General Yuzuru Chat

[Xen]

8 minutes ago, Hydroblade said:

We can use IKEA bags...

(x)

sorry for dragging this joke for so long but i'm getting hilarious mental images

 

We need a very big bag...."superficial scuffs on legs and feet" and "lump on right side of head." We're not going to be that violent right?

[Hydroblade]

7 minutes ago, Xen said:

We need a very big bag...."superficial scuffs on legs and feet" and "lump on right side of head." We're not going to be that violent right?

What if the swan attacks

 

[ThiriYuzu]

There's no way Yuzu would go to Milan if he's not back on ice in Canada training by now. so.. I just need to find places to visit in Italy. Can't hole up in Milan for 5 days if I don't need to attend the practice and stalking. 

[raebia]

1 minute ago, ThiriYuzu said:

There's no way Yuzu would go to Milan if he's not back on ice in Canada training by now. so.. I just need to find places to visit in Italy. Can't hole up in Milan for 5 days if I don't need to attend the practice and stalking. 

 

 

I will go to Ravenna!

[SydneyH]

2 minutes ago, ThiriYuzu said:

There's no way Yuzu would go to Milan if he's not back on ice in Canada training by now. so.. I just need to find places to visit in Italy. Can't hole up in Milan for 5 days if I don't need to attend the practice and stalking. 

Same I need to do some visit planning now lol 

[MajaHled]

7 minutes ago, Hydroblade said:

What if the swan attacks

 

I am so ready to pack a swan bag or two for Milan... Or maybe we should avise Brian to get one/propose the introduction of official Team Japan swan bags 

[Murieleirum]

1 hour ago, ThiriYuzu said:

There's no way Yuzu would go to Milan if he's not back on ice in Canada training by now. so.. I just need to find places to visit in Italy. Can't hole up in Milan for 5 days if I don't need to attend the practice and stalking. 

 

Come to Rome, best food ever- oh, I won't be able to be a tour guide for you tho, I'll be stuck in Milan 

 

1 hour ago, raebia said:

 

 

I will go to Ravenna!

 

Please eat the Mantuvan pumpkin! Stuffed as filling in tortellini or gnocchi. One of the tastiest things I've ever eaten. (lol Why can I only suggest foods) 

[BrightonDogwoods]

12 hours ago, Xen said:

Thank you for the interesting read. =)

Actually what is amusing is last weekend, a couple male rinkmates were talking about which skaters they viewed as "feminine" and which skaters they viewed as "masculine." For these guys, Yuzu is not feminine. He always had movements that stuck and worked well with the music, so his movements and expression were considered graceful, and gentle, but not necessarily feminine.

 

And going back to what the article said, the "arts" was never considered fully masculine or feminine in Chinese confucian culture. Similar to japan, public performances of the arts was a right given to males traditionally. Gracefulness, regalness, gentleness is not something exclusively given to females or considered feminine; rather, it was simply an expression of your professionalism in the arts. Hence, a male actor can be utterly "feminine" (by western standards) when performing, but it would not be considered part of his sexual/gender identity. It would simply be considered a "professional" and responsible representation of his craft. There is nothing that would be inferred to him as a person directly.

 

Another way to even view gender identity, to a degree, is to think of the tai-chi symbol. There is a bit of yang inside the ying part, and ying inside the yang half. Also, under confucian and even taoist principles, the scholarly, polite, diginified gentlemen took dominance over the soldier/general/warrior class. In Chinese history, bueraucrats and scholars were considered "higher" than generals, and most nobles or large estate families were from the scholar class, not the general class of western history.

I also was fascinated by that explanation of 'feminine' and 'masculine' in Japanese culture and I'm glad to hear from others who know Japanese/Chinese/Asian cultures personally that it is a valid/true  point of view.  As a person with a Western perspective I have always been fascinated AND mystified by Japanese and other eastern cultures and I really REALLY appreciate this kind of historical background so that we can more clearly understand their culture. This rings so true about Yuzuru, and I have no doubt he has deeply researched the history of Abe  No Seimei in creating this program and I'm sure he must see how his artistry really reflects so much about this thousand year old culture.

How fortunate we are that part of his legend will always include bringing Seimei to these Olympics and WINNING with that program! TBH I was disappointed when we found out there would be no new programs last year (NEXT YEAR FOR SURE GDI!!!) but Yuzu Always Knows Best and I don't even try to doubt that any more. 

This reminded me, I was gonna share with y'all the email I sent to my co-workers who are aware of my skating obsession on the day of the Free Skate, basically to warn everyone that I may not survive. It got a pretty good laugh! 

Spoiler

It’s recently come to my attention that, under certain circumstances, I may not survive (in this current form) the Men’s free skate at the Olympics tomorrow night. Yuzuru Hanyu, the Greatest Of All Time, will be performing an ancient ritual of magic which is known to release multitudes of Shikigami, which like a kami or small ghost. You can find some additional details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_no_Seimei. This is scheduled to occur at around 10:30 CST tonight on NBC (or perhaps NBC-SN, it’s hard to tell).

 

If he breaks the World record AND gets the gold medal the spell is rumored to be SO POWERFUL that the population of Fanyus (Hanyu’s fans) can become magnetically attached to the Shikigami and be swept away into the nether world where they live.

 

We will have to hope that Yuzu remembers to perform the ‘closing’ action after his skate to return the Shikigami to their home before the Fanyus get attached. This process DID work correctly in December 2015, which was the last time he performed this ritual, broke the World record and became the Grand Prix champion. Winnie the Pooh is also a powerful protective talisman, and spectators who throw a Pooh bear offering on the ice after his skate will be protected. I will be holding my own Winnie close for protection, just in case.

 

But if something goes wrong I just wanted to let you all know what happened. It’s been nice knowing you, don’t worry about me, it’s a happy place we’re going to and we WILL have a chance to come back, if Yuzuru continues to the Beijing Olympics in 2022!

 

(no I don’t really believe any of that but I have to poke fun at myself for taking this so seriously!)

 

Okaerinasai!!

Ganbatte Yuzuru!

 

[raebia]

10 minutes ago, Murieleirum said:

 

Come to Rome, best food ever- oh, I won't be able to be a tour guide for you tho, I'll be stuck in Milan 

 

 

Please eat the Mantuvan pumpkin! Stuffed as filling in tortellini or gnocchi. One of the tastiest things I've ever eaten. (lol Why can I only suggest foods) 

 

 

...it is noted ! 

[MrPudding]

to many more to come

[micaelis]

I've basically given up on trying to keep up on this thread.  When I come to it nowadays I just go back three or four pages and scan what's current, so I don't know if anybody has brought up this topic - What is Yuzu going to do without Javi to train with and against?  My feeling is that with Javi retiring (at least as far as I understand he IS retiring) Yuzu no longer has that training partner to goad him on to evermore excellence.  Will that impact his skating?  I don't know but I can see a new arrangement forming.  Javi will be replaced by Stephen Gogolev, that young 13 year old kid who according to Brian is doing all five rear-entry quads. 

 

With Stephen moving into Junior level competition and with the fact that he becomes eligible for senior competition in 2020/21 Stephen is by my reckoning the 'coming thing' and would probably be amongst Yuzu's main competitors, if not THE main competitor, in Beijing if Yuzu hangs on long enough to compete there for a threepeat.  I've looked at all of Stephen's available vids on YouTube and I come away with this sense of things.  First, the boy is incredible in his jumping.  I do not think that Yuzu could ever hope to match the kid jump for jump.  The jumping machines Boyang and Nathan are the ones who have much to worry about here since at age 13 Stephen appears to be in position already to out-jump them.  Secondly, and this is relevant to Yuzu, Stephen is NOT a complete skater.  I don't know whether it's the choreographic weakness of his programs or some other factor but I've watched his programs and have not been impressed, so I'm ambivalent as to his potential on the PCS side of things.  Third, Stephen needs a lot of work in bringing up his GOEs.  I realize, of course, that he's still young and has time to work on these things.  Which brings up a critical issue.  Stephen is a growing boy.  What kind of impact is all this jumping having on him physically?  I remember that at this age Yuzu was also doing a great deal of jumping (although not quads, though he was trying to work towards them) and we might be seeing with his current problems the long-term effects of  that jumping finally manifesting themselves.  A factor we should also think about is that Yuzu might not be the only one physically affected by 'quadmania', that Nathan and Boyang may be looking at problems coming along because of their jumping.  We know already that Boyang missed out on some competition this season because of injury, the exact nature of which I'm not aware (was it ever announced publicly?).  Also lurking in the future for Stephen is the 'growth-spurt syndrome'.  Remember what a growth-spurt did to Nam a while back.  When the body suddenly reorganizes itself a skater loses his sense of self, his sense of how the various parts relate to each other.  In the end I would have to say that Stephen's route to possible Olympic gold is not a done-deal.  There is still the factor of who and what Yuzuru Hanyu is.

 

The Yuzuru Hanyu we have today, even in his injured form, is still the number one skater on the planet.  Remember that it is not simply his skating skills competing skaters have to deal with.  There is still Yuzu's incredible charisma.  As Kurt Browning once said, Yuzu is the only skater he knows who can have the audience's attention riveted on him even when he's just standing in the middle of the ice 'doing absolutely nothing'.  All those competing against Yuzu have to deal with the fact that he is one of the most charismatic athletes ever to exist.  Charisma, it should be noted, is not something that can be learned.  You either have or you don't have it.  Yuzu has it in spades.

 

The other thing Yuzu has in spades, which is something the other elites have attempted to counter, is that Yuzu's skating skills are across the board.  He is a jumper, he is a glider, he is a spinner, and he is above all a strategist.  As far as strategizing goes, Yuzu is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.  It shows.

 

I think, then, that Stephen Gogolev's presence at TCC will become for Yuzu the tangible presence that goads him forward.  Javi may be gone but his replacement is on hand.  The person who will be most challenged by this situation, though, will be Brian.  Yet he knows how to handle it.  If he didn't, he wouldn't have had two of his skaters standing next to each other on the Olympic podium last month.

[maxcellwire]

I don't think Yuzu really needs somebody around to motivate him. He and Javi training in the same place and constantly challenging each other was obviously great for both of them (and skating in general) in terms of pushing each other to get better faster, but it's not like the internet doesn't exist for Yuzu to see what his other main rivals are up to at other competitions. But more than that, isn't it that his main rival is himself? I see him continuing skating not just to win over other skaters but I guess to try and continue showing perfect, well-rounded skating that people love, to maybe try to break his world records again, to challenge himself to the 4A etc. That doesn't really come from other skaters (as far as I see it, I could be wrong though) but from his own love of skating and of competition. 

 

Rather than lack of motivation, the thing I'd be concerned about with Javi no longer in Toronto is Yuzu having friends while he's there. Although apparently they didn't hang out so much outside of the rink, so maybe Mr Introvert will be just fine.......idk

[Hydroblade]

5 minutes ago, maxcellwire said:

[...]

 

Rather than lack of motivation, the thing I'd be concerned about with Javi no longer in Toronto is Yuzu having friends while he's there. Although apparently they didn't hang out so much outside of the rink, so maybe Mr Introvert will be just fine.......idk

You don't need friends if you have videogames and husbandos

[Bilge]

https://twitter.com/sportsjapan/status/970321608190513152

 

Johnny Weir comments

 

"It looked like water...suspended in soup." - 2015

“agile, like a freshly-born kitten…” - 2016

"Liquid silk on ice." - 2018

 

...

 

Is there a thread for interesting comments on Yuzu? like "Yuzuru Hanyu jumps off the ice like an elastic rubber ball" or “Liquid Gold” i don't remember all but i know there are many interesting ones

[Hydroblade]

5 minutes ago, Bilge said:

Is there a thread for interesting comments on Yuzu? like "Yuzuru Hanyu jumps off the ice like an elastic rubber ball" or “Liquid Gold” i don't remember all but i know there are many interesting ones

you can always open one