KatjaThera

I considered a charter as well, but I think it'd be complicated. ANA might cover the expenses on Yuzu's side, but I doubt Javi has enough to cover his side and I also doubt he'd be willing to have Yuzu/ANA pay for the whole thing. On top of that, Air Canada is part of Star Alliance, as is ANA. So I tend to believe, through that connection, ANA would be able to allow Yuzu to travel just as if it were an ANA flight. Personally, I'd have a laugh if all the media were in Seoul waiting for airliner flights from Toronto, only to then hear Yuzu &co. landed at Gangneung unseen and unbothered and we won't see him until he sets foot on the ice. But I tend to doubt that. I think a charter would have made more sense if all of TCC traveled together at the same time. But with just Yuzu, Javi, Tracy, Ghislain (if he's not already there?), Yuzu's mom and Kikuchi and who knows who else, I'm not sure it's worth it. But we'll see... As for Yuzu's schedule... he's training on the Monday but has practice on Tuesday... I wonder if that means he'll spend Monday ninja-ing at a privately rented rink and Tuesday he'll do official practice because it's on the main rink, so he'll get to get used to the ice... And I hope the press conference will be 5 minutes tops. (Kobayashi-san and her stopwatch in action, please!) As for his father, if that was in Sochi, it also makes sense because for Sochi they went with "it's just another competition". Now it's different and it's close, plus the free is on Saturday, so I think even his father could do a weekend trip to Korea without having to skip work. Also, it's possible they haven't seen him since November, so... who knows. (I hope someone brought Javi's parents... they're adorable lol) ETA: if they're on the Air Canada flight, they'll be landing in about 2 hours and 40 minutes, because there is almost an hour delay. They're flying over Russia soon to cross over into Korea. And that's as much as I'll reveal about my stalking skills >_> (actually, I just get a kick out of trying - and managing - to find out stuff like that, though I normally keep results to myself. But since the scheduled landing time was already posted... plus it's not like it's hard to find this lol)

(I like this :P) I Yuzu-fied my Japanese notebook this morning, to get more motivation! (That our temporary substitute teacher is one of my favorite Japanese people helps, too, but that's really OT) I thought I'd share... Front, back, and first page (I got the stickers on Yahoo Auctions, because I'm crazy like that ) And also, I bought my first Pooh... It will probably make it to the ice in Milan... unless I get very attached to it lol As for Yuzu... I wonder if he'll really arrive tomorrow... (or well, today, Korea Time) That would mean they should have left Toronto by now, I think?

It's good practice before my first Japanese class in two months lol And it's a moving and lovely text to start with... (As for the instagram picture, I have a slight urge to comment and ask him if he had any idea what he got himself into by posting that LOL)

I don't think it needs de-butchering lol Pronouns are a bit confusing, though. In the part I did, it starts with boku, but later on it's bokura. So I wonder if "I" might not be better for everything except where it specifically says bokura...

This definitely needs checking, but here's my try: ETA: Sorry, I oversimplified the first line. It should be more like: We are such small people we cannot even be compared to you But we put all our feelings into singing to the people in front of us There were may times when we felt disheartened, but... Seeing your on TV has given us courage So many times Of course, it's not just us A lot of people from many countries Support you Warming hearts Usually it's too embarrassing to say, but Thank you, honestly Please enjoy yourself! We ended up writing a lot It's hard to settle [on just a few things, I guess?] Anyway Goodluck！ Yuzu！ Good night! Something like that... I might have lost some nuances here and there, so please feel free to correct ^_^;

Found it: https://youtu.be/2D84lBl74wU?t=2841 Won't work to embed due to copyright ETA: I would be VERY surprised if he went, though...

I'm pretty sure he did. Wasn't there a video shared here recently of Yuzu's reaction to Machida's scores and in the full video you could see Dai as well in the box, on the other side, I think...

It's so hard to decide on phone wallpapers... I have the Phiten calendar picture for jan-feb as my wallpaper, because I paid a lot of money for it so might as well use it lol But my lock screen is UA Seimei... (and my phone ringtone is ChSq Seimei... which is a bit weird actually lol because lately I'm dreading it when my phone rings, but I still love that music so much lol) I've been wondering the same thing... It'd be hilarious if he somehow ninja-ed his way past media and so on and suddenly popped up in the Team Japan box. Though I think he'll probably watch it from somewhere privately, where there won't be much attention on him. Remember neither he nor Shoma appeared at any event at WTT until they were done. And that was just WTT...

While I'm not against the banner for next season idea, that would still be more about the skaters than the team, I think. What we're aiming for is for the team: the coaches, the choreographers, the people behind them whom we don't even know. It's more of a 'thank you for what you've done this season and even before that...' And for the problem of looking at too many people to participate, in my ideas at least, that'd be happening more in Milan and hence the signing of stuff there. But a poll is in order, I think...

Those are so cool... though picking one picture might be hard... The message book has the same issue we've discussed before: we can't know how many messages there will be and so planning is difficult. Also, there's not that much time left. That's actually why I'm personally leaning more towards the three ideas I mentioned earlier. Maybe I'll add a poll later today and people can pick the ideas they like the most? OMG, I just had an image of a trophy made like the figure of Brian in that holding on to the boards and lifting his leg up behind pose LOL (maybe someone can find the picture or gif more quickly than me). I think he'd probably LOL And I think it could be ok, if we split it between ourselves. I might try to see what TCC pictures I can find and see if my collage making skills might have improved at all in recent days... Yes, the trophy is a bit tricky. It might also be heavy and fragile. But we'll see. And we can give them the banner at the end or mail it to them. It's not very likely they'll hang it at TCC, but who knows. They can definitely keep it there... And yes, that's why I say TCC, I want to try to include everyone, from Brian and Tracy to the cleaning staff and the zamboni drivers and so on.

I don't know, the other picture, with the straight look and ever so slight smirk does remind me of competition Yuzu... the half sleepy might have been him 'cosplaying' Shoma lol (maybe he thought he should portray expressions from all the top 5 :P)

I hope Yuzu sees the PPOS love and brings it to the Oly Gala! (And Javi has to do Black Betty and Mikhail Nothing Else Matters and Evgenia her Euros EX, and make it all edgy and badass!)

And the signs continue... either that or I'm going crazy and hearing things... but on the radio we're listening to in the office, they're having a 'true love stories' segment, and the background music is R&J2... It was very soft, so for a moment I thought it was my phone randomly playing music, but I'm pretty sure it was on the radio... And I'm not even going to comment on AERA, because... why didn't I buy 4 when I could??

Ah, yes, collage... I get beautiful ideas in my head, but generally fail spectacularly at putting them into practice. For the thank you banner, I'm thinking the thank you's being like a mass of colorful post-its or so. Each with Thank You on them. So, if we went with that, we'd need to gather pictures of handwritten thank you's in many languages... Maybe a google drive folder where people can upload would be easiest? For the TCC collage, too, we should all gather all the pictures we think would fit...

Oh, I didn't mean to say he rolled over and went with whatever. I don't disagree with you. I was just arguing that in the earlier days of his career, he wasn't as different from the 'youngsters' as he seems now. He wasn't as involved and assertive as he is now, I also think that's perfectly normal and it was probably very smart of him to go "hmm... these people do have more experience so maybe they do know better". I think in a way that also shows maturity. But with his own experience also came confidence and the desire to do things his way. I think before he was gathering knowledge, and after he started using that knowledge to reach towards his ideal. Now, he is beyond remarkable and the way he seems fully in control of EVERYTHING he does, on the ice and off is one of the reasons I admire him. But he wasn't always like this and, like I said, there's nothing wrong with it. That's actually why I like his apparent dynamic with Brian this year. I think they've both learned to give and take. Yuzu has learned to listen to Brian, because Brian has more experience, while also asserting himself and Brian has learned what Yuzu wants exceeds what Yuzu needs and sometimes you have to trust that he does know what he's doing. That's why I think the 4Lo experience last year was great for them. It's too bad 4Lz didn't work this season... despite saying he didn't really want Yuzu doing 4Lz, Brian looked so happy and proud when Yuzu landed it at CoR. Anyway, back on topic, there are many years and phases to Yuzu's 'when I was younger'. By focusing on jumps, I meant pretty much since he started training quads. Maybe even before, a bit, but mostly as a senior. And I don't disagree, but it's still focusing on jumps and putting the rest second, so it's not unreasonable to question whether he would have reached the same kind of skating skills levels he has now, if he hadn't moved to Toronto. And again doesn't make him very different from Shoma and co. Which makes sense, because he was in a somewhat similar position. The big difference is Yuzu had four years to become OGM Worthy and halfway through he even made the big decision to move to Canada, which IMO, played an essential part in reaching this goal. The others had much less time - especially Nathan - and I think also less drive. Yuzu was a train on a track and nobody and nothing was going to stand in his way to aiming for gold. The others seem less... passionate about it and more fearful. I'm not sure if any of them actually believe they can win. I'm pretty sure Yuzu did. And that might actually be the big difference between him and the rest. He probably believes he can win and then works hard to make it so. The others work hard in order to see if they can win, but they start from "I don't know if I can, but I'll try." Yuzu starts from "I can and I will do my best to". (and sorry, I got a little carried away )

Yes, that's pretty much exactly what I had in mind!

We'll probably never know for sure how he would have turned out. I think following was due to age and confidence and lack of experience. Maybe after another season Nanami-sensei would have told him to pick his own music. Maybe she would have put her foot down on other things as well. But this reminds me of something Brian said. He said he's not a coach who is good at teaching skaters from scratch. He's a coach who is good at building upon the foundation already laid by others before. Strengthening it and then building upon it. He said Javi and Yuzu were successes because they already had foundations. Skaters he started with more from scratch were not. I have no idea if that's accurate, but that's what he said. And so I wonder if Nanami-sensei might be someone who is good at laying down foundations - though to be fair, she, too, built upon things Yuzu had learned from others before - good at forming skaters when they're in the early stages of their career, but once they reach a certain level, there is a limit to how much she can help them. I have no idea how many Japanese coaches actually have competition experience? I believe Brian and Tracy's own competition experiences have helped them a lot in their coaching. They actually know what the skaters are going through. Brian was able to identify Yuzu's wasting energy issue and find a solution to it because he recognized himself in it. And I think that's what eventually improved his stamina. And I'm not sure anyone else would have found it - or found it as quickly as Brian - because that was based on Brian's own experience as a skater.

Hmm... how about this then... maybe we actually make a banner and even hang it at the arena if we can, that people can sign, if they want - to keep that, too - and maybe to that with a central Thank you, TCC! message and the background a collage of thank yous in many languages and handwritings. And put together a letter - to be edited and agreed upon here - from fans. I'm actually thinking a sort of hard cover with just two things inside, one the letter, the other a full page collage of fun/great TCC moments. And a trophy... And actually if we find a way for the letter, we could do that for Nobu and Matsuoka as well... Or is it too much? lol I like all the ideas... ETA: This is kind of what I had in mind: That's a menu, obviously, but something like that, elegant looking on the outside, that you open and one side is letter, the other collage. Source

I’d like to think you’re right, but I’m not so sure. Yuzu has said he let Nanami-sensei pick his music. Maybe he did get veto rights, but I think I remember also something about finding it challenging to skate to whatever she chose. So it’s not very likely he did say no. Actually, he recently admitted that even in his first years in Canada he pretty much did what others told him. Also, he admitted that before moving to Canada he was mostly focused on jumps and rarely practiced skating and steps. I’m also not sure Nanami-sensei would have been able to help him with his stamina. (I think that worked at TCC because of their own experiences as skaters.) I agree his musicality and possibly raw talent, combined with his ambition and ideals means he would be better anyway, I don’t think he would be at this level if he hadn’t moved. (Also, isn't Shoma's coach also choreographing most of his programs?)

The problem with the blank pages is it would be awkward to have too many - and be left with empty pages - or to have too few - and run out of space for people to write on, depending on how many messages we could gather. I honestly can't think of where to begin to estimate how many there might be in the end... I doubt it'll be as large scale as the other fan projects, but... who knows? (Japanese fans might participate, too, in Milan... we might need extra people with Japanese skills to maybe translate their messages - with permission of course - so they can actually be understood by the team lol.) And I agree, delivering it is the last of our issues in planning this lol I actually saw some trophies the other day, but they should have medals, too, I think... I'll check, too. They're usually plastic, so not the best quality, but oh well... We could actually try to get a blank one and write it ourselves lol (since writing usually costs extra)

All of these comments from Brian feel like he's previewing some kind of astronomical event... It's so...

The evil side of me wonders if it hurt them to write and publish that lol But I loved this: "Sometimes, at a competition, I'll be scratching my head and thinking, 'What is he doing?''' That sounds so Yuzu

I've never printed a photobook to be honest, so I have no idea lol A fanbook requires more effort into putting things in a nice format. Although it would also turn out looking much nicer. The messages thing would be more impromptu and we could have people at the venue, who are maybe not active here - and maybe even fans of other TCC skaters who aren't Yuzu fans? - join in. Pros and cons... Actually, now I'm kind of liking the banner idea lol People could sign and write messages, too. I've never printed a banner either, though... but that shouldn't be that hard, I think... though someone with more experience could do it. And we could see who is best at making collages to make the image to print... I was also kind of hoping we could give it - whatever it will be - to someone from TCC in person, though as it's Worlds, it might be harder to run into them. But if not, I guess we could then mail it. I love medal idea, though! Those we have here I think aren't very good quality, though... but I haven't really looked very closely, either. Hmm... maybe I'll look over the weekend and see the options.

Hmm just thank you's wouldn't be that hard, I think, but it probably wouldn't turn out that big? That would probably work better on a banner or so... Making a collage of all of these handwritten thank yous and printing it on something like that... That'd be pretty cool, too, actually... (actually, even if we went with the messages in a binder idea, we could include that, somehow... as the cover would be awesome, but maybe first and last page would work, too...) I was thinking more along the lines of messages like "Thank you, everyone at TCC for all your support for Yuzu, Javi, Gabby etc." Though I guess there's not a whole lot of different messages like that, either lol Maybe if they included a brief intro... like I'm X from Y country and a big fan of A, B, C skaters. I'd like to thank you/everyone/specific coach/choreographer etc. for etc. etc.? Though of course, that'd be just a suggestions for people struggling with ideas of what to write.

OK, I made a thread. Please feel free to throw in ideas! Mine are quite... modest lol