you!" "Yuzuru Hanyu – you are the best!" He was predicting a score of 125... It has almost 1.09 million views. I watched it again and it still made me laugh and tearful at the same time!

Yuzu appears to be more flexible now than he did 17 years ago. His legs are in a perfectly straight line! A perfect split!

I am re-reading for the third or fourth time the English translated version of a historical Japanese novel about Toyotomi Hideyoshi who was a retainer of Oda Nobunaga. He avenged Oda's death brought about by the traitorous action of a faithless retainer Akechi Mitsuhide and went on to fulfill his master's and his own dream of unifying Japan. He had humble beginnings as a disabled samurai's fatherless son and rose to become the undisputed master of Japan. I was reminded of Yuzu when reading the following passage this afternoon. I thought that it was particularly apropos in light of Yuzu challenging Nessie so many times in Osaka. When Hideyoshi, who had seemed weary from the journey, stood on the tower – his resolute figure outlined against the night sky – he was far more happy than tired. The more dangerous the situation and the deeper his hardships, the happier he became. It was the happiness that arose from surmounting adversities and being able to turn and see them behind him, and he had experienced it to greater and lesser degrees since the time of his youth. He himself claimed that the greatest happiness of life was to stand at the difficult border between success and failure. But now, as he gazed out over nearby Shizugatake and Mount Oiwa, he looked like a man who was confident of victory.

Yuzu's Nessie is going to chase away Nathan's Lutzifer. Edit: Yuzu's Nessie is going to chase away Nathan's Lutzie. Yuzu has the Lutzifer.

"By people who shouldn't even address him on the street, if you see what I mean." LOL! I love it! Judges aren't good enough to speak to Yuzu on the street. You tell them Max! Absolutely true!

My Planet Hanyu banner has not changed. It is still the birthday banner. What magical incantations do I have to utter in order to make it change? Where do I go to make the change? Please help! Edit: Nevermind – I figured it out. I didn't realize there was a "Theme" clickable at the bottom. After all these years! Edit #2: And thanks @rockstaryuzu for replying.

As for myself, listening to his answers and explanations in Japanese without reference to the English translations, I definitely got the sense that he is telling the truth when he said that he has not landed a single quad Axel in all of his attempts. He said that he found himself questioning whether it is humanly possible. He is now thinking that it is a totally different jump from the triple Axel. He is coming to the realization that he has to approach this jump totally differently than he has the triple Axel. These are not the words of someone who has landed this jump, no matter how imperfectly. I just pray that he does not injure himself, remains healthy and achieves his dream.

The LA Times also referred to Yuzu in their story about Hideki Matsuyama: “Hideki Matsuyama's historic Masters win carries different weight in Japan” https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2021-04-12/hideki-matsuyama-masters-rise-of-japanese-athletes Hideki Matsuyama just won the PGA Masters tournament and the coveted (IMAO ugly) green jacket. He is the first Japanese to win the Masters and a major PGA tournament, but that is not the reason I am mentioning him here. I am posting this because he, like Yuzu, had tears in his eyes when he thanked the people of Tohoku: "I'm glad I'm able to deliver positive news to the people who pushed me forward then. Thank you." He was a 19-year-old student at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai and in a training camp in Australia when the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami occurred. When he returned to Sendai, he experienced the effects of the disaster firsthand, losing weight as he survived on a diet of instant ramen. A month after the disaster struck, he received an invitation to the Masters, but he almost did not go. Like Yuzu, he was conflicted as to whether it was appropriate to pursue his passion in the face of such a disaster. As Matsuyama debated whether to play in the Masters, he started receiving letters and faxes from the people of Tohoku encouraging him to accept the invitation. Matsuyama listened to them, taking with him the more than 200 pieces of correspondence, which he read throughout the tournament. Matsuyama became the first Japanese golfer to earn low-amateur honors at the Masters, finishing in a tie for 27th overall with the previous year's Masters champion, Phil Mickelson. A decade later, on Sunday, he became the first Japanese golfer to be crowned Masters champion. He has also become a symbol of the Tohoku region's recovery, alongside Yuzu and 19-year-old baseball player Roki Sasaki. Sasaki, who is from the Iwate coast in the Tohoku region, lost his father and a set of grandparents in the tsunami. Instead of accepting an invitation to play for a baseball powerhouse, Sasaki attended high school in the same town in which he and his family rebuilt their lives. While there, he threw a 101 mph fastball that made him the country's most sought after pitching prospect since Shohei Ohtani. 6’4” Shohei Ohtani is also from Iwate and is the first true two-way player since Babe Ruth in MLB where he is a pitcher and designated hitter for the Los Angeles Angels. Tohoku has a lot of impressive stars to cheer for, but none brighter than Yuzuru Hanyu. This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

I am pretty sure that he is falling most, if not all, of the time. I do not think that it is possible to seriously hope to land a quad Axel with half measures. Knowing Yuzu, he is throwing his entire body, mind and soul into every one of his attempts believing that this is the one that he lands.

It's been 9 1/2 years since Shuzo Matsuoka first interviewed a 16-year-old Yuzuru Hanyu. It was shortly after the 2011 Cup of China where Yuzu finished fourth. He was the only one to successfully land quads in both the short and long programs. He explained to Shuzo that his proficiency at successfully landing the quad (toe loop) had increased to 80% that season whereas previously he had only been able to land one out of 50 attempts (2%). Fast forward to now and he is telling Shuzo that he has attempted the quad Axel over 1000 times without once landing it. Perhaps he is on the cusp of making a breakthrough with the quad Axel just as he did with the quad toe those many years ago.

No, he works on landing the quad Axel perfectly every time and goes for his quad Olympic gold medal... "Ah but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" – Robert Browning

Hanyuconomy: $868 × 1207 = $1,047,676.

I believe that this is the NHK documentary that you are referring to – “Spirits of the Athletes” (2012). Click the subtitles/closed caption button to turn on English subtitles. I am not hopeful that it will make any difference to the person to whom you have directed the above message even if he or she bothers to watch it.

The bottom line is that it doesn't matter what we fans think of Brian Orser. The only thing that matters is how Yuzu feels about him. We always credit Yuzu for being so smart and astute. Doesn't the fact that he has remained with Brian since May 2012 speak for itself? If he felt unsupported or done wrong by him, he had the option to leave. No one was holding a gun to his head or holding Pooh-san hostage. The only reason he became stranded in Sendai is due to the pandemic. If the pandemic had not happened, he would have continued practicing in 2020 until the season ended and then he would have returned for the 2020-21 season. He had some very low moments practicing on his own this past year, but also discovered some good things as well. He cannot return to Canada even if he wanted to right now or in the near future. Everything is up in the air and he is trying to figure things out while dealing with the WTT, SOI and his other myriad commitments and obligations. Everything will work itself out in the end. If Yuzu decides not to return to the TCC, it will not be because of any ill feeling between him and Brian.

Large watches have been in fashion for women for quite a while now. For example, Michael Kors women’s watch case sizes are as large as 45 mm or more. The case size is measured diagonally across the face of the watch from the outer perimeter of the (usually) round watch case. I started collecting and gifting Citizen watches in August 2019 shortly after Yuzu became the marketing ambassador for Citizen China. @rockstaryuzu you can attest to how small my wife is. She is a small woman with correspondingly slight wrists, but she really likes large watches. Since I started buying Citizen watches, I have had to buy duplicates of watches because she only wants to wear the men’s watch styles. The cases of these watches range between 41 mm and 46 mm. (46 mm is large even for a guy.) My wife wears them with everything from casual clothes to fully dressed up and I think they look great on her. I guess it's just a matter of personal taste. Her lady friends immediately noticed the oversized watches and many of them are now converts and wear oversized watches as well. Citizen is still conservative in the sense that their women’s line of watches are still the traditionally small “women’s” watch size.

Absolutely!

No matter how much natural talent Yuzu may have had in 2012, he would not have grown into the skater he is now without the coaching and guidance of Brian Orser. It was Yuzu who sought Brian’s help. In the documentary, “Spirit of the Athletes (2012)”, Yuzu went to Brian in order to improve his quads, particularly the Salchow. Brian recognized that Yuzu was exceptionally talented, but also immediately saw that he needed to work on his skating skills so that he would have a solid foundation upon which to build. Yuzu initially wondered why he had to sacrifice jumping time for skating skills, but realized the value of learning his skating skills when his jumps failed him in the long program at 2012 Skate America and his program component scores held him up. Now Yuzu is famous as the “complete skater” and his artistic skating is universally recognized – thanks to Brian's coaching and guidance.

All that Brian Orser said regarding training bases is that Canada will not allow Yuzu in even if he wanted to. He said that Yuzu was the most adversely affected of all of the major skaters by the pandemic because he was forced to train by himself and yet, he was able to podium without making any excuses. He said that Yuzu has faced and overcome many adversities in the past. Brian said that Yuzu has become stronger and that we should believe in him. Which part of that should we not believe? Did you listen to Yuzu talking about how lonely he was training by himself in Sendai and how depressed he got? He fell so low that he even thought about giving up skating. Do you think that Yuzu would have been able to achieve everything that he has, including two Olympic championships, without Brian?

Well, Yuzu’s idol, Evgeni Plushenko, was 31 when he competed at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics… Milano Cortina 2026 – The first quadruple consecutive Olympic gold medalist in figure skating? First the quad Axel and then the quad Olympic gold medal… We can dream.

What about "Anata wa watashitachi no kibo no hikaridesu." This translates to "You are our beacon of hope." I do not know how to write this in Japanese characters, but Google translate or one of the Japanese satellites should be able to help.