lazuliblade

That is so Yuzu. I thought we might get a picture from Jason like a "The gang's all here!" kind of thing, and then radio silence until media day. But of course the first photo we'd get of Yuzu back at TCC would be because a cute kid asked him nicely.

I was just reading Aoi Honoo yesterday and part of that interview when he was a Novice was included there too - the part about following his sister after her short-term course, wearing a helmet, and being thrown out of the rink by the strict teacher because he wouldn't listen. I know he's talked before (Kenji no Heya) about how he sucked at jumps when he was young, and how he saw Keiji and Ryuju improve and pass him by during that time when he didn't have a home rink, but it's nice to read younger Yuzu's direct words about how he focused so hard on the Flip and Lutz and messed the other jumps up. He's talked a couple of times about how he would do things like playing baseball with the other boys by using rolled up flyers from the receptionist desk, or getting into arguments with the older boys (he didn't know they were older). Tsuzuki sensei called him out on this in a couple of video interviews too. Like how Yuzu had no attention span ("he only paid attention for 10 minutes" and Yuzu was like "it was more like 15 minutes!"). I need to go refind that video again. I think it was post-Olympics when they were talking about the 4A and quints.

Wouldn't the first answer for appropriate title be "Reasons for Success in Sports"? Since that's the leading paragraph and the topic sentence of the following two paragraphs? They present their topic with rhetorical questions (what makes a great sportsman/sportswoman?), state their answer (it's both hard work and family), support their conjecture with an example case (Yuzuru Hanyu) elaborated in two paragraphs (paragraph A: dedication since he was a kid; paragraph B: family support in the form of making his costumes and funding skating lessons), and close by returning back to the original topic ("now, he is a top skater" = being a successful sportsman). (Unless... you were being sarcastic and it totally went over my head...then just ignore me)

I love the detail shots of the bead work. That one close-up picture of Notte Stellata where you can see the tiny embroidered beads, sequins, the shiny gems, and the pretty feathers...

FINALLY! I was waiting for him to finally start linking interviews and baby Yuzu videos. Not that the recent Senior pictures aren't nice and all, but there's SO much content out there that he could tweet about. Especially all of the younger Yuzu stuff that wouldn't make it to N.American TV/media like you'd see with the American skaters in fluff pieces. There are English subbed videos he could have chosen... but this is adorable, so I'll take it as a first step. I'm just happy for more early Yuzu content making it out there.

At least you solved the mystery!

There's a tiny snippet of Orser talking about Yuzu enjoying training the 4Lz and 4A in an interview post-ACI 2017: https://wherespacepooh.tumblr.com/post/166007226014/brian-orser-interview-post-aci-2017109-aera I know he mentioned in an interview how some days Yuzu would train a 4F, the next day a 4A... but I can't for the life of me find it. I'll do some searching later tonight.

Putting this here since the original video is gone. The Dailymotion version is linked in the video compilation thread, but for completeness' sake, I'll put the link here too:

I made a little thing to recap Yuzuru's visit to Naraha. I put links to the news snippets, included references to other times he's visited or done projects for the areas, and try to explain the significance behind his visit here. http://lazuliblade.tumblr.com/post/175536700513/yuzurus-visit-to-naraha-fukushima-732018 I was really touched by reading about his visit after a packed off-season, and just wanted to spread the love for this amazing man.

Oh wow. I hadn't seen this article. Thank you for sharing! As a former preschool teacher I can only imagine all the various things that the teachers have to consider every day, and I feel for the kids who've been displaced multiple times. It makes Yuzu's visit even more meaningful.

I was expecting him to go under the radar and fly straight back to Toronto without anyone knowing, and without a word from him until sometime in August -- maaaybe an update from Jason once Yuzu first arrives at TCC and they're all together, but that was about the most I hoped for. This is nice. It's also the first thing he does after getting the People's Honor Award, so that's pretty special. I'm sure it's left a big impression on the kids.

Video!

I put it in as a link because I'm so used to that and didn't think just copy-pasting would work. Thank you

I came across this and needed to share it: https://twitter.com/yuzuspiration/status/1012899126898581504 He's so low to the ice that he could basically kiss it in that position. He's a pencil with petals for a spine and titanium for muscles. (edit: I'm not sure how to have the tweet show a preview... the caption really makes the tweet, but I at least figured out how to put the picture here...)

Skate Canada deleted their page, so that's why you can't access it. This is hilarious.

I think I heard Grand Slam used by some US media person in reference to Nathan Chen (although he didn't go to 4CC this year), but that's the only time I'd ever seen a mention of the phrase in regards to figure skating, and I feel like the meaning was different. He may not have the Super Slam (yet), but at least Yuzu got the Triple Crown back in the 2013-14 Olympics year. So that's one unofficial title! This will be his year. Fourth time's the charm - like a four leaf clover! (Kindly ignore the fact that the number 4 is generally unlucky in Japanese culture. He's the 4-time GPF champion; he can totally be the 4CC champion on his fourth try!). And once he gets that 4CC gold, he'll have created a new category. It'll be the: CAREER EXTRA SUPER GRAND SLAM (aka ABSOLUTE CHAMPION SLAM - or colloquially known as the HANYU SLAM):* winning Jr Worlds + JGPF + Worlds + Euros/4CC + GPF + TWO Olys during the course of one's career edit: I reached First Pancake with this!

I interpreted this as a response to those who have been looking online for recordings that match the version Yuzu used, and answering those who might have straight out asked "which version is it?" I don't see it as a bad thing. When Requiem itself was first revealed, we only had one old video recording of the song played at a small venue. Just because there isn't a previous studio recording that they could edit and burn to a CD doesn't mean the new arrangement can't be recorded for continued use. Actually -- reading the original Japanese tweet, he says right there in the first sentence that this is in response to receiving many questions. As it is, IS there an official studio piano version of the song? Most of what I've come across are either fan arrangements with their own sheet music, or the one arrangement from a piano book of popular songs which multiple people have played from. I don't think a piano arrangement of "Haru yo, Koi" has a studio version -- or has been released on a CD by a pianist -- so of course there's none like it and of course Yuzu would need to have a version recorded. Don't count it out just because Shinya is clarifying that it's a unique arrangement. I'd hold out hope at least for a little while longer - we won't know until the season starts or until Yuzu makes a statement.

I feel like maybe he's lurking in the planet...the video came out a while ago, but we just brought it up here and then he goes and tweets it soon after...and the other day when someone had recced the Yuzu fanmade video and then he tweeted it like a week later...coincidence? (It probably is a coincidence. He's probably on top of YouTube stuff and just staggering posts between photos and videos. Doesn't make it any less amusing, though.)

One of his costumes always seems to fit the color scheme/decor. It was all within his calculations.

Wow, they sold out fast! I think I remember reading here that the all-event tickets sold out in 30 minutes last year? I figured it would be crazier post-Olympics, but wow. I wonder how fast until everything is sold out... I luckily had the Thursday pass from the presale, so I skipped the all event ticket and went straight for the day passes for the final days.

Kaeryth put the link here. In the folder it's the "180217 - Olympics 2018 NBC - Pre FS discussion (4 of 5)"

I'm laughing that he listed 4CC as one of the competitions he likes. Little did he know that it would become one of his cursed silver-medal competitions.

I've used CDJapan for normal buying, and White Rabbit Express for proxy buying (which is very similar to this new CDJapan proxy service), and I went with SAL small packet because it was registered and slightly cheaper than EMS. I've had other friends who regularly use a proxy and go with the cheapest option, though. Their items are always packaged well despite the cheaper option (CDJapan packages things nicely too), but it takes a very long time to get to them, and sometimes it would get held up in customs. It depends on how long you're willing to wait for the goods or how much you want to spend to get them earlier. Rather than early 20s, I'd always heard it said that 23 was the peak age for male skaters, so they gradually grow and improve, and around 23-25 are their best seasons.

OK, I've got it going! https://www.rabb.it/Lazuliblade The schedule says it starts at 9:50 (Japan time) - so in about 23 minutes.

I can host - I'm just trying to figure out what channel it's on.