KatjaThera

Well, I guess it's good I have a large supply of Ghana chocolate coming way... maybe I should stock up on marshmallows, too... but I have no idea what some of the other stuff he put on there was lol

And he and Toshi could do guest appearences on each other's channels lol (Toshi has a sweets making youtube channel, though I'm not sure he still posts) The pants are still weird... and he looks a bit more tired than usual, but always loving Ghana videos! The first hot chocolate, though... I defended his first attempt, and the second, but this one really looks like he's trying to give us all diabetes, on top of the heart conditions we probably all have from being his fans already... (since they said it's a present to his fans)

The dialogue reminds me of Japanese class roleplay reading lol But it's cute

I agree, but it's one of the things the recycling complaints touch upon. How he's supposedly settled into the classical style or whatever. I guess with more skaters touching upon more modern music, it seems to emphasize this, but of course, most of them choose to forget he established his versatility early on and has experimented with it before too. I'm not sure how many skaters have ever had, in the same season, two programs as different as LGC and H&L. A lot of the modern stuff skated on these days is very gray-feeling to me - blah and kind of depressing - so I actually don't mind Yuzu staying away from it. But a rock number a la Masquerade, or something playful like LGC or PW, I would welcome any time. (Or, I have been recently obsessed with a few songs from The Greatest Showman and I know some have been done, but I actually don't think I've seen any really GOOD take on The Greatest Show... but I'm not sure it's so much Yuzu's style, it'd be better as a group number, just with Yuzu in the lead...) Thank you very much! That gives me plenty of time to add some Sendai goodies to my pack lol Seriously, I wish someone had told me how good Hagi no Tsuki was lol I had always been meh about it, thinking it wouldn't be anything special, but OMG, it's so incredibly good!

Does anyone remember when the Ghana chocolates with the Yuzu wrappers were going to be shipped? The Ghana page for ordering them is no longer available and I can't remember... I pre-ordered them and I think it was in November, but I'd like to have an idea when it might reach my proxy, as I'm thinking of ordering some other food stuff, to at least bring it all together... As reward for the info, I can take pictures of my chocolates whenever I get them

While it's cool to have a list of stuff he liked - and I didn't know it existed, either, I only knew about the supposed youtube account - his tastes at 16-17 might have little in common with his tastes at 25. I know my tastes changed quite a bit growing up. On top of that, I'm not sure Yuzu now is interested in skating to music that has been skated to before (or if so, music that has been done rarely), Even Origin and Otonal aren't really widely done tracks, I think. We know he also likes Johnn'y Ave Maria, he could have picked that, for example. I think Yuzu is more interested in bringing newer music to FS. And by new I mean stuff that either hasn't been done before, or hasn't been done as much. I do agree with the idea of Yuzu doing something else next year, maybe something different, to shut up anyone questioning his versatility, and challenging himself to grow further at the same time, then bringing back Origin for Olys. Origin is pretty much his by now, anyway.

Honestly, I can see all of those happening, except for the Spanish passport one... sadly, Japanese citizens can't have double citizenship, so to get Spanish one, Yuzu would have to give up his Japanese citizenship, which is never going to happen. But maybe the Japanese lawmakers could change that law and allow double citizenship by then Or Europe could allow Japanese skaters to participate, the same way Australians can participate in Eurovision (I think...)

There was that Ajinomoto CM, with the words that were often attributed to him. I'm not sure they came from him or were just scripted for the CM, but I'm sure he believes in them, no matter the origin: As a rough translation: "If/when you/I can't do it, try/practice until you/I can. If/when you/I become able to do it, try/practice until you/I can do it perfectly. If/when you/I become able to do it perfectly, try/practice until you can do it perfectly over and over again." (If/when, because technically it's 'if', but in English 'when' works as well. You/I because Japanese doesn't use pronouns and it can be interpreted as either him talking about himself as well as a general 'you'. And try/practice because in Japanese it's simply 'do' and can apply to anything, but in English it doesn't make as much sense, especially in the first sentence.) The last part is my point, though. Just because he did it cleanly once or even twice, it's not enough. He wants to be able to do it cleanly over and over again. And both Chopin and Seimei and Origin even Otonal, though a bit less so, have changed technically with each repetition. Layout changes, new elements, more complex transitions or spins or whatever, it's not like he repeated them identically. Even over a whole season, Yuzu's programs tend to change and grow more complex and impressive from their first outing (while other skaters' programs tend to get simpler).

In this day and age where instant gratification is the way to go and everyone wants everything done ASAP and available instantly, it's no surprise a lot of people complain about recycling and few understand the perfectionist approach of wanting to polish something until it is as close to one's ideal as possible. I'm a fan of a musician who did six versions of the same song, simply because that's where his artistic feel took him. Or a band who has been polishing an album for over 12 years now and it has yet to be announced to be released, so it might be a bit easier to accept for me. On top of that, I'm a firm believer that artists should do art for themselves first and foremost, and while an athlete, Yuzu is also an artist. If he wants to continue doing Otonal and Origin every single year of the rest of his life, then he should, no matter what fans, judges, haters and so on believe. I'm not sure recycling is as big an issue with judges as people seem to think it is. I think someone did a score comparison and it wasn't very conclusive that judges cared very much. After listening to a gazillion songs, I'm not sure how much they even notice the music in itself anymore and like it was pointed out before, all the warhorses should be even more grating than Yuzu's recycled, but otherwise unique programs. Let's not fall for the narrative that "of course Yuzu gets lower PCS than usual, because judges are sick of his recycling". IMO, that's just non-fans' way of easily justifying that as a correct decision. At ACI, he got lower PCS because the technical panel said he UR-ed like crazy, so the judges felt 3 URs + 2 SOs = a big mistake = docking PCS. It's obvious, if one looks closely enough. At SCI, he got a PCS record for nearly clean skates - but NOT 100% clean. Yuzu is, most of the time, judged fairly. The problem is always that others aren't. And I highly doubt Nathan's high PCS has much to do with judges loving his new programs! (Just like I doubt Alina's high PCS last year had much to do with that... I'm pretty sure she got high PCS on that SP, too and that 'music' was ear-bleedingly bad.) Also, it's not like the programs haven't evolved at all. Otonal, admittedly, has the same layout, but that might change, once he gets it 100% clean. Origin has new elements and a lot of new details. He also has a different attitude. Yuzu is experimenting with a lot of things he probably wouldn't be able to experiment with if he weren't re-using the programs. I would love new programs, too, but after seeing both of these live and on TV again, I get why he did it and I think the results so far show he was correct. (Also, we got two new amazing programs over the Summer!) The season is long and Nathan's true push won't come until after Nationals, but I think a clean Yuzu with the dominating feel of now will still be undenyingly impressive. Might Nathan still win? Sure, but I very much doubt it'll be their music choices that will make the difference. And lastly, I think it was 4A that he was talking about when he said it might take 3-4 years to perfect, but he also did say he wants to do 4A in Orign. To be honest, rather than implying he wants to do Origin until 4A is perfect, he was implying he's really aiming to do 4A now, when he's doing Origin. But Yuzu is Yuzu and he'll do what he feels is right and then do his hardest to force the judges to agree with him. Oh and one more thing... we often accuse ISU of being a bunch of dinosaurs, but now we also think they're hip enough that they appreciate new, modern music? Personally, I doubt it.

For some reason, I thought all the Masquerade art that Toshi did was abstract, so this blew my mind... I actually, honestly, never knew Toshi could do this lol I don't remember him ever mentioning drawing/painting before... I know he did photography before, aside from music. Now I will have to go back and read his interviews about the exhibition, to see if he mentions ever having an interest in it before, or if it was fully brought on by the collaboration with Yuzu... Either way, the result is amazing and I so wish I could go see it...

Japanese media has always loved rivalries. I'm sure there were rivalries even before Yuzu, but there was Yuzu vs Daisuke, Yuzu vs Tatsuki, Yuzu vs Javi, and so on. Of course it's now Yuzu vs Nathan. Another great example is WTT. Everyone goes there just for kicks and they have fun and fool around, but in Japan, the media is all about "Japan vs the World!!! Will they win?" and acting like it's an actual Team Championship. On top of that, Japanese culture frowns upon praising one's own people. Many Japanese parents will praise other kids, but when it comes to their own, they'll majorly downplay them. I think that has started to change with new generations of parents who fall into the overprotective side, but I think largely, praising your own kid is too much like bragging and that's frowned upon. Humility is an essential part of Japanese culture and one we generally admire, but it does have this downside: on a large scale, Japanese athletes, musicians etc. will always be downplayed by Japanese media in comparison to their foreign counterparts. That said, it's actually kind of amazing that Japanese media, for a while did accept the "Yuzuru Hanyu, absolute champion" narrative, though I suspect some people might have been shocked when Yuzu used the term himself. I can imagine that to some it might have felt uncomfortable, somewhat, so they might feel relieved that he now has a rival again. I don't think that means they don't appreciate their athletes. They genuinely love and appreciate them, and if they triumph over their rivals, it's like it makes them even more successful. But beyond that, culturally, they need to keep it low. Also, I don't know what media had that headline, but generally broadcasters do promote Rika vs whichever Russian Lady she's up against and such narratives, as well. Admittedly, less so for Satoko or Kaori, as Japanese media seems to have set their heart on Rika now. At least as far as I've seen. That said, their priorities are weird at times, while at the same time, they enjoy the entertainment aspect. The whole Masaru stuff is fun and cute, so they go for it, because they know general audiences will like it, too. I have no real idea why they didn't broadcast Skate Canada live, though... That was really weird of TV Asahi

I'm also wondering if maybe, on top of being ok-ed by Skate Canada, he might need some sort of ISU accreditation that is different and he didn't get. (I wouldn't be surprised if he needed to pay to get that, either, since this is the ISU.) No idea, but I hope the thing he said he's working towards will be a snub in ISU's faces. (Yuzu or TCC should hire him as a personal cameraman, tbh You don't get better footage than that, Yuzu uses footage of his skating for studying and given how many popular skaters TCC has, it'd be a good deal for Jordan, too. Especially if it weren't an exclusive thing and they'd allow him to post footage now and then...)

Technically, she's not wrong. We know judges are inconsistent and that's one of the issues (it happens in other sports, too, for example, stewards' inconsistency is a big topic fans complain about regularly in Formula 1). I'd like to think her "Unfortunately" means she agrees this is not how it should be, but she probably gave up on thinking it might ever change. That said, I know that account also made a comparison between Kevin's 4T and Yuzu's at ACI, IIRC, which was the same competition but different calls, so it'd be interesting to see what she'd have to say about that.

I just meant points wise, since the ISU decreased the BV for it. It used to 15 points, now it's 12.5 points

About the video, it was still a prize given by a Spanish association. On top of that, they might be a bit unsure of how much freedom they have to use Yuzu's image - because of copyrights - in a video that is posted online for the world to see, so they might have decided to play it safe and focus more on Javi. @shanshani, I had the same thought regarding 4Lz. Even though it might be risky, he might want to exorcise those demons and land it cleanly there, finally. Whether or not that's worth the risk, only he knows, really. I agree that even though he might not need it to win at NHK, he does need to work on it in competition. Both he and Brian have emphasized many times that successfully landing jumps in practice is one thing, doing it in competition is a completely other thing. (Brian's words on the 4Lo quest, and then the 4Lz one in the third Team Brian book are really... painful.) Same goes for 4A, too, actually. Of course, we know that Yuzu has pretty much always gotten positive GOE on his first attempt of every new jump, but bringing 4A directly to a big competition - like especially Worlds - is risky, even if spectacular. It's also really hard to know how far along he actually is with 4A. He says he hasn't landed it, but we know he asked to try it at ACI. Would he do that if he's NEVER landed it? Personally I doubt it. I think it's more likely that he has a hard time landing it cleanly, and mostly there are step outs, overturns, two-footed landings and Javi saves (though the thought of a Javi save on a 4A is quite terrifying). Tracy said when he takes off into it it's scary. It wouldn't be quite so scary in a harness, I think, so he's surely doing it without it, too. And she said that if everything goes right, it would be possible, which also sounds like she has seen it when everything goes right, so she knows it's possible. If 4A is more ready than he says, I think it'd be really cool if he did it at GPF. Imagine if he gifted himself a cleanly landed, positive GOE 4A on his 25th birthday! But truly, only he knows what he's ready for and what risks he's willing to take.

I still don't get why people like podcasts and vlogs made by 'regular people'... if I wanted to hear some random person ramble, I'd just listen to myself and look in the mirror. I'm not a fan of these times when anyone can become 'someone' by filming themselves or recording themselves say or do stuff. Anyone can then claim to be a journalist or someone whose opinion makes a difference. It's just stupid... Ok, regular journalism has gone down the drain in many ways, too, but these people are really just stating opinions. Why anyone would take their words as facts is beyond me. And it's even worse when it's all one-sided and there's no real discussion, no real debate, so all you're getting is a one-sided view of things. Which helps you how? I don't get it. I'd rather go on forums and see multiple opinions, multiple points of view, read multiple arguments, look at the facts and decide for myself, rather than just parrot whatever some random person on the internet said, just because they have a podcast/blog/vlog and many viewers/listeners... (And this isn't just about FS, it blows my mind how many online 'celebrities' there are now...)

It's hard to predict anything. Ice is slippery, as they say. And Yuzu definitely has the harder path, because of his approach. Nathan is more consistent and doesn't appear to have problems landing his quads nowadays, which also keeps him calm and confident. On the other hand, Yuzu has harder programs, with lots of transitions - he said it himself, that taking out some transitions would make it easier to land his jumps cleanly - and actually creative entrances and exits and artistry is also very important. So, of course, he has higher chances to make mistakes and I agree, the judges won't give him SCI-like scores unless he's 90% or more clean. However, discussing hypothetically, in a scenario where both are clean, then Yuzu has the upper hand, because he has more room to grow his scores. I agree with river, Nathan is almost maxed out. Almost, because I think he can still add 4Lo and 4S. And they can pump his PCS a bit more, too, just because. But Yuzu is planning to, eventually, add 4Lz and 4A and even though 4A isn't what it used to be anymore, those two are still worth more than Nathan's two. At Worlds, Nathan was grossly overscored. But Yuzu with two biggish mistakes in the free and not his usual level of performance wasn't that far behind. And overall, the 23 points weren't that much when you took into account Yuzu's mistakes, the PCS caps and the further PCS drop because the performances weren't Yuzu-level. Now, Yuzu got just one point behind that record, again, despite not being squeaky clean, and despite lower level jumps - even though he managed to get to an equal BV. I also still tend to believe that if Yuzu were picture perfect, every program like those impeccable runthroughs of Otonal in SCI practice, they would still give him the win, unless Nathan did a quint or something. It's easier to put a clean Nathan over a not clean Yuzu, because it's harder to compare. If both were squeaky clean, I think it would still be too obvious. Plus, a perfect Yuzu winning isn't bad for them. It's good publicity and keeps his fans happy. Nathan winning keeps USFSA happy and help maintain the rivalry narrative. So, which ever way is good, but Yuzu would need to be perfect. Bottom line, for me, is that Yuzu basically has two ways to win: one is to be utterly perfect, which is very hard to do, and the other is to upgrade his BV. Bring in the lutz, or the axel, or invent some new high-scoring combo. A BV upgrade would leave judges less room to fudge. But it would be harder on the clean aspect. SCI has left me more confident because it has shown that Yuzu is in good shape and it was a good learning experience for him, to see what things help him with getting into such a good shape and mood, and also fix those things that didn't really work. And that he said he's gotten his confidence back some. It just seems to mean he's on a better path than he has been in a while. However, I definitely don't expect this means things are back to normal. I wouldn't be surprised if they now try to pump up Nathan even more. But in a way, that'd be good for Yuzu, because then Nathan really would max out. While Yuzu would still have room to grow. Anyway, we can only wait and see and try not to bang our heads against walls too much...

The Olympic Channel video doesn't load for me on the laptop. Is it just me and my laptop? It works perfectly fine on my phone, but I can't download it there

Welcome! It's nice to see the number of Romanian Yuzu fans on the planet increase, too I don't really have any friends or colleagues who are fans, but I do sometimes show my colleagues impressive videos. Like I showed them the squat loop and the crazy hydroblade and they were pretty impressed lol If you get the chance, do go see him. You won't regret it, but you'll definitely want to do it again. And you will end up making friends lol. I'm far from social but I ended up making a lot of friends going to competitions and it's really great! I loved SCI so much that I now kind of want to be crazy and try to go to GPF at least for the free and gala... it's too bad there are no good direct flights for a quick weekend trip... The only option I found was leaving on Friday evening, arriving at night - definitely not ideal in a brand new city - and leaving on Monday morning... But yes, I'm considering it... crazily enough... ETA: Oh and I posted a comment to the Olympic Channel on twitter, wondering if maybe they have video of his earlier comments on the judging issue (I didn't put it that way). It's very possible they do, in which case, if they released them, it'd be much harder for the Western media to ignore them... As it is, with them covered only by Japanese media, they'll probably end up ignored...

Personally, I think it's a mix of things. I think a lot of them genuinely believed he was done and did not expect he would come our strongly like this. I think it's also going to be part of a narrative. They'll build up the rivalry front right up to when they face each other. And then if Nathan wins, it'll be even better. If somehow Yuzu still manages to beat him, it's cool, because he's the GOAT, so being beaten by the GOAT is an honor, anyway. Or some such thing. Really, being good to Yuzu is good for them, it's just funny it took them so long to realize it. And I've been having some thoughts about Yuzu's finally speaking up about the judging issues and the direction the sport is going in. Part of it is probably because of how pissed off he was after ACI. I mean I was furious, I can't imagine how he must have felt. But I wonder if another part might not be because he's seen how many up and coming skaters look up to him. All the tributes in juniors, but also senior skaters declaring he's their idol. Maybe he thought that if he shared his thoughts and beliefs with these skaters and they understood and adopted his skating philosophy, then that might help the sport return to a better path even if the ISU won't be bothered to do anything. Maybe it's, at least in part, for them that he's decided to speak up. And with these comments, I also wonder if maybe (one of?) his current goal might be to win in a 'war' against empty quad focused programs, by proving once again that programs where both technical and artistic aspects are essential are the way to go. And the only way to do that is to win against empty quad focused programs. Single-handedly saving figure skating. At the same time, I think he's more into fanservice nowadays. He enjoys doing it and in a way, Parisan felt a bit like fanservice, too. He knows how popular Masquerade was, so I guess he's giving us things sort of like Masquerade without actually doing Masquerade... lol

Given how not popular FS is in the US, they have to try to promote Nathan as much as possible, to try to spark an interest, even if the chances of it working are slim to none. Honestly, it'd be stupid of them not to try, although they could try to look less desperate. I think articles that aren't factually wrong or rather that aren't telling lies about Yuzu should just be ignored. Roll your eyes and move on Yuzu's going to do his thing regardless of what US media - or any media - writes.

That article in the tweet also mentions that he wrote a song for/inspired by Yuzu. I had no idea about that... but the song seems really hard to find, too (I found it on Apple music, but as I don't do Apple, I'm not sure it'd be downloadable after paying or if you can only listen on iTunes... I'll be looking into it later.) I admit, with them actually being friends, I'm even more curious about the song that I would normally be lol They seem to be cute and spastic and a tiny bit awkward - perhaps because of cameras, too lol - together... it's quite adorable

Wasn't what he wore in Hokkaido similar? That seemed to be an unusual mix of jacket and cardigan into one item, too and it turned out to be something expensive... I think... All in all, if I look too closely at the outfit, it could have been much better, but in the same time, it's different from most stuff he's worn so far, so I like it lol

Yeah... I'm kind of addicted so I think I'll try getting them anyway... but maybe not as hard as others (I also need to get another clearfile holder to store them in...) And I had been planning not to spend that much money on magazines and goods anymore... then Kiss & Cry comes up with two large posters, Lotte comes up with clearfiles... what next, I wonder?!

The tweet was deleted it seems, but here's the lotte link: http://img.lotte-shop.jp/hacf1910.html The hair is still a bit... but loving the casual wear ones! (Just for being casual wear, if I look too closely at what he's wearing... lol)