kaeryth

Belated Happy Birthday to Eun Soo!

Probably not gonna happen because it's JSF but they could ask Yuko Kavaguti (who was trained by the Legendary Tamara Moskvina) or even Narumi Takahashi (who won Japan it's first medal for pairs at WC'12) to start a coaching team / programme for pairs. But of course that would require the use of a rink and with pairs it will be hard to use a public one. It's a bit shameful on JSF's part how neglected their ID and Pairs are considering the success of their singles (some despite having no proper rink to practice on like Coach Sonoko Nakano has said).

Happy Swanyu Anniversary

Sneak peek with Dai

Dunno where to put this but wow!

13 years since Shii-chan won the first Olympic Gold Medal for Japan in figure skating. (She was also the only Japanese athlete that won a medal at the Torino Olympics). Wonderful documentary below Shizuka Arakawa - and athlete from whom little was expected but in the end, she lifted the spirit of an entire nation. She epitomises the belief "If you can bring honour to yourself, you will bring honour to us all."

Ice Time Podcast No. 13: Daisuke Murakami J: Jack Gallagher D: Daisuke Murakami Starts at 20:33 J: So it was the win at NHK Trophy(2014) was more of a catalyst to take you to the next level. Is that accurate? D: Yes. I mean I must say, It was the cherry on top to beat Yuzu there. I don't think there's a lot of Japanese skaters who has beat Yuzu so I think I'm one of them that has beat him. I mean, I think he did have an off day that day but at the end of the day I did stand on top of that podium so I kinda was proud of myself. J: Yeah, the fact is that was when he was both the Olympic and World Champion. Right? When you did that..... You're gonna have that story to tell to your students in the next 40 years about the time you beat Hanyu. That's gonna be quite a story to tell. D: It is but at the same time you know Yuzu and I are very great friends off the ice. You know this past New Year he sent me a very heartwarming "Happy New Years" or in Japanese as they say "Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu". I don't know what the definition is in English but you know we're great friends off the ice and even to this day he'll ask me you know 'how do you do such easy quad sal?' and he's always wanting to learn more and more. Even through his own rivals. So I respect him in that level where he doesn't think that he's the best but he also believes like he gets an opinion from everyone else. Which is great, I think. J: I agree and you kind of already answered by next question which is What is it about Yuzu that makes him so great. In your opinion. Can you just talk about his physical ability and his mental ability. What's the key in your opinion? D: As far as mentality goes I think he has one of the most strongest mentality because I don't know what kind of skater cannot / will not compete, comes off from an injury and then wins an Olympics game. To me that is pretty crazy. And you know, for me to say and complain that I had a lot of media attention, he has like a 100 times that and you know he's probably one of the most famous figure in Japan so I do not know how he juggles that but you know his skating results and continuously makes great results. For that, I think he's the best skater of all time. Ever. J: I agree. It's been phenomenal to watch his career unfold. I was fortunate enough to be there in Sochi when he won the first Gold and also be there last year when he won the second Gold. Like you said it was absolutely incredible considering that he'd had the injury in Osaka back in November. Did you watch the Olympics on TV then, you were not there is that right? D: I was not there but I was definitely cheering. I think there was more impact of him winning the second Olympics medal more that the first one. I don't know why but I was more emotional when I saw him win the second one.

Poor Haru-chan!

Yoshiaki Tabata, Manga writer (Wolf Guy, Ninja Slayer)

Will probably do transcripts of the Yuzu parts later when I have the time

Happy Graduation Kao-chan!

Otonal!Neko Masamune ready for Worlds!