axelsandwich

Thank you for such a wonderful translation, I’m always so grateful that yuzu had so many thoughtful, considerate and good people who helped guide his way, and I’m glad Shirota-san was also one of them. Looking forward to reading more ( :

what a lovely drawing, your line use is so dynamic and I like how you got how bright his eyes are : )

Hanyuconomy update! (and PSA to anyone going to Sendai)

welcome! and a great saying, love that it really encapsulates yuzuru's competitive style ; )

yeah I saw that saga unfold, it frankly surprises me that not more incidents like this happen, but I guess it's usually the biggest problem when you have to make multiple flight transfers. I figure maybe ANA has special procedures for the luggage of their VIP guests, especially in a case like Yuzu's if he indeed has to check his boots -- I mean, they are his entire livelihood and usually the sole reason he's travelling (also tbqh, I'm sure even if anything did happen we would not be told it did and you can bet ANA would prob take care of it much MUCH faster than Lufthansa......)

I always thought the skaters carried their boots and costumes in their carry-ons and they always bring a carry-on-sized suitcase to comps -- yuzu definitely seems like the paranoid type who would want to carry his boots if he could so maybe ANA makes special arrangements to allow him to bring boots on board. And yes, almost certainly he'd have access to the business class lounges or whatnot and express lines through customs etc., it wouldn't be too difficult to evade the general public and most people would usually be polite enough not to bother him or share his whereabouts.

can he just sit in a chair in the centre of the ice and do arm choreo yuzuru please

either a group number or a couple who ALSO do JP meme dances on ice. suddenly I understand SO MUCH about yuzuru

they're the same video from different angles lol tbh I've never seen such a wildin Japanese crowd (and gotta love candid baby Yuzu). I'll just translate the things that weren't already translated Q for Han Yan: Why do you take selfies all the time LOL (yuzu shaking his head in the background lmao) The first girl who asked the question to all three skaters: Please give me your autograph Yuzu answering the question - 'please reflect on your performance' He started off basically saying what Kevin said in JP (about the support of the fans) using the translator's exact words, which is why they laughed. 'For the SP, I missed the lutz so I'm very kuyashii and then in the FS I popped the salchow so it was like there were only pops this time. It was a very frustrating experience but I thought I absolutely don't want it to end like this so I want to work hard for the World Championships so I can stand on the place beside me (ie. first place). Of course, I think 'Japanese men will not end like this', I will also work with my senpais, accept this result and work properly.' (also omggg it's the NHK 2017 translator! I didn't realise she was working for JSF so far back, I like her a lot! ; u ; )

(also the poll closed with Nathan winning over shoma by 2% literally at the last minute - they were both at 37% when my friend screenshotted it 1min before closing... lmao.....poor shoma....)

it really doesn't, I'm just amused lol

to be fair I think they only had 4 spots : P It'd be less obvious if Icenetwork had said something like 'new programs this season' but they included recycled programs in the other discipline's polls so I'm just particularly amused by this. Just admit you're excluding him to give others a chance and stop pretending there's any legit basis to exclude him (I'm madder about boyang tbqh because yuzu does win every poll) lowkey would love seeing yuzu in a cabbage dress (seriously, that thumbnail...)

lmao @ US media (not only for yuzu but c'mon, boyang won the only other mens major title this season and they just ignored him as usual. it's a dumb poll but stillll)

( :

Forreal though, I would legit consider paying any PH member going to CiONTU to buy me one of those t-shirts ; u ; (there's a viable business you have hereeee)

Actually, just found a great example of Yuzu's 'manly speech' patterns in this interview with Matsuoka by coincidence on t-list -- you notice he says ねぇぞ (neezo - eg. dekineezo) instead of ない (its polite/'proper' form) a lot, which is a very masculine/casual thing and this entire interview is littered with moments of Yuzu's really dominating/confident side coming out. The part starting 6:37 where he says 'Congrats but I'm gonna win next time' to Patrick after Skate Canada 2015 and also how he described himself thinking '学習しちゃえ (I'm gonna learn!), 盗んじゃえ (I'm gonna steal [the title or Patrick's skill, it's not quite clear])' in 2010 is actually both a reflection of how much confidence/will to dominate he had even as a teenager ('alpha male' tendencies tbh) and also a good example of how I imagine he'd probably talk casually with his friends ( : Frankly I'm surprised he said it like this in front of Matsuoka (who even says 'wow....you actually (dared to) say that ['I'm gonna win next time' to Patrick] to him' but it shows how comfortable he is around Matsuoka actually, and also the playful nature of the interview - maybe riding the high of post NHK ( : (lowkey also loving how when he realised all of boyang's power had come out in the NHK, he was like 'OSHAAAAA' (hell yeaaah) and 'KITAAA' (it's here) in excitement (around 9:30))

I can absolutely see that - for me, when you pare all the 'window dressing' on Yuzu down (his media polish, the misleading cuteness/'pretty' packaging), I think he's fuelled by that fire and drive to both succeed and dominate (the Do-S side) - and that has nothing to do with age. Where others might fold or self-doubt or back down, he charges and has a thirst to be on top; it gives him confidence and fierceness and I guess that is what you would traditionally associate with the 'alpha male' type masculinity - in some ways I think of it as how 'loud' your personality/presence is - can you dominate the room and be the one influencing others instead of being influenced? To use Daisuke as an example for contrast, he has described himself as a 'herbivore' (which in Japan is - correct me if I'm wrong - used to describe a man who is more sensitive/soft inside). For all Daisuke is good at performing that sexy, extroverted masculinity, the fact he has revealed he regularly struggles with confidence, self-esteem etc. is what distinguishes him from Yuzu (I don't doubt Yuzu struggles w/ confidence at times too but he would never show that to the media and I don't think it's the same brand of self doubt that Daisuke shares -- for Yuzu it's always about 'can I do this given my injury/circumstances' and not 'am I even capable of doing this?'*). but that's what's always given yuzu an inherent, unmistakeable 'masculinity' for me; the fact he's also equally confident to show his cute/soft/feminine side to me is actually a reflection of how strong his inner confidence is, because it's like 'I know who I am, I don't really care what others think and I do what I like'. And it's intriguing that side of him - soft, almost childlike love for things like Pooh/children/strawberry shortcake, with a very traditional feminine elegance in his performance - exists and is displayed almost equally with his fierce demon 'on-ice' side. It's a really rare blend! (actually I can also totally see how Narumi would be the most 'masculine' of all of Team Japan - she gives even fewer fvcks than Yuzu lol I can easily see her dominating them all) *again, a caveat that he may just be really really good at managing his media image. But the fact yuzu even says stuff like "basically I feel like I have no limits" either reflects what he truly believes or he's overcompensating. but I don't get a sense of the latter tbqh so...

Sometimes when you listen to him talking to people he’s comfortable with behind-the-scenes like casual interviewers or other skaters like shoma, he actually does use pretty boyish/manly language. Like っす , みてろ. Listening to him you’d have no doubt he’s your typical young man talking. I was just struck by when he’s talking about his kuyashii esp at TCC during that one docu where he was describing how he felt after Javi won the WC (actually said kuso like goddammit/shit while describing his inner frustration) or during GPF15 he was like ‘俺だぞ’ (ore dazo!) i know he was half joking but it feels like his inner dialogue is quite typically masculine and even above average levels of...hm. Domineering/intense. But yes, he reverts to politeness like armour in front of the media. Re: costumes, it’s interesting I guess because frills/lace definitely does get a pass on manliness when they’re ‘costumes’, but if you look at western skaters skating to ‘period’ pieces (eg. Les Mis, POTO...though admittedly I can’t think of too many recently who have done it), their costumes still tend to reflect the current trends (ie. relatively clean cut suits/no frills). I think Japanese ‘takes’ on these pieces tend to be slightly more traditional (mostly thinking of Mitsuki Sumoto’s costumes).

Thank you for such a fascinating perspective esp from the perspective of a Japanese person and I’d love to know more! I definitely get the sense that in the eyes of his East Asian audiences yuzu’s fierceness in competition offsets the ‘femininity’ of his looks (and when he’s off ice, I agree that its less femininity as boyish playfulness). His mannerisms and way of talking in Japanese are quite manly when he’s not being impeccably polite? I’m intrigued about how frills/lace are Western femininity signifiers - any idea how they’re viewed in Japan? Because I think frills on a man in Japan is associated (perhaps due to shoujo manga’s French influences) with ikemen/nobility/refinement/prince-like ideas that Western culture largely grew out of.

As far as I know the full presscons w three skaters both after SP and FS hasn’t been released - it’s not on the thread @ruruzest linked. Which is a crime tbh. Jackie Wong’s livetweet thread of what was said is the best record we have (do Twitter Advanced Search and find jackie’s Tweets on that day)

Does someone remember which was the most hardcore ‘spotted yuzu in background of skater’s video’ identification? I swear there was one where it was a 2sec nyoom or something in the mirrors of TCC (Gogolev’s? Or Javier Raya?)

Does someone remember which was the most hardcore ‘spotted yuzu in background of skater’s video’ identification? I swear there was one where it was like 2sec (Gogolev’s? Or Javier Raya?) this summer

Someone pointed out the bottom of the white towel only had space for one more name so I’m wondering if that’s it or if they designs are liable for change. But how long is the show? That might affect how many he’d invite too almost no chance of machida since apparently he’s starting to lecture at waseda on that date and someone on twitter was also saying stephane’s out (likely based on some activity but I didn’t ask and can’t find the tweet again oops)

Fanyus just casually adding 50M yen to the economy in half a day (shirts were around 2500y)