I am jumping late into the flag discussion, but...

 

Spoiler

At the risk of oversimplifying the situation, I think it's safe to say that sporting events are usually the appropriate moment to show expressions of patriotism towards one's own country, no matter where they came from, and what their country's history has been like.

 

Coming from a formerly colonized country (we are only going to celebrate being independent for 75 years in August this year) I feel like there's hardly any negative sentiments with waving flags — it's always viewed favorably (though it might seem a bit weird — overenthusiastic — if you decorate the outer side of your house with the flag in months other than August — the independence month). Public institution buildings (government offices, public company offices, schools, both public and private) all have flagpoles with the national flag hoisted full mast everyday (nationally based private companies afaik aren't subject to this requirement but they can do that too if they so wish and often they do have the flag as well). In schools (especially public schools) we have a weekly flag raising ceremony (every monday, before the start of the class) — students gather at the school yard (in rank and file, according to their school year and class) along with the teachers and school staffs to raise the flag and then have a short speech with themes meant to instill a patriotic spirit (in order to, you know, to make the students be good citizens dedicated to the betterment and advancing the state of the nation, and the prosperity of the country, and...)

 

...if you feel uneasy reading that description of the ceremony (...why does that sound quasi-militaristic??), I understand that — the origin of the flag ceremony in schools might have even been the remnant from the time (however brief) of the imperial Japanese occupation. During the declaration of independence of our country however, the founders did it by reading the proclamation of Independence and raising the national flag afterwards — we appropriated the *structure* of an average military ceremony and added our own value into it to the subsequent ceremonies held after that one ceremony— hence why we didn't have such a negative view to the quasi-militaristic nature of the ceremony — it reminds us of the time when the founders just declared the independence of a new nation, the struggle that came with it, and the spirit that we all hope to carry on to fuel ourselves to help advance this country forward.

 

That was a long meandering ramble, and to keep it on topic (more or less :þ ) I'll just stop at that on writing about the flag ceremony. TL;DR I (and most of my compatriots, I can assure you ;þ) don't have any negative sentiments towards my own national flag, and flag waving, especially when situationally appropriate (independence month, sporting event) is viewed favorably.

 

Back to Yuzu — I wholeheartedly support him expressing his patriotic feelings during competitions (at victory ceremony and such). As far as I see it he expresses it within reason, it seems? Nothing that might raise a red flag ha! — like, idk, a gesture/chant that is part of the far right lingo? To me it seems also that Yuzu is respectful towards other athletes' expression of patriotic feelings, so I don't really see any problem here?

 

My 0,02 for now~ ;þ

 

11 hours ago, yuzuangel said:

LOL

The look on his face...I’m dying of laughter 😂

 

I hope he’ll do a wild, fun type of program like this again. I love his dramatic (origin, seimei) and serene (Chopin) ones but I adore the ones where he just looks like he’s fully enjoying every single part of the program like LGC and PW. 

Two Three (Haru yo koi, Masquerade, POTO) more sample photos added to the Amazon page for "FIGURE SKATING ART COSTUMES" by Satomi Ito

 

Great costumes in the figure skating book of Satomi Ito! (There are also Mai, Wakaba, Rika's costumes too)

A little OT, but am I the only one who's scared of what's gonna happen at Worlds? I'm excited to see Yuzu, of course, but there is this overwhelming feeling of uneasiness and dread. This is probably because of what happened in the last few competitions. I just genuinely want Yuzu to be happy.

Baby Yuzu finding out he’s won. 

 

 

 

Go, Yuzu! 

54 minutes ago, MeowZu said:

A little OT, but am I the only one who's scared of what's gonna happen at Worlds? I'm excited to see Yuzu, of course, but there is this overwhelming feeling of uneasiness and dread. This is probably because of what happened in the last few competitions. I just genuinely want Yuzu to be happy.

I just hope Yuzu can be happy with his skate, I dont really care about anything else. For me his skate currently is the most beautiful it has ever been, it really is like a good wine, but I dont mean his program, I mean his skate, it has reached such levels that I can not believe how good it is. But I also dont expect judges to do a good job so I am going to try to enjoy the most I can and send all the energy I can across the globe to Yuzu.  (Doesnt mean I wont get super nervous going up to it)

6 hours ago, Figure_Frenzy said:

I am jumping late into the flag discussion, but...

 

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we have a weekly flag raising ceremony (every monday, before the start of the class) 

 

 

Not just before the start of class but right into the middle of the first one at the (private) school I taught at in Menteng. Drove me crazy because I'd never be able to catch up the class time.

 

It never occurred to me that the similarities to classroom routines in Indonesia and Japan might be because of the occupation. It was very nice entering a classroom and having all the kids stand up to say good morning.  Now imagining how cute baby Yuzu must have been as a school kid  I bet he was the teacher's favourite. He's so charismatic. 

Alrighty, satellites, everybody figure out your schedules for Worlds because the Planet calendar has been updated with all Yuzucon days.

 

May they be blessed.

 

May he be blessed.

 

OR ELSE.

 

 

3 hours ago, MeowZu said:

A little OT, but am I the only one who's scared of what's gonna happen at Worlds? I'm excited to see Yuzu, of course, but there is this overwhelming feeling of uneasiness and dread. This is probably because of what happened in the last few competitions. I just genuinely want Yuzu to be happy.

You're not alone! I too am gripped by a sense of existential dread and general doom and gloom. The only solution is to just not care-- SOMETHING or the other is gonna be working against Yuzu in Montreal. I'm just looking forward to seeing him live again and hoping that he is able to skate to his very best, such that no one is able to deny his greatness. Something which helps in calming me down in these trying times is looping his best performances on repeat; I think I've watched GPF 2015 Seimei a million times by now.

 

In short: KEEP CALM AND WORSHIP YUZU

1 hour ago, ralucutzagy said:

 

 

Sendai is smart to realise what the most photogenic thing in the whole city is..

2 hours ago, memae said:

Now imagining how cute baby Yuzu must have been as a school kid  I bet he was the teacher's favourite. He's so charismatic.

 

...cute and clever, with bouts of brattiness, that's how I imagine it 

On 2/24/2020 at 6:26 PM, Henni147 said:

Recently I read so many comments like: 'Why are fanyus whining again? 3.66 GOE for a 3A is nearly perfect. Only +4s and +5s. He is not underscored at all'.

 

I think, there are currently three big issues that casual viewers don't see (or don't want to see):

 

1. Giving +4s instead of +5s for a single element is numerically not a big deal, indeed. However, for 7 elements in the short and 12 in the free these little differences multiply very quickly and the skater ends up with 5-10 points less than he or she actually deserves. I also can't hear the argument anymore that it doesn't change anything in the placements. As long as world records, personal and season's bests are officially recorded, every single point on the scoresheet counts.

 

2. Giving +4s to Yuzu's elements wouldn't be that problematic, if some other skaters didn't receive multiple +5s and other candies with much lower quality. But they do and that devaluates Yuzu's quality elements.

 

3. In case of Yuzu's 3A it's not only a question of raw points. I think, this is about honoring an iconic element and making a statement. +5s across the board would send the message to the skating world: Yes. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the standard for a perfect 3A and a perfect technical element in general. If you want a +5, you have to level or top this. By giving +4s to Yuzu's 3A the judges make the clear statement that this jump is not their standard (anymore).

 

 

Just to put things into perspective:

 

Between 2015 and 2018 in the short program Yuzu received the maximum 3.00 GOE for his triple Axel 8 times in 15 attempts. 2.00 was the lowest GOE he got in these 3 years for his Axel in any SP (average GOE: 2.77).

Since the introduction of the new +/-5 system he received the maximum 4.00 GOE only once in 10 short programs. This tells a lot about the new system and Yuzu's popularity among the judges.

 

Thank you for this detailed post, I couldn't agree more... isu's doing is cristal clear, drives me crazy that there's nothing much that can be done!!... really don't know how Yuzu manages to deal with the situation - puting in everything he has & getting insulted by isu again & again with the horrible scoring... in this light I also find myselt dreading the Worlds soo much.. I really tried to block Siatama's & GPF's awuful Chenflashion from my mind & to concentrate on the positive things like gold 4CC and the Super Slam, but the reality of the Worlds is going to be very harsh... I remember watching Chen's skate at Siatama and by the middle of the FS I was in shock from the scores glowing on the screen.. all the inflated GOE's.. I couldn't believe my eyes...

And still, hoping with all my might for a miracle, sending all the good energy to the Universe & all the love to Yuzu.... 🙏❤❤❤❤