Ulrinis

Thank you for this wonderful livestream! I had so much fun watching it live and rewatching it with a family member. So many wonderful wishes, personal stories and ideas! After today’s show (I hope I’ll still manage to get a ticket for the archive) I hope Yuzu will find the time to watch the video and enjoy our birthday wishes. 😊

Exactly. This year when I learned that they had turned Finlandia Trophy into a GP event I couldn’t help missing 2018 Helsinki GP. Although it would have fit perfectly with my schedule this year and I have free accommodation now that my daughter has moved to Finland, I would never consider going to the arena anymore for a GP event.

Yuzu is a person who is extremely skilled in choosing the right words. So why have I never thought of him as a potential fiction writer? Silly me …

Tbh, I have been thinking a lot about the unlikely chance of Yuzu competing again at the next Olympics. (Didn’t a skater from Sendai win in Milan already? 😉) I had to think of two-time Olympic Champion Kati Witt who came back from her pro-skater career to represent reunited Germany at the 1994 Winter Games. However, that was a different situation and Yuzu already competed at 3 consecutive Games. And I’m convinced he would have won with his unmatched high quality if there hadn’t been all these efforts from many sides for years (not only I$U) to prevent his triumph.

So even at Waseda University itself Yuzu's thesis is being regarded as something special. I'm curious what effects it will bring and when. IMO it's too important to remain in a drawer, so to say.

Since we probably have some Yuzu off-ice time in front of us, l’m coming back to the very satisfying fact that fanyus were shown on Japanese TV. This really made me emotional (especially when the distance from Germany was shown 😊). I’m glad Yuzu sees how much love he gets from all over the world. And now also the media have come to admit this fact. When he was still competing, commentators mostly focused on the Japanese fans traveling to every competition - which of course was worth acknowledging - but failed to mention his international fan base. I’m glad Yuzu is aware. Many of us have tried several ways of sending him our love: in fan art, YouTube videos, birthday messages, comments in live streams, virtual Pooh rain, social media posts and sometimes letters. I confess in Turin in 2019 I did not only throw a plush bear onto the ice but also a letter, signed by my daughter, her dad and myself. We had asked our Japanese teacher to help us with the Japanese words during the class we had the evening we headed for the airport. I don’t know if it ever reached him but I hope it ended up in one of the big bags reserved for Yuzu next to the rink. And I’m happy that by opening up his YuzuTube channel he has provided us a more direct way of sending him our thoughts, support and love.

Thank you so much for sharing this translation! This interview made me aware of something I had missed so far or not payed enough attention to: As a teenager you normally have so many puzzling thoughts, mindsets and feelings to struggle with, maybe meeting your family’s expectations, working hard for best possible school results, plus maybe anxiety about the future. 16 year old Yuzu already HAD found himself in the limelight with his amazing results, so this probably already WAS a certain burden. However the additional burden of being seen in connection with the Big Earthquake, being “identified” with it, must have been almost unbearable for such a young person. Being asked permanently about it probably makes one feel a certain responsibility which could lead to feeling guilty if you think you don’t have the correct answers. Understanding this, I can understand even less those who used to roll their eyes at Yuzu skating to Notte Stellata, like he would exploit the disaster for his own popularity. I can always just admire Yuzu for his wisdom: Visiting the ladies in the shelter years ago and meeting them now as visitors of his show, making the public aware of still uninhabitable houses by interviewing a man who showed him his house, and demonstrating how rescue teams work (just before another bigger earthquake strikes), all in addition to donations - my greatest respect!

Interestingly I got to know Haku only recently when my daughter made us watch some famous anime movies on German TV which I hadn’t seen before. One had the German title “Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland“ and the first piano sound made me recognise: Yuzu! 😃 So my family was eager to see which character Yuzu impersonates. We really liked it.

So true! Helsinki 2018 was my first try, too. How could I even have expected to take decent photos with my phone? Does anyone remember the video showing so many spin-off photos from the 2018 Sendai parade? Unfortunately I couldn’t find it on YouTube anymore. It was so much fun …

OMG, the Bad Photography Championship. I recall rolling around with laughter when I saw a YouTube video compiling unsuccessful attempts to get good pics of Yuzu during the 2018 Sendai parade. Wish I could watch it again but didn’t find it so far. Is there a chance? Later I could have participated with my own pics from Turin 2019. I had bought a new camera (hoping to get more chances to take Yuzu photos). Yuzu is just too fast! (And I’m not talented enough. 🤣) Among the thousands of pics I took in Turin there are so many featuring just Yuzu’s blurred arm or leg etc. Or the camera had focused on the glass panels instead, while Yuzu rushed by and appeared in the picture only as a ghost …

The “archive” period of RE_PRAY was way too short for me. Hope this encouraging news also means there will be a chance to make it available for us overseas fans again?

This is great news and I agree: I can imagine Yuzu doing more research and become more renowned for it. Maybe not in the nearest future since he’s busy preparing new ice shows (which is just wonderful), but I think when his main focus will be no longer on performing any more one day, he can never get bored because his beautiful brilliant brain will have so much in store for him (and us and probably the figure skating world). 🐐

This is encouraging. Hope more expert and professionals related to this topic will become aware of Yuzu’s thesis. While he was still competing it might have been seen as a tool to reveal unfair scoping of his own performances — but now? IMO it’s high time for Yuzu’s research to be applied in practice.

Thank you so much @fuzz_ball_21for sharing the videos and Marika’s translations! Maybe after this positive content I shouldn’t come back to the sad topic that has been torturing us for more than one week now, but I wanted to share my thoughts here, too. To me, feeling helpless is the worst. The one person who works so hard to make his fans and audience happy deserves a happy life. However, when Yuzu was still competing I already felt uneasy when the cameras followed his every move, especially when he was devastated after not having won and unfair scoring. We know that Yuzu takes great care of what he says publicly, and when he has become very clear about being harassed and stalked by some media outlets now, there may be more than one reason. Of course, the unforgivable destruction of his marriage must have been the last straw. We can only guess how long he had already been suffering from this situation. So maybe raising awareness was also on his mind, like the “Me too” movement? Or preparing us for further steps he’s planning now? It almost broke my heart to read he wanted to give his best forever …

Thanking Sarah so much for sharing and translating! 🙏🏻😊 His determination and sense of responsibility makes me gulp hard. Also what he said about the future. I hope he knows how much he is loved and supported.