Xiupia

I phrased it awkwardly (just like Ando, irony at its finest lol), but just to drive the point they always pointed it out how much out of the group he is, “independent” and etc. It’s a common joke about his personality, I remember that there is a japanese term for it, is even a anime trope

My Spanish is from South America so I'm missing nuance, and is not my native language so I will wait for a full translation from someone else, but this is what he talks about in full context: Nathan had a perfect program and someone needed to skate perfectly to beat it, talks about what went wrong with Yuzu - the phrasing about the hole and etc is all awkward, he uses the skates to demonstrate - then later someone asks him if is normal for a skater to receive that many gifts - he says no, only Yuzu was like this since their training days, mentions his fans and comments the gifts were really nice even (he mentions they were expensive). His comments about the hole are still the same I reckon, but now we have the full context. Edit: Just saw now that @Hanmgse translated!

Apart from politics, I really think is a philosophy thing. Yuzu is too "individualistic", you can see it in his answers to the media / press, he is always reinforcing how important it is for skaters to "find their uniqueness", "express their individuality". He is independent, and although we praise how diplomatic and articulate he is, he is also very honest. He owns absolutely nothing to them, they have no leverage, so they cannot share in his success in a way. I will never forget Ando implying he is kind of a narcissist (more like self centred person), because he does his own thing in his own pace. And I will be blunt, they are also kinda stupid. Other federations would have capitalised HARD on his success and use it to propel their skating programs, probably to the athlete's detriment, but JSF is way too proud for it. And they have made no efforts to correct this path they chose to take right in the beginning so the relationship just grows sour; these days you will not even see Yuzu initiating good will interactions with other skaters anymore, which is just a shame. JSF is such a mess that they lowball their own ladies, is weird. The man is a lighting in a bottle phenomenon and they are missing out on it, we all agree. We could've been watching the seeds of a spiritual sucessor by now, but nope, they had to push him out. It makes me sad for Yuzu because I feel like he would love to help nurture younger skaters that could continue Japan's standing in the sport.

Oh wow, it does. After his injury I didn't keep much with Japanese media, but of course, it contextualises the stupid underscoring and isolation very clearly. People say fanyus are hyperbolic but well. Audiences stick with a sport because of loyalty to an athlete, personality or a club (via tradition), I have no idea how they can be as blind as they are. Anyway!

Thanks everyone On the topic of that person's opinion piece: Is anyone aware of Ice Skating popularity in China? I reckon this might be their organisation's push to start putting up some shows and testing the audiences next couple of years, sure Yuzu could go for the first ones.

I'm so interested in Yuzu's reception in China, I dunno why I didn't expect it at all. Back in Pyeongchang we saw how popular he was, but Beijing was a whole other level I feel like - or maybe I'm a victim of the Mandela effect and don't remember correctly? hahaha I know Korea has their own skaters to focus and promote now, so maybe my comparisons are out of touch. I think Team China (and the Chinese media in general) played the host part pretty well, they know his value, so although I'm not deluded in thinking everything is "pure friendship" I appreciate the effort they put. Have 0 idea how this affects his standing in Japan and with the JSF tho. (btw, first time poster, very long time lurker, I think I started following this forum back in 2017 lmao, to have a another place to go apart from gs).