Search the Community

This was such a bittersweet interview but, as always, I finish translating Yuzuru's words with a sense of awe. M = Matsuoka, Y = Yuzu, T = Tomikawa, O = Oikawa Usual Disclaimer: I am not a professional translator, only a Japanese student practising my skills. While I do check dictionaries and many resources to ensure I’m getting as much accurate as possible, my abilities are limited, I lack a lot of cultural knowledge and I try to always acknowledge where I’m not certain about translations. I am always open to more precise corrections from native speakers, please just let me know ( : M: Today I’d like to take you on a tour. Firstly, please come here. Do-dooon. I am truly happy I think. I’ve interviewed Hanyu-senshuu for a long time and the words that left an impression not just in me but I think in the hearts of the Japanese people. Firstly this phrase ‘I want to penetrate/pierce through the present’ was the first thing you said this season. Y: ….well… (awestruck pause) sasuga [as expected of Matsuoka]. How many did you write?! M: Not at all, there was not enough, I had to cut down on the number! Y: That’s amazing...so good. I’ll start from there: ‘Shuzo-san’s calligraphy is so good!’ M: No - actually we have Japan’s Tomikawa-san here. Which words struck you the most? T: Hello Hanyu-senshuu! I’m interested in Hanyu-senshuu’s words ‘I can only thank my right leg’. After repeating as a champion, the thing you gave thanks to, along with everyone, was the right leg that supported you and worked so hard. But we were watching you in practice and were thinking ‘he seems okay doesn’t he?’ and ‘his condition seems good' and went ahead feeling reassured. But actually it wasn’t like that at all? Y: Yes, actually I think it’s fair to say my right leg was honestly in a bad state. But to be able to do this, I think I can only say words of thanks to my right ankle. M: How painful was it? Y: Because the painkillers weren’t in a state to be working completely effectively, when I was jumping there was definitely an ‘uu’ feeling (of pain). O: Apart from the words written here there are so many other words that left an impression-- ah my apologies, Hanyu-san hello this is Okawa -- but after the short program in the conference, Hanyu-senshuu said this: ‘fortunately I was injured’ and I thought this word ‘fortunately’ was very like Hanyu-senshuu, but what did you mean by the word ‘fortunately’? Y: I really didn’t have any feelings of regrets. For 3 months I couldn’t do anything...I think it indeed did become strength. I completely don’t think of it as misfortune. M: You know I heard a lot of words from you but the one that left the greatest impression on me is this one: 弱さは強さ (‘weakness is strength’) Y: Hahaha, this is a phrase I like. M: I have to apologise to you for this Hanyu-senshu. After getting your gold in Sochi, you were only talking about places where you had failed and negative things. I told you ‘this is my first time meeting such a weak gold medallist’ and you said ‘Shuzo-san, weakness is strength, it can change into it.’ and I thought ‘that’s so true!’ Y: Well here as well, again, my right leg is in a weak state but because of that, it can change into strength. Because there is weakness, you are able to see strength. Don’t we often say that ‘idiocy and genius are two sides of the same coin’?* That’s the sort of feeling. Weakness and strength are two sides of the same coin for me. So if you can stare at your weakness in the face and support the transition, I think it can become strength. *(バカと天才は表裏 - literally ‘front and back’) M: Listening to you, I’ve learned so much… You love adversity don’t you? Why on earth is that? Y: Adversity is a chance to me. Because you have adversity and as a result of being able to think about a lot of things, the adrenaline comes out like ‘PAA’ and therefore you can become strong. Therefore you can grab the chance, I think M: This time after winning, words like ‘very satisfied’ have come out. Within that satisfaction, we can sometimes see some sadness or lingering questions of ‘wanting to do more’. How do you feel about that? Y: Actually, afterwards, I was filled with a sense of accomplishment. I think it is actually the first time I’ve been filled with such a sense of accomplishment - with no complaints - after delivering a performance in competition. Always, for the sake of performing, I say ‘this was bad, I wanted to do this, I want to become stronger’ but this time, I don’t have anything like that in particular. M: You mean...more than when you broke the World Records? Y: Yes, I’m truly satisfied. M: But when you landed like that at the 3Lz like waaah...you don’t have any regrets? Y: No, no regrets. This is the maximum of what I can do right now. M: So… does that mean there is no ‘weakness’ in Hanyu Yuzuru right now? Y: Right now...there are no feelings of strength or weakness… right now it’s probably just ‘wa’ (は - the hiragana between weakness and strength). This is probably ‘Hanyu’. (THIS IS AN EXCELLENT PUN IM CRYING at how he congratulates himself- basically は as hiragana is pronounced ‘ha’ when taken on its own and is the first hiragana to his name (はにゅう) M: Earlier we talked about Shoma ‘Uno’ (‘no’ = mind...probably the same pun they made in the other program on ‘mind’). What about Hanyu’s mind? Please analyse yourself. Y: I mean basically there’s something inside that says to keep changing. Somehow when I’m thinking about something, I think ‘ah isn’t it like this, isn’t it like that’, I’m always waiting for a variety of ideas. It’s been like this since I was young.* M: So let’s continue our tour, firstly Doraemon congratulating you on repeating as champion… Y: 寒い禁句! (either it means saying ‘cold’ is a taboo word or… refers to a cold joke IDK sorry, my Japanese cultural knowledge is zero). I definitely wanted to say this no matter what! M: ‘A gold medal is life’s starting point’ - you said this in October 2011 in our first interview. That year was the year of the disaster and these words stayed within me for a long time Y: Yes, at the time I was only recklessly and utterly devoted with my entire life [to skating/to the goal]. But with this injury and coming to these Olympics through feelings of ‘will I become unable to skate?’, I felt this feeling of a time limit. Like ‘is this the end? Is this Olympics the end?’, I had those thoughts. So because I had those special feelings, this time, instead of saying this is the ‘start’, I feel like this is a ‘midpoint’. M: Here at this Olympics, getting gold was not your [only] goal. Afterwards, you always had strong feelings about wanting to somehow contribute to the reconstruction efforts [of the earthquake-affected areas], but you have said that the question of how can you, through your performances, convey energy and strength to others has been a constant thought. Y: Yes, especially when I actually stepped on the site of the disaster-struck areas. In the previous competition where I got the gold medal, I couldn’t forget the really delighted smiles on everyone’s faces. So it was a place that sort of healed the feeling of uselessness I had after the Sochi Olympics. This time, I felt like I had properly felt these ‘smiles’, even if only a little. M: Really, you’ve been skating with the thoughts of Sendai. Y: Yes, I know a lot of people truly have supported me. This was an Olympics where I really felt that this support was certainly connected to power. T: You said ‘midpoint’ just then, where are you aiming for now? Y: Really… with this, I really feel like ‘at last here is a title in my life that I can be proud of’. How I use the title will depend on how I use the rest of my life and my generation too. ‘I want to use it well’ is the thought in my mind. T: This is not just as an athlete right? Y: Yes, as a human being, if you are not living well as a person, then any titles that come attached will also become bad things. I want take this pride and to live a life that is worthy of this gold medal. T: We want to keep seeing a Hanyu-senshuu who will keep surprising us. Y: I will do my best M: We’re really out of time. This may be a difficult question but at this Olympics, what did Hanyu Yuzuru grasp? Y: I grasped happiness. I say this with confidence. Everyone gave me happiness so if everyone could become happy, that’s happiness to me, I think M: ‘Happiness’....this is something that you can’t really say, honestly, I’m 50yrs old but… what kind of feeling is ‘happiness’... Y: After all, because I threw away a lot of different types of ‘happiness’, because I sought the ‘fruits of happiness’**, I think I am able to say ‘happiness’ right now. M: These words...not only Hanyu-senshuu but I think they should be shared by everyone in the world. This gold medal of happiness...congratulations! **幸せの結晶 - Kind of tricky to translate, if anyone has better suggestions, please let me know.

Thank you to @kaeryth for sharing! This was so much fun - even more entertaining than the initial segment. Disclaimer: Accuracy not guaranteed - I tried my best and noted down segments where I wasn't sure I was hearing his words correctly; the idea was to give people a general understanding of funny parts and roughly what Yuzu was trying to say (even if sometimes I'm kind of guessing - those moments are noted). I hope Yuzufairy and Ecovail will properly sub this too! Corrections are welcome and please forgive the weird mix of word-for-word translation and summaries lol. **Chat segment** Q: Is there a time where Yuzu is not refreshing? When he’s playing games, he’s hunched over and very much not refreshing When he sleeps, his left eye ‘looks empty’ (I assume he means it rolls back so you can only see the white of his eyes) so it’s pretty terrifying like ‘is he even alive?’ Then he moves his ears and head for everyone. Q: Even though I can’t really imagine it, does Yuzu drink alcohol? Do you drink beer or shochu? Yuzu: Actually, I’m allergic to alcohol. Female host: How nice, you can live your life without wasting time/wasting your life drinking... (LOL) Inohara: Yeah but he misses out on fun times too... Yuzu: Well… people who are my age are drinking and there are definitely times when I think ‘that must be nice’ but I also think ‘ehh, it’s fine, I’ll just play games by myself and I own a lot of earphones.’ (THIS LOSER) Earphone talk: Has 50+ earphones at home, but if you add the ones from Canada and Sendai home all up, there’s more. He customises all the earphones to his ear shape. There’s also a new technology that takes a 3D scan of his ears and it’s a new technology so it makes it easier LOL. He needs it for his profession but also it’s his interest Next request is ‘I want to see Yuzuru’s long arms and legs’ so they make him elegantly pick up the little thing stuck to the top of the sign. He’s like ‘no no no it’s really not elegant at all!’ Kendama: ‘Now kendama…’ Yuzu: ‘It’s happening, it's happening, kendama is happening’. I’m pretty bad at kendama...' He has 8 because his fans gave him many. ‘It’s nicer if it’s my own but… I haven’t done it recently… ah I can’t do it...please forgive me for only doing this much. I couldn’t do it in one go, this is kuyashii.’ -- *Sarah Àlainn segment* They invite Sarah Àlainn from Australia who sang The Final Time Traveller and collaborated with Yuzu at Fantasy on Ice. Her mother is Japanese, father is Australia. She not only sings, she plays the violin, she writes and is a musical director for commercials. They talk a lot about Sara’s background and stuff and it’s really long so I’m only going to summarise the main gist So quick summary of the Gucchi (the plumper male host for the segment) and Yuzu interaction at 8:56. Yuzu said he’s watched Gucchi since he was small. Gucchi said he is a huge Yuzu fan and said, ‘this kid will definitely make it!’ from the moment he saw Yuzu, to the point of annoying everyone around him. Q: What was it like to collaborate with a gold medallist? Sarah: ‘To have Hanyu-senshuu in front of me and skating to my own song, it’s rare to know such a fantasy. While inspiring everyone, we could create a world; it was a very happy thing.’ Q: How was it to skate to live music? Yuzu: ‘We usually use CDs so everything is extremely decided/set, one phrase (of music?) at a time. So we can choreograph to match the music every time. When you’re singing live, each breath and each performance is different. There are people who think that’s difficult to do but I said I really wanted them to sing freely. We wanted to create something original and each live was different. The program is alive and it’s a miraculous thing created by two people.’ Then asked what happens if Yuzu falls during the program - what would Sarah do? Sarah says it’s just part of the live performance and any misses or falls are exclusive to that moment. Sarah deeply remembers Yuzu saying he’ll match his performance to hers when they were collaborating. The hosts compare the process to a jazz session. Lots of praise for her voice and Yuzu mentions how it was easy and good it felt to skate with her, etc. etc. Then they ask Sarah about her music, about singing in Japanese since she was raised in Australia (I won’t translate bc no time). Aw, he called her ‘Sara-onee-san’ when introducing her live performance. -- **Pika Pika segment** The host of the segment went to the Tochigi province and the segment is about a really cool speaker called ‘Kanpyo speaker’, which is made from a local melon from Tochigi (the pickled version is what I assume they’re eating at the beginning). The material is used in a lot of native Indonesian and Hawaiian instruments. Then they run through how they make the instrument - the important thing is the shape of the melon - if it’s not round, the sound will change. The melon is then dried for half a year. Then it's drilled and made into the speaker. The song they played was INO=Nut Kid, a song that the male host sung (Yoshihiko Inohara), so he’s like ‘oh man, stop this’ and loudly complaining about the fact it’s a really old song, it’s embarrassing and that no one knew about him singing it etc. etc. Yuzu is also very interested in speakers, in addition to earphones. At ice shows, the sound technicians are always extremely particular about selecting their speakers and he definitely has an interest in them (basically he just loves music and sound). It's quite difficult to hear while skating - Yuzu says it's basically like in a concert. The host says the impression of sound from this Kanpyo speaker is more dynamic. -- *Green Style* The theme is about terrariums. Apparently it’s very easy to make them and mini plants are easiest to take care of. Anyway, I just want to say the teacher for this segment was hilarious. Yuzuru wasn't originally meant to help out on this segment - the teacher was going to ask Inohara to make the terrarium but then: Inohara: I think it's better if Yuzuru-kun makes it right? Yuzuru-kun, do you want to make this together?’ Yuzu: 'Eh?? Is that okay?' Inohara: You were talking non-stop during your break there Yuzu: I was talking about games. Teacher: ‘Oh, I’m really nervous now!’ Inohara: ‘Why?? You weren’t nervous when I was here! I've been here the whole time!’ Teacher: ‘I’m always nervous though!’ Inohara: ‘Your face is all red now!’ Female host: ‘She’s completely changed in front of Hanyu-san!’ Teacher: ‘Let’s do it!’ Hosts to Yuzu: 'Do you have interest in this?' Yuzu: 'I'm really clumsy...' ("不器用なんで") Teacher to Yuzu: ‘You don’t need to force yourself if you don’t have any interest, it’s alright!’ Teacher explains when you’re creating a large interior terrarium, you should use plants that have different colours and leaf sizes to make things more dynamic. So they ask Yuzu to pick around 3 plants. Teacher: 'Ah, my heart is beating really fast!' ('doki doki!') Yuzu: ‘The most nervous person here is me, actually.’ (THEN YUZU FIDDLES W/ PLANTS FOR AWHILE selecting three. Yuzu: ‘They’re all really big...I really don’t have much of a sense for this’) Teacher: ‘Well these aren’t the ones I’d recommend’ (#savage) Yuzu: Well these ones all go ‘shuu!’ (straight up). Hosts about Yuzu laying down rocks: ‘He’s a natural!’ Then Yuzu failed at laying down the plants (from 37:15) Teacher: ‘Ahh...wait, try again, lift your hand and do it again...nope, try again.’ Yuzu: ‘It’s actually really easy, I’m just really nervous!’ (BEAUTIFUL FINGERS im cry) (Then Inohara and Yuzu collaborate) Inohara: ‘Isn’t this really difficult???’ Yuzu: ‘It’s surprisingly difficult!’ Inohara: ‘It must be easier by yourself’ Teacher: ‘It’s definitely easy by yourself, because I can do it’ (proudly) (lmao she's so cute) (ANYWAY I LEARNED A LOT ABOUT TERRARIUMS LOL TY EDUCATIONAL JP TV) The ones with the holes on the sides are hard to take care of because they have a very low opening so they’re best for raising succulents as they can’t retain a lot of water For lightbulb containers, you just take one leaf from a succulent, drop it into the narrow opening and after a year, it grows into a smol plant LOL -- **Continued message segment with Yuzu** They read a message of support from three siblings (standard 'We love you and support you!') Then a message from Inobon-san: ‘My mother sitting beside me is currently yelling ‘Yuzuru-kun!’ while crying, someone please stop her!’ Yuzu: ‘STOP! STOPPP!’ Q: ‘When do you feel like I am grateful I continued figure skating?’ Yuzu: Like you can see from the messages, it’s when people cry or are moved by my performances, or when I have the opportunity to touch people’s hearts, that's when I think it's a good thing I kept skating (paraphrasing/summarising, not sure the precise words but that's the overall gist). Female host: After a performance and before, do you see and hear people’s faces and voices? Yuzu: ‘Of course I hear them. Everyone supports me the same, through the good times and the bad times and they also get excited for me. We skaters are always grateful for this.’ Female host: How can you say such touching things? I want to learn! Yuzu: No no no, anyway...I’m really just rambling about what I honestly think. (he says something after this but I couldn't hear properly or make sense of it ;;) Q from fan in Okinawa: ‘It’s the obon festival in Okinawa and I’m so shy I can’t go out in front of my relatives. Does Hanyu-senshu have times where he’s also embarrassed? Yuzu: ‘Yes, like before with the kendama… I was like ‘please give me a break!', I was so embarrassed. But I did it in the end… Inohara: You succeeded in the end! Yuzu: Yes, it was frustrating though Hosts: You hate losing! Yuzu: I hate losing! I need to practice.... Anyway there are definitely times I get embarrassed. But even if I’m embarrassed, I’m supported by people around me...and like this, it's raw. After the performance, everyone pulls me up with their support and often create a really calm atmosphere for me. Even if it doesn't match the surroundings, I think it's really important. Female Host: Inohara-san, you’re looking at him in such a fatherly way! Q from 9yr old Yuma-kun: ‘When you were in Year 1 of Primary School, were you popular?’ Yuzu: ‘Well...I didn’t think I was popular…’ Inohara: ‘From when did you start realising you were popular?’ (48:00) Yuzu: 'I didn’t really think that at all. My face shape has changed a lot. I’ve gotten much skinnier than when I was younger and had a lot of hair. I wonder if I made much of an impression (back then). I didn’t really have anyone confess to me.' Inohara: ‘What about Valentines?’ Yuzu: I didn’t get any honmei chocolates. I got a lot of giri chocolates (friendship chocolates) HE GOT SO EXCITED ABOUT DOING THE PARISIENNE WALKWAYS POSE lol And then in the last 15 seconds they asked him to do a wink with Inohara

Posting the speed translations I did for the 24hr TV segment per request here Disclaimer: these are not 100% word for word or necessarily always accurate. The main point is to get the general gist of each part and some nuances have been missed/skipped. Feel free to post an official translation when they appear ( :