General Yuzuru Chat

[sweetwater]

1 hour ago, KatjaThera said:

Personally, I think I have less of an issue with what she's saying than I do with the way she is saying. It's just piling everyone together. I am sure stalkers do justify their actions similarly. But does that mean that our actions are the same and deserve to be compared? I might scream in excitement at seeing an amazing costume on a skater I love. I will not chase after his car or stalk him to his home, or yell out my feelings. I agree there need to be boundaries, but we're not really discussing those boundaries. It's all about the screaming at ACI and how disturbing or not that was. To me, it's not on the same level as some other fan actions. I would probably prefer it not to be quite so wild and maybe if I had just watched it on TV, I might have cringed. But I still wouldn't compare it to the stalking, especially when there are fans explaining why they themselves reacted as they did, with actual arguments, not just "he was so hot, I couldn't help it!" We couldn't help it, yes, but for different reasons. For that alone, I would give at least SOME of the audience the benefit of doubt. Or at least I like to think I would.

 

As for "who can afford it", I think she might actually mean that ACI is a more affordable event, so even fans who don't usually get to go to competitions and see Yuzu can go, so they might be less familiar with skating etiquette and more excited to see him than the more seasoned crowd. Which, fair enough, though last year ACI was my first ever competition and most 'skating etiquette' is just good old common sense. But if so, say it like this. I'm not a native English speaker either (though I have been learning English since I was 6, so I guess I might be closer than some others), and I can be very bad at expressing myself, too, but on a forum, words are all we really have to communicate with and it's up to each of us to try to avoid misunderstandings.

 

And as a bottom line, I actually think we SHOULD discuss proper and improper fan behavior. I know some fans frown at the idea of fans policing fans, but truth is, if we don't, behavior we all find abhorrent will never go away. Like stalking. I'm sure we all agree stalking is bad. But what exactly does stalking imply? And some fans might genuinely not realize why what they're doing is bad. I'm thinking we could maybe make a thread and suggest 'behavior rules for Yuzu fans', with arguments. Why we should do some things and not do other things. When and where and how should we exercise more self-control? Then make a list of those generally agreed upon, and pros/cons lists for those that get debated. I'd be willing to open such a thread, but I'm not sure I would have enough time to properly handle it...

Thank you for taking the time to explain. Although I haven't changed my initial opinion, I understand your point of view. 

While reading your reply, I realized the interpretation of the affordability of ACI might be affected by how attending it would cost each person on each occasion. For me, going to ACI this year wasn't affordable for multiple reasons, but for some, it was the most accessible event distance-wise and ticketing-wise. In that sense, we both may have  misinterpreted what "who can afford it" meant, so I won't go further into this. 

 

I don't necessarily think there should be rules, but I hope we continue to have chances to talk about these things, to share opinions from time to time, since it is a matter of caring others.

[sweetwater]

I am not trying to change the mood but let me post this as well since I originally came here to post this

Keizo Nakanishi reunited with Yuzu after two years and talked about Rugby World Cup 2019

 

Two years ago

[Paskud]

3 hours ago, sweetwater said:

Yuzu's comment on NHK Trophy this year released during the NHK Trophy press conference. (Sorry if this has already been shared since it has been released on Sunday)

"Hello, I'm Yuzuru Hanyu. Thank you for always supporting me. At NHK Trophy, I would like to perform my best at the time. To be able to deliver the performances as I envision, I am going to work hard, working on my performance step by step. (Makomanai, Sapporo) is the place which brings back the memories of NHK Trophy (2016) in which I won, so I want to work hard to be able to rewrite these memories with even greater joy. Thank you for the continuous support!"

You see, Zuzu, what happens when we don't have media day? 64412567 interviews and obligations at ACI.

[mercedes]

9 hours ago, Veveco said:

Right. Fun fact: in several languages (French, Italian, Spanish ...) figure skating is called "artistic skating". So, yeah... let's call it, uhum, a cultural difference of opinion. 

we know how to call things in southern Europe LOL...seriously i love the German word for it too but I also don't love what Nathan said,he's kind of implying that ID is not a sport or not difficult or worthy...Nathan I've always thought you were a nice kid,don't make me change my mind now!

4 hours ago, Fay said:

Oh, and this. Yuzu wasn’t there, apparently, but we all know it’s about him, don’t we? 

https://www.toronto.ca.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/b_000421.html

the sake from Fukoshima says it all.....also I want that fan,simply gorgeous!

15 minutes ago, Paskud said:

You see, Zuzu, what happens when we don't have media day? 64412567 interviews and obligations at ACI.

i'm sure we'll get  aMdeai Day next year LOL

[Sabrina]

44 minutes ago, mercedes said:

 

i'm sure we'll get  aMdeai Day next year LOL

I hope so ! He must have spend hours at the rink after ACI to give all these interviews! 

[Murieleirum]

6 hours ago, KatjaThera said:

Honestly, as someone who screamed at ACI, I feel offended to have that be equaled with running after Yuzu's car, stealing seats, or loudly screaming "Look at me, I love you!" You're generalizing, by assuming people who screamed at ACI are the types of people who do those things. I'd says it's very easy to judge without having been there and to me it's the same kind of judging like that Seimei cosplaying girl at Rostelecom 2017 suffered: people saw her crying and assumed she was crying because Yuzu lost. You saw/heard people screaming at ACI more than usual and assumed they're all misbehaving fans. There were circumstances which amplified the reaction. It doesn't mean everyone suddenly stopped acknowledging Yuzu as a talented double Olympic Champion and just saw a sexy guy that made their ovaries explode. To me, at least, the lines are generally very clear. Was ACI an overreaction? Maybe, and I've admitted this before. Was it understandable? Yes, I believe it was. Will everyone agree on that? Of course not. Different people have different temperaments. Maybe some of them would never lose their composure like that. I didn't last year, but did this year. Maybe my threshold is high, but this year it wasn't high enough. I don't know. What I do know is that I cannot agree that the screaming at ACI is as bad as the other examples of bad behavior you gave and I resent the comparison.

 

I also felt the urge to boo at ACI, but I did not. Because Yuzu would not appreciate it. But the total silence as the technical controller and who else extended greetings to the athletes was telling.

 

I also think you really need to get over the notion that affordability means anything. That's a sort of elitist mindframe, like richer people would never stoop to act as badly as the poor people do, that I cannot believe still exists in this day and age. You can be absolutely sure that those screaming included both rich and not so rich people. Although admittedly, I did not inquire about the income of any of the fans I've met at ACI. I am probably the poorest of them, but then again, it was also my first time screaming like that. So not sure what exactly that is supposed to say about me...

 

I think bad fan behavior needs to be discussed. Stalking, in any shape or form - to me, chasing after his car is a form of stalking - needs to be pointed out and discouraged, rather than swept under the rug. But IMO, there were worse things happening at ACI than the screaming. The screaming was a genuine, honest reaction, and it was ALL about Yuzu, not getting his attention, at least from where I stood. If there were other instances of something else, like competitions between fans, to outscream each other, then, yes, that I disagree with. But in that case, I'd rather those cases be singled out, rather than just going after EVERYONE who screamed, because that's just not fair to those for whom it was a genuine and perhaps not entirely voluntary reaction.

 

And we know Yuzu is a fan of cheering and screaming himself, so I don't think he'd want people holding back on genuine reactions, as long as they don't get too over the top.

 

As for concentration, I think it's good for athletes to experience stressful situations, too. As long as nobody is screaming with the purpose to disturb, timing the screams to jumps, it should be good practice, to learn to block it out. Even if it's done with the purpose to disturb, it's good practice. An athlete who can master the art of ignoring those who try to intentionally destroy his focus will be unbeatable. But that was not the case and I honestly doubt any of the other skaters minded it much. If anything, it meant the attention was not on them. As for Yuzu, I've already been there, so I won't repeat myself. Only he knows how much he minded it or not.

 

Either way, I doubt it set the standard for future competitions, so we are probably over-analyzing.

 

I think you misinterpreted completely the 'affordability' part. I was saying the opposite. I live in Italy, a lot of people here come from Europe and Asia. It is a big expense to travel to Canada, or any other country besides your own. I saved up my work salary for a year to go to Japan in March, and it wasn't at all to see Yuzuru but because of university studying. I did voluntary work to cover my living expenses. I come from a poor household, and when I say poor I mean it. I'm not sure what you mean when you say you are the poorest of them when, sorry for pointing this out, I know for a fact that you've travelled a lot and seen Yuzu live a lot so you definitely cannot describe yourself as poor. 

 

In any case, that part of my comment wasn't in any way correlated to the rest, I wasn't drawing connections between income and reactions, lol. 

 

Regarding the rest, I didn't want to drag this out as much as it seems that I did, and I didn't mean to say that screaming fans are like stalkers or obsessive people. Those were examples of bad behavior, extremes. I would be an idiot to compare over-screaming during a costume reveal to people stalking Yuzuru! 

 

I simply felt like I wanted to respond to a comment that was only saying 'I felt like this, I felt like that' and did not really talk about how others might have felt. 

 

I hope I managed to convey my feelings this time. 

[Murieleirum]

5 hours ago, sweetwater said:

I don't think @Murieleirum is labeling fans at ACI this year as stalkers and such. Isn't she just pointing out the danger in justifying what we do as a sign of emotional involvement or emotional investment? And I don't think "who can afford it" means who is rich either... There must be die-hard fans outside of arenas as well, among those who can't afford to go to each competition, no? because of having no time or having difficult situations? I am not a native English speaker so I am not 100 percent confident, though.

 

You got 100% of what I was saying. I am probably very direct when I speak so I get that it sounds like I am faulting or attacking some people. 

[Yuzurella]

4 hours ago, Henni147 said:

 

You probably mean Daniel Weiss, who does the commentary for ARD and ONE, aye? I think, he invented the term "Eissprunglauf" during Worlds 2018 in Milano.

 

Daniel was a competitive skater himself (German national champion 1990) and he amphasizes well-rounded skating with balanced technical and artistic quality in every broadcast.

I remember his commentary in Saitama, where he said after Otonal: "Yes, Hanyu lost some points with the popped Salchow, but LOOK at this mindblowing step sequence! The beautiful edges and turns. He literally FLIES across the ice!"

In the gala he was top informed about the meaning of 'Haru yo, koi' and praised Yuzu's sakura costume, how well it visualizes the famous Japanese cherry blossom in spring. That was a very positive surprise for me.

 

Yes, it was him! What kind of memory do you have, girl, that you remember all those details of what he said so well.

I think it was also him who criticized the scoring system repeatedly, especially the automatic inflation of PCS that comes with high TES.

Oh well, at least there are still some good commentators who have real expertise and really know what they're talking about.

[Yuzurella]

This is incredible!

Angel wings for Yuzu. It's really amazing what Yuzu fans come up with.

[rockstaryuzu]

2 hours ago, Sabrina said:

I hope so ! He must have spend hours at the rink after ACI to give all these interviews! 

Tbh, it probably worked out well in the sense that he most likely ended up leaving long after even the most ardent, die-hard fan had given up waiting for him. 

[Toni]

 

13 hours ago, Murieleirum said:

 

You only mentioned your own emotions in justifying the mass behavior that happened at ACI, and of course you are, that's exactly what happens - fans get overwhelmed with emotions and do not think about other people. It happens when they run after Yuzuru's car, it happens when they (any skater's fans) steal other people's seats, etc. etc. Who decides where the line is? Between what is acceptable and what is not? I wish Yuzuru could speak out more explicitey about this and say it bluntly when he thinks fans are exaggerating, but I feel like he kinda did when he said "I am grateful for my fans for letting me concentrate", which from Japanese to English means "I hope my fans will respect other skater's concentration and my own when cheering for me". 

 

The context is everything. Again, you only spoke about what I felt, but I am asking you to think about how others might have felt: Yuzuru himself, other skaters.

 

Plus, you said something that is upsetting: it's not the diehard fans who go to non-ISU competitions like ACI. It's the fans who can afford it. Big difference.

 

For example, I was lucky enough to win a ticket for Saitama and be in Japan during the WC of 2019, so I went and I cheered. When Nathan's score was announced, I felt like booing. I was so disappointed. Booing at the judges of course, not at poor Nathan who did a great job. But I couldn't, because I had to think about other people's (Nathan's) feelings. And booing is not the same as cheering, but... come on, I don't have to repeat myself. Yuzuru has been recently, in more than one competition, visibly irritated by some behaviors that went over the line.

 

One other thing, in Helsinki 2017 during the winning ceremony, there was an Italian lady screaming "Yuzuru! Look over here! I love you!" again and again and the desperation that I could hear in her voice was just a little... well, no. That is not the kind of support that Yuzuru needs, that is just obsession and do you really think Yuzuru doesn't feel the difference?

 

I know it's annoying and you don't wanna hear it, but... this is just what I think at the end of the day. You are free to disagree and I don't want you to be ashamed, I just want people to think a little bit more about context. 

 

 

 

Um... did you really mean to draw an equivalence between screaming at a costume  reveal and chasing Yuzu's car?! Or stealing other people's seats?! Or demanding Yuzu's personal attention?! Screaming happily is a gut reaction, whereas all the things you compared it to require a decision and an action. I had Winnie's to throw and an urge to throw them, but I did not throw the Poohs because that was against the rules, and it would have required a decision and an action. I wanted to watch only Yuzu in practice, but I deliberately looked away, to cheered for the other skaters too. I would never EVER chase someone's car or invade their privacy, no matter how emotional I felt. Please rethink this false equivalence, since I find fans who chase cars, boo at other skaters, flagrantly disregard rules, and steal other people's seats repugnant. And I would smash someone in the face if I saw them chasing Yuzu. 

  

ACI is the least important of all the contests Yuzu will attend this season and has a correspondingly small ticket price. But even with the low cost, only die-hard fans travel for ACI. Most FS fans don't even watch such contests on TV -- assuming they are even televised. They wait until the "real" events, like GPF and Worlds. Some only watch Worlds and the Olympics. People who travel to see any of the Challenger series, on the other hand, are truly dedicated fans. I, for instance, drove there for 8 hours from Massachusetts. To save money, I brought food with me and stayed in a cheap AirBNB. I wasn't saying that ALL die-hard fans travel to ACI, I was saying that ONLY die-hard fans do. I'm very sorry you if you couldn't afford to go, and I hope you have many more chances in the future to see Yuzu live. 

 

[yuzuangel]

There are different types of cheering. At ACI (not this year) there were two girls next to me who screamed "YUZU!" at the top of their lungs for about 20 minutes straight (no exaggeration) while we were waiting for the medal ceremony. Yuzu finally turned around and waved at them, after which they stopped screaming. But however uncharitable it is to assign personal interpretations to his expressions, by the look he gave, I'm pretty certain he was annoyed, if only in that moment  He was standing with his coaches, so it's not like he could have gone somewhere else to escape the noise.

 

Now, should we discourage that sort of behavior? I dunno, most of the time there's no harm done. Yuzu is used to it; I'm sure it doesn't REALLY bother him. He's been through worse. But from his interviews, it's clear that there are times he would prefer if the audience were a little more respectful. It's basically as direct as he's ever gonna be, IMO. If we wait for him to be even more direct about this (or anything), I think we might miss out a lot on what he's trying to say between the lines.

 

But this is totally different from normal cheering during the competition. Cheering at the top of your lungs when he takes off his jacket/when his name is announced/after his program/after seeing him land a beautiful jump? Cheer away. 

[Old Cat Lady]

21 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

Fact: the creator of Yuri On Ice has stated outright that she based Yuri on Tatsuki Machida.  So Yuzuru doesn't match up with Yuri in any way (although there are definitely some articles out there saying he does). But I can see why someone who likes anime but doesn't know figure skating would think it is him. 

 

Yes.  And to be fair, the character's face and his mannerisms look more like Yuzu than Machida.  Though the body and story line are more like Machida's.  Don't know if the same gestures were in the manga, but considering that the anime came afterwards, perhaps the creators modeled at least some of the character's mannerisms after Yuzu since Yuzu's popularity was one of the things that propelled the anime's production.

 

20 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

 

  Hide contents

But do people seriously think Nathan believes his own hype? I don't. No one smart enough to do a STEM degree at an Ivy League school would swallow media stories about themselves hook, line, and sinker. It's much more likely that he just ignores it all. 

 

 

If nothing else, Raf is there to keep him grounded.  I still get the impression that if he weren't Nathan's coach, he'd be more of a Yuzu fan than a Nathan fan and we have to remember, that Raf is a crafty strategist.  He's not going to let media hype influence what he thinks is needed to win.

 

13 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

...Those manner hands! I wonder if Yuzu realizes that any Western person being hugged that way is going to automatically pull him in tighter... body language is such a cultural thing. 

 

kind of cracks me up that he's doing manner hands that hover right over the posterior.  He seems to have developed a habit of dropping one of his hands pretty low which wouldn't happen if he just did a bear hug that would come naturally to a lot of Westerners.

[TallyT]

Anyone able to translate?

 

[Murieleirum]

6 hours ago, Toni said:

 

 

Um... did you really mean to draw an equivalence between screaming at a costume  reveal and chasing Yuzu's car?! Or stealing other people's seats?! Or demanding Yuzu's personal attention?! Screaming happily is a gut reaction, whereas all the things you compared it to require a decision and an action. I had Winnie's to throw and an urge to throw them, but I did not throw the Poohs because that was against the rules, and it would have required a decision and an action. I wanted to watch only Yuzu in practice, but I deliberately looked away, to cheered for the other skaters too. I would never EVER chase someone's car or invade their privacy, no matter how emotional I felt. Please rethink this false equivalence, since I find fans who chase cars, boo at other skaters, flagrantly disregard rules, and steal other people's seats repugnant. And I would smash someone in the face if I saw them chasing Yuzu. 

  

ACI is the least important of all the contests Yuzu will attend this season and has a correspondingly small ticket price. But even with the low cost, only die-hard fans travel for ACI. Most FS fans don't even watch such contests on TV -- assuming they are even televised. They wait until the "real" events, like GPF and Worlds. Some only watch Worlds and the Olympics. People who travel to see any of the Challenger series, on the other hand, are truly dedicated fans. I, for instance, drove there for 8 hours from Massachusetts. To save money, I brought food with me and stayed in a cheap AirBNB. I wasn't saying that ALL die-hard fans travel to ACI, I was saying that ONLY die-hard fans do. I'm very sorry you if you couldn't afford to go, and I hope you have many more chances in the future to see Yuzu live. 

 

 

I have already answered all of this in a precedent post, so if you want you can have a read at that... 

 

But I will repeat that no, not only die-hard fans travel for ACI, but the fans who can afford a ticket from wherever they live to Canada, which can cost a lot of money. It's important that people understand this. I can admit it easily: I have a complex about this because I grew up poor so people who take for granted things like buying ticket planes and hotel nights don't feel right to me. Yuzuru has aknowledged himself all of those fans who follow him online and cannot follow him physically because of money constraints... that is what I was talking about. That was it.