Pammi

Panels from exhibition in Osaka

With English subtitles!

Well, I was wrong! Yuzu said some lovely things on Shoma's retirement, published in various news outlets: https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2024/05/09/kiji/20240509s00079000280000c.html Shoma's thoughts for Yuzu in 2022 on his turning pro: https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2024/05/09/kiji/20240510s00079000125000c.html It seems Yuzuru responded to some of the sentiments that Shoma sent to him in 2022 I will remember the enjoyment of seeing them compete together, and the joy Yuzuru showed in many interactions - my fave was the Yuzuru/Shoma interview after the Pyeongchang podium: Yuzu's giddy laugh makes me laugh lol! Apologies to newer fans who may not be interested in this or fans who have difficult feelings about technical issues, scoring, green room etc...can I just say that the main focus for change needs to be systemmic, not individual (young!) skaters - they inherit a system, a culture, like we all do when we go to work. It is not easy to challenge it when you are very young and dont really feel you have a voice. For those of us who saw these 2 competing together, there were many enjoyable interactions, and Yuzuru showed real warmth and support towards Shoma, and sometimes he was probably a bit of a nuisance to Shoma with his pranks!! We had a few laughs anyway! (I hope General Chat is the right place for this? It feels like a general chat to me anyway! Something from the past, something which has ended, but something which Yuzu says he hopes has a future as well - they are now just 2 normal 20-something year old men who can have casual chats, according to both their statements to each other! So, for the next 6 months then, given Yuzu is 30 in Dec!!)

(For some reason I cannot see the post abouve this one ) Yuzu reposted 2 X posts today at 10:50Jpn time - one from GQ and one from NTVNews - I wonder how he chooses what to repost, there are so many posts about him!! (I like to know the time of his reposts as, you know, Yuzu and numbers!! It might mean something lol!) Also, Shoma retired today, as anyone who uses twitter will already know! But for those who don't... I do think it is relevant to Yuzu as they have a long competitive history together and have shared many podiums. A few J skaters have posted about it, I imagine Yuzu will be sending any message in private. It truly feels like the end of an era, Patrick Javi Yuzu Mikhail Shoma all retired, though Boyang is still going!! I'd love to see him have some success again before he choses to leave competition too. EDIT - noooo Yuzu hasn't retired!! I meant turned pro!!

The thighs video and Suzy Qs post from 2017 make me smile - Yuzu rolls his training pants up so we can seeeee those muscles! There is no other reason that I can think of, like, if he just wore shorts we could assume he chose them to be more comfortable in the gym right?...Rolling his pants up cannot be very comfortable, so I think it must be just for everyone to admire his athletic thighs! We admire them very much Yuzuru!! We know you have worked very hard!)

There is a comment saying Ito san will be having a heart attack! I am still unsure what Yuzu really said at Miyagi last day (has anyone posted a good translation, not just the beyond live subs?), the subtitles gave me the impression he may not be in circulation, maybe he will be practising 4A. Anyway I would love to see non subtitle translations of Miyagi last day if anyone knows of a good one? (I am sort of wondering if Satomi planned the year off in the knowledge Yuzu wasn't going to be needing her services?) EDIT have I got Satomi's year off right? 2024-2025? or did she say the year after??

God I miss competition-Yuzuru so much too - I think many of us "older" fans (not age lol, I mean length of time being a fan) were sports fanatics to start off with and, like Yuzuru himself, really enjoyed the "sports" aspect of the discipline. Fortunately, I am also amazed at his Ice Stories, the fact we can get to see Yuzu skate for nearly an hour in total is a joy, and his full creative genius is only just starting to show itself I feel. I hate that Yuzu had to put up with abuse from his governing bodies for his last years of competition (I agree with him on timescale, from 2015 the "decision" had already been made to ensure he could not continue to dominate, Laternik sort of confirmed that too), and I really am so sad he was forced to leave competition before he was really ready to do so, but how much I love seeing that happiness at the end of Prologue, at the end of GIFT, at the end of Saga and Yokohama shows, and hearing him say that the last Re_Pray show was like winning the Olympics for him made me happy that he can feel that way out of competition - it must be so hard for him, he really is a very committed competitor when all is said and done, the GOAT of competitiveness in fact!

CS ASAHI tweeting about the live broadcast on 19th Feb - pics of Re_Pray Billboard in Marunouchi Central in Tokyo ❤️‍🔥💫🎮

Silly Miya with his customary branch from Yuzu's flowers

Yuzu in the news this morn.... (yay! I am so happy to see my tweets embedding again I could cry!)

https://x.com/Henni147/status/1746522024350986406?s=20 Henni has put some stats together!