General Yuzuru Chat

[Figure_Frenzy]

  On 10/29/2021 at 6:31 AM, memae said:

He probably won't but I think he really could do some acting if he wanted one day.

Expand  

 

I mean, he already did (as the young Date, remember? 😆), but yeah it wouldn't hurt to have a little appearance of him every now and then... 

[birnasan]

Yuzuru interview from his new book "Creating the Future", automatically translated with OCR and deepL. I don't speak Japanese and this is not a proper translation. I think I was able to grasp the overall meaning, but we shouldn't trust every single word or sentence.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Interview after the 2020-2021 season, July 2021

(from "Creating the Future", p. 236)

 

Q: After your 'Super Slam' at the Four Continents Championships in February 2020, you were focused on the World Championships the following month, how did you react to the sudden cancellation due to the Corona crisis?

YH: I was so stunned that I cried. I wasn't really well prepared for the World Championships and I was feeling half-hearted and a bit empty. So when I heard that it was cancelled, I thought "Oh, it's not happening" and for some reason I started to cry. It wasn't that I was very sad or in pain, it was just a strange feeling, like the strings of tension had suddenly been cut. But I didn't lose my motivation, I thought that I could practice skating and Axel more since it was the off-season, so I decided to switch my focus. But suddenly I got an email saying that the rink of the Cricket Club would be closed from that day onwards, so I thought "what should I do?". So I decided to go back to Japan.

 

Q: With the cancellation of the ice shows, it must have been a very different kind of off-season for you, wasn't it?

YH: I've missed it a lot, and now that I've been skating in some ice shows again, I've realized that I really love to perform and skate in front of people, and have them watch me. So last year (2020), when I didn't have that, I felt like I had a lot of time to talk with myself, to face my skating.

 

Q: Have you thought about what you are going to do next?

YH: In the end, I've always had a fundamental desire to execute a quad Axel, and I think that's what makes my life worth living now, chasing my dream. My life now is built around that dream. It's the same now as it was before, but when I decided to work towards the quad Axel, I didn't have a coach, and the training environment changed. There were times when I had to make decisions by myself, and I had to take care of my body as well, so I had a hard time to find the right direction, when I felt like what I was doing was decreasing more and more, not so much in terms of quad Axel, but in terms of everything I was doing. I asked myself, "Why am I skating?". I had a feeling of loss. I felt like I was losing my power, like it wasn't my skating anymore, like I was separated from my ideal.

 

Q: When you look back, why do you think you got so depressed?

YH: After all, 4A is not that easy. For example, if I have a coach watching me, he can give me feedback like, "This was good," or "Let's do this part better," but now I had to do it by myself. Besides, my goal is set pretty high, so I always spend my days without achieving it. The other big factor was that I didn't give myself enough positive affirmation, and I felt like my head and my heart were exhausted from over-analyzing.

 

Q: You were also working on your graduation thesis during that period, weren't you?

YH: That too took a lot of concentration and energy. In fact, only a small part of it was published in an academic journal, and I was doing a lot of work with more solid data. It took a long time to get the data, and I had to use my brain a lot. I had to take a break from practicing quad Axel, because of pain in my foot, and when I returned to practice, I couldn't jump at all, so I felt like everything was going in a negative direction.

 

Q: You didn't have the chance to have someone watching you jump and skate, right?

YH: It makes me happy to be watched and to receive cheers. I realized that skating is the only way for me to do what I want to do without hesitation, to move my body freely. I've been skating since I was 4 years old, and of course there are still many things that I can't do, or wish I could do better. But skating is a way to express myself, a way to communicate and express what's in my heart. It's when I can do that, that I feel happy, I think. As I had no chance to skate in front of people, and I had to focus on quad Axel and other aspects of skating for a long time, I didn't have a chance to express myself, or a time to release my emotions. So, in that sense, I was helped by my old programs like "Haru yo koi", which I skated at that time.

 

Q: When you hit rock bottom, did you realize what you wanted to do, what you wanted to express?

YH: To be honest, there was a time when I didn't know why I liked skating. If I look back to my childhood, it was an extraordinary feeling to be on the ice, and it's completely different from being on land, isn't it? It was something difficult, so there was always a sense of excitement when I could do something. On top of that, I was skating alone on that huge rink, with everyone watching only me. If my performance was good, I would get a lot of cheers, if it wasn't, I would only get a moderate amount of applause. I think I liked that feeling... a lot. But as I've been skating for a long time, that feeling has become less and less, or it has become more and more a given. And I'm under so much pressure to meet everyone's expectations. It's not just about enjoying skating, it's about being nervous, about what if I make a mistake... all this pressure is getting bigger and bigger, and I don't have time to enjoy skating anymore. I put pressure on myself to perform well in ice shows, and I practice a lot for that, but I think in this off-season (2020), when I didn't have such opportunities, I went back to my beginning, asking myself "Why do I love skating?".

 

Q: So it was because you were in a situation where you were not allowed to do what you usually do that you were able to realize that again?

YH: Yes, that's right. It was because I didn't have a chance to skate in front of people, and I had a tough time with the quad Axel. At that time, my heart was in a mess, my head was in a mess, and I couldn't do anything. Normally, a little change of mood, such as playing a game, would have refreshed my mind and helped me get back into action, but I just couldn't do anything. Then, for some reason, I thought to myself, "I feel like I want to skate 'Haru yo koi' in my current mood". When I skated it, I felt so happy, and I thought, "Oh, this is what I loved about skating". If it wasn't for that moment, I probably wouldn't be so devoted to my skating right now.

 

Q: If it wasn't for the quad Axel, would you have retired?

YH: I think I would have quit for sure. After the PyeongChang Olympics, I didn't have as much motivation as before, so I think I would have considered retiring earlier.

 

Q: But the quad Axel was not a goal you were forced into, it was your own goal.

YH: Yes, that' s right. I remember when I was little, I said something about it (laughs). And also I love Axel jumps so much. So I'd like to leave something significant behind. Not for the future of figure skating, not for the Japanese skating world, but for my own satisfaction, like "I have pushed the limits".

 

Q: Compared to athletics, in the 100m, would you like to beat the world record of 9.58 seconds, like 9.4?

YH: I think it's like wanting to break 8 seconds in the 100m. It's like no one else in the world can do it. Nobody knows where the limits of human beings are. Scientifically, there are many things that can possibly be done, but it depends on the individual person. I'd like to make a jump that goes beyond the norm.

 

Q: What helped you heal and think about what to do next during this difficult time?

YH: I think being with my family was a big factor. I was in a lot of trouble, but my family was there for me and supported me in practice and everything. I had a lot of time to be just the youngest of the Hanyu family, rather than a skater, so that was very healing. I think it was very important for me to be able to say what I wanted and just be taken care of. I was able to be in a place where I could be myself, where I didn't feel any different to the person I was before I started skating.

 

Q: What do you think of the three competitions you did in the 2020-21 season after such an off-season?

YH: I was well prepared for the Japanese Nationals. But at the World Championships in March, I was kind of burnt out, because I felt like I had already done the best possible performance at Nationals. But I still wanted to jump the quad Axel. I was feeling much better, and I thought I could do it, so I tried until the end of February, but I couldn't do it. I thought about what I should do, and I decided to keep on practicing, even though I was already thinking about cancelling the competition. That's why I think the result of the competition was not surprising. But I also wanted to contribute to the team and do my best as a representative of Japan.

 

Q: Looking back on that, as a competitor, doesn't it give you a strong desire to break 8 seconds in the 100m?

YH: Yes, that's right. I think I've already won the titles that I wanted to win, to some extent, and if you ask me if I want to win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics like I did at the PyeongChang Olympics, I don't have that feeling, I just want to overcome my own wall, or the wall of common sense.

 

Q: How do you look back on such a year?

YH: I'm doing really well. The situation in the world is changing and I'm learning more about Corona and how to deal with it. There are more and more things I can do, like ice shows and competitions. I can feel the happiness of skating again, and I think that happiness is what gives me the chance to work hard again. Compared to last year, I'm very happy (laughs). I think I have learned a lot of different things, I've learned something very important, something big, that will be important for the rest of my life, or for the rest of my skating career.

 

(Some parts of this interview really made me cry. We should be careful with our expectations and the pressure we put on him.)

This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

[tsubasanoyume]

  On 10/29/2021 at 8:14 AM, birnasan said:

Yuzuru interview from his new book "Creating the Future", automatically translated with OCR and deepL. I don't speak Japanese and this is not a proper translation. I think I was able to grasp the overall meaning, but we shouldn't trust every single word or sentence.

Expand  

Oh, I want this part in japanese, please, can you give me this part in japanese. 

[birnasan]

  On 10/29/2021 at 8:51 AM, tsubasanoyume said:

Oh, I want this part in japanese, please, can you give me this part in japanese. 

Expand  

I would like to do so, but I don't want to violate the copyrights, so I decided to not post the Japanese text. I am sorry!

[Paskud]

I don't want to do something mundane like winning Olympics. I just want to overcome the wall of common sense.

Well, honey, 5 seconds of you on ice is already inconceivable.

[memae]

  On 10/29/2021 at 7:10 AM, Yuzu_legend said:

 

 

 

 

Expand  

My goodness, fanyus are very efficient. 

[Marie1708]

Hello! Does anyone know in which hotel the skaters will be staying at the Rostelecom Cup this year in Sochi?

[Yuzu_legend]

[news]
More Yuzu today!!!!!!

[SuzyQ]

"Who's that plushie?"

 

[Anni]

 

We were really spoiled today with new Yuzu crumbs 

 

  

  On 10/29/2021 at 1:44 AM, Paskud said:

[NEWS]

GUYS, I CAN'T, HE IS SO ADORBS

 

Good that his olive suitcase is bigger.

Expand  

 

 

What for a refreshing commercial. Thank you ANA  The outfit looks really good on him  

 

Gif from me 

 

 

 

 

  

  On 10/29/2021 at 8:14 AM, birnasan said:

Yuzuru interview from his new book "Creating the Future", automatically translated with OCR and deepL. I don't speak Japanese and this is not a proper translation. I think I was able to grasp the overall meaning, but we shouldn't trust every single word or sentence.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Interview after the 2020-2021 season, July 2021

(from "Creating the Future", p. 236)

 

Q: After your 'Super Slam' at the Four Continents Championships in February 2020, you were focused on the World Championships the following month, how did you react to the sudden cancellation due to the Corona crisis?

YH: I was so stunned that I cried. I wasn't really well prepared for the World Championships and I was feeling half-hearted and a bit empty. So when I heard that it was cancelled, I thought "Oh, it's not happening" and for some reason I started to cry. It wasn't that I was very sad or in pain, it was just a strange feeling, like the strings of tension had suddenly been cut. But I didn't lose my motivation, I thought that I could practice skating and Axel more since it was the off-season, so I decided to switch my focus. But suddenly I got an email saying that the rink of the Cricket Club would be closed from that day onwards, so I thought "what should I do?". So I decided to go back to Japan.

 

Q: With the cancellation of the ice shows, it must have been a very different kind of off-season for you, wasn't it?

YH: I've missed it a lot, and now that I've been skating in some ice shows again, I've realized that I really love to perform and skate in front of people, and have them watch me. So last year (2020), when I didn't have that, I felt like I had a lot of time to talk with myself, to face my skating.

 

Q: Have you thought about what you are going to do next?

YH: In the end, I've always had a fundamental desire to execute a quad Axel, and I think that's what makes my life worth living now, chasing my dream. My life now is built around that dream. It's the same now as it was before, but when I decided to work towards the quad Axel, I didn't have a coach, and the training environment changed. There were times when I had to make decisions by myself, and I had to take care of my body as well, so I had a hard time to find the right direction, when I felt like what I was doing was decreasing more and more, not so much in terms of quad Axel, but in terms of everything I was doing. I asked myself, "Why am I skating?". I had a feeling of loss. I felt like I was losing my power, like it wasn't my skating anymore, like I was separated from my ideal.

 

Q: When you look back, why do you think you got so depressed?

YH: After all, 4A is not that easy. For example, if I have a coach watching me, he can give me feedback like, "This was good," or "Let's do this part better," but now I had to do it by myself. Besides, my goal is set pretty high, so I always spend my days without achieving it. The other big factor was that I didn't give myself enough positive affirmation, and I felt like my head and my heart were exhausted from over-analyzing.

 

Q: You were also working on your graduation thesis during that period, weren't you?

YH: That too took a lot of concentration and energy. In fact, only a small part of it was published in an academic journal, and I was doing a lot of work with more solid data. It took a long time to get the data, and I had to use my brain a lot. I had to take a break from practicing quad Axel, because of pain in my foot, and when I returned to practice, I couldn't jump at all, so I felt like everything was going in a negative direction.

 

Q: You didn't have the chance to have someone watching you jump and skate, right?

YH: It makes me happy to be watched and to receive cheers. I realized that skating is the only way for me to do what I want to do without hesitation, to move my body freely. I've been skating since I was 4 years old, and of course there are still many things that I can't do, or wish I could do better. But skating is a way to express myself, a way to communicate and express what's in my heart. It's when I can do that, that I feel happy, I think. As I had no chance to skate in front of people, and I had to focus on quad Axel and other aspects of skating for a long time, I didn't have a chance to express myself, or a time to release my emotions. So, in that sense, I was helped by my old programs like "Haru yo koi", which I skated at that time.

 

Q: When you hit rock bottom, did you realize what you wanted to do, what you wanted to express?

YH: To be honest, there was a time when I didn't know why I liked skating. If I look back to my childhood, it was an extraordinary feeling to be on the ice, and it's completely different from being on land, isn't it? It was something difficult, so there was always a sense of excitement when I could do something. On top of that, I was skating alone on that huge rink, with everyone watching only me. If my performance was good, I would get a lot of cheers, if it wasn't, I would only get a moderate amount of applause. I think I liked that feeling... a lot. But as I've been skating for a long time, that feeling has become less and less, or it has become more and more a given. And I'm under so much pressure to meet everyone's expectations. It's not just about enjoying skating, it's about being nervous, about what if I make a mistake... all this pressure is getting bigger and bigger, and I don't have time to enjoy skating anymore. I put pressure on myself to perform well in ice shows, and I practice a lot for that, but I think in this off-season (2020), when I didn't have such opportunities, I went back to my beginning, asking myself "Why do I love skating?".

 

Q: Q: So it was because you were in a situation where you were not allowed to do what you usually do that you were able to realize that again?

YH: Yes, that's right. It was because I didn't have a chance to skate in front of people, and I had a tough time with the quad Axel. At that time, my heart was in a mess, my head was in a mess, and I couldn't do anything. Normally, a little change of mood, such as playing a game, would have refreshed my mind and helped me get back into action, but I just couldn't do anything. Then, for some reason, I thought to myself, "I feel like I want to skate 'Haru yo koi' in my current mood". When I skated it, I felt so happy, and I thought, "Oh, this is what I loved about skating". If it wasn't for that moment, I probably wouldn't be so devoted to my skating right now.

 

Q: If it wasn't for the quad Axel, would you have retired?

YH: I think I would have quit for sure. After the PyeongChang Olympics, I didn't have as much motivation as before, so I think I would have considered retiring earlier.

 

Q: But the quad Axel was not a goal you were forced into, it was your own goal.

YH: Yes, that' s right. I remember when I was little, I said something about it (laughs). And also I love Axel jumps so much. So I'd like to leave something significant behind. Not for the future of figure skating, not for the Japanese skating world, but for my own satisfaction, like "I have pushed the limits".

 

Q: Compared to athletics, in the 100m, would you like to beat the world record of 9.58 seconds, like 9.4?

YH: I think it's like wanting to break 8 seconds in the 100m. It's like no one else in the world can do it. Nobody knows where the limits of human beings are. Scientifically, there are many things that can possibly be done, but it depends on the individual person. I'd like to make a jump that goes beyond the norm.

 

Q: What helped you heal and think about what to do next during this difficult time?

YH: I think being with my family was a big factor. I was in a lot of trouble, but my family was there for me and supported me in practice and everything. I had a lot of time to be just the youngest of the Hanyu family, rather than a skater, so that was very healing. I think it was very important for me to be able to say what I wanted and just be taken care of. I was able to be in a place where I could be myself, where I didn't feel any different to the person I was before I started skating.

 

Q: What do you think of the three competitions you did in the 2020-21 season after such an off-season?

YH: I was well prepared for the Japanese Nationals. But at the World Championships in March, I was kind of burnt out, because I felt like I had already done the best possible performance at Nationals. But I still wanted to jump the quad Axel. I was feeling much better, and I thought I could do it, so I tried until the end of February, but I couldn't do it. I thought about what I should do, and I decided to keep on practicing, even though I was already thinking about cancelling the competition. That's why I think the result of the competition was not surprising. But I also wanted to contribute to the team and do my best as a representative of Japan.

 

Q: Looking back on that, as a competitor, doesn't it give you a strong desire to break 8 seconds in the 100m?

YH: Yes, that's right. I think I've already won the titles that I wanted to win, to some extent, and if you ask me if I want to win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics like I did at the PyeongChang Olympics, I don't have that feeling, I just want to overcome my own wall, or the wall of common sense.

 

Q: How do you look back on such a year?

YH: I'm doing really well. The situation in the world is changing and I'm learning more about Corona and how to deal with it. There are more and more things I can do, like ice shows and competitions. I can feel the happiness of skating again, and I think that happiness is what gives me the chance to work hard again. Compared to last year, I'm very happy (laughs). I think I have learned a lot of different things, I've learned something very important, something big, that will be important for the rest of my life, or for the rest of my skating career.

 

(Some parts of this interview really made me cry. We should be careful with our expectations and the pressure we put on him.)

Expand  

 

 

Thank you @birnasan for the translation. Good to hear that Yuzu's family was very healing in this difficult time 

 

 

[snowy]

Thank you everyone for sharing the ANA video, it became a ray of hope for me because:

 

1. If you remember my story with a nasty editor about the validity of the results I have reported in one of my papers, I released a software, then wrote an addition/correction file for the paper and send it to the editor. Now I am waiting for her response (it's almost 10 days) which practically should be affirmative and they have to publish the addition/correction file alongside the original paper. But, I keep having all the toxic thoughts that this time they are going to question my software and I have to fight with them and this and that.

 

2. Last night I had a dream about Yuzuru in Olympics and it was awful. I saw that he popped a 4T, then popped another quad and fell on his face. He hit his shoulder so badly on ice that he couldn't get up for a minute. But then, he got up and finished his routine and got 261 overall and he was the most hurt, sad and disappointed person. I woke up and it was 5:30am and I was very sad too, then I checked my phone and saw this beautiful ANA video.

 

Result: all the bad things and outcomes are happening only in our thoughts and nightmares, reality is unimaginably bright and beautiful. 

[yuzuangel]

  On 10/29/2021 at 1:44 AM, Paskud said:

[NEWS]

GUYS, I CAN'T, HE IS SO ADORBS

 

Good that his olive suitcase is bigger.

Expand  

Oh my, you have no idea how many times I watched this on repeat...

[yuzuangel]

  On 10/29/2021 at 6:57 AM, sallycinnamon said:

The new ANA commercial is adorable. It's probably my favourite CM of his along with 'Hello Blue, Hello Future'. His acting looks natural and his styling is great (finally!!). 

Expand  

I agree! Those two and also this one are my favorites:

 

[cereus]

  On 10/29/2021 at 4:02 PM, yuzuangel said:

I agree! Those two and also this one are my favorites:

 

Expand  

 

I also really liked Gum for the Game:

 

[Faithyu]

  On 10/29/2021 at 1:44 AM, Paskud said:

[NEWS]

GUYS, I CAN'T, HE IS SO ADORBS

 

Good that his olive suitcase is bigger.

Expand  

 

Crazy how such a short add can make me so happy, it's such a happy pill, love it.

 

  On 10/29/2021 at 8:14 AM, birnasan said:

Yuzuru interview from his new book "Creating the Future", automatically translated with OCR and deepL. I don't speak Japanese and this is not a proper translation. I think I was able to grasp the overall meaning, but we shouldn't trust every single word or sentence.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Interview after the 2020-2021 season, July 2021

(from "Creating the Future", p. 236)

 

Q: After your 'Super Slam' at the Four Continents Championships in February 2020, you were focused on the World Championships the following month, how did you react to the sudden cancellation due to the Corona crisis?

YH: I was so stunned that I cried. I wasn't really well prepared for the World Championships and I was feeling half-hearted and a bit empty. So when I heard that it was cancelled, I thought "Oh, it's not happening" and for some reason I started to cry. It wasn't that I was very sad or in pain, it was just a strange feeling, like the strings of tension had suddenly been cut. But I didn't lose my motivation, I thought that I could practice skating and Axel more since it was the off-season, so I decided to switch my focus. But suddenly I got an email saying that the rink of the Cricket Club would be closed from that day onwards, so I thought "what should I do?". So I decided to go back to Japan.

 

Q: With the cancellation of the ice shows, it must have been a very different kind of off-season for you, wasn't it?

YH: I've missed it a lot, and now that I've been skating in some ice shows again, I've realized that I really love to perform and skate in front of people, and have them watch me. So last year (2020), when I didn't have that, I felt like I had a lot of time to talk with myself, to face my skating.

 

Q: Have you thought about what you are going to do next?

YH: In the end, I've always had a fundamental desire to execute a quad Axel, and I think that's what makes my life worth living now, chasing my dream. My life now is built around that dream. It's the same now as it was before, but when I decided to work towards the quad Axel, I didn't have a coach, and the training environment changed. There were times when I had to make decisions by myself, and I had to take care of my body as well, so I had a hard time to find the right direction, when I felt like what I was doing was decreasing more and more, not so much in terms of quad Axel, but in terms of everything I was doing. I asked myself, "Why am I skating?". I had a feeling of loss. I felt like I was losing my power, like it wasn't my skating anymore, like I was separated from my ideal.

 

Q: When you look back, why do you think you got so depressed?

YH: After all, 4A is not that easy. For example, if I have a coach watching me, he can give me feedback like, "This was good," or "Let's do this part better," but now I had to do it by myself. Besides, my goal is set pretty high, so I always spend my days without achieving it. The other big factor was that I didn't give myself enough positive affirmation, and I felt like my head and my heart were exhausted from over-analyzing.

 

Q: You were also working on your graduation thesis during that period, weren't you?

YH: That too took a lot of concentration and energy. In fact, only a small part of it was published in an academic journal, and I was doing a lot of work with more solid data. It took a long time to get the data, and I had to use my brain a lot. I had to take a break from practicing quad Axel, because of pain in my foot, and when I returned to practice, I couldn't jump at all, so I felt like everything was going in a negative direction.

 

Q: You didn't have the chance to have someone watching you jump and skate, right?

YH: It makes me happy to be watched and to receive cheers. I realized that skating is the only way for me to do what I want to do without hesitation, to move my body freely. I've been skating since I was 4 years old, and of course there are still many things that I can't do, or wish I could do better. But skating is a way to express myself, a way to communicate and express what's in my heart. It's when I can do that, that I feel happy, I think. As I had no chance to skate in front of people, and I had to focus on quad Axel and other aspects of skating for a long time, I didn't have a chance to express myself, or a time to release my emotions. So, in that sense, I was helped by my old programs like "Haru yo koi", which I skated at that time.

 

Q: When you hit rock bottom, did you realize what you wanted to do, what you wanted to express?

YH: To be honest, there was a time when I didn't know why I liked skating. If I look back to my childhood, it was an extraordinary feeling to be on the ice, and it's completely different from being on land, isn't it? It was something difficult, so there was always a sense of excitement when I could do something. On top of that, I was skating alone on that huge rink, with everyone watching only me. If my performance was good, I would get a lot of cheers, if it wasn't, I would only get a moderate amount of applause. I think I liked that feeling... a lot. But as I've been skating for a long time, that feeling has become less and less, or it has become more and more a given. And I'm under so much pressure to meet everyone's expectations. It's not just about enjoying skating, it's about being nervous, about what if I make a mistake... all this pressure is getting bigger and bigger, and I don't have time to enjoy skating anymore. I put pressure on myself to perform well in ice shows, and I practice a lot for that, but I think in this off-season (2020), when I didn't have such opportunities, I went back to my beginning, asking myself "Why do I love skating?".

 

Q: Q: So it was because you were in a situation where you were not allowed to do what you usually do that you were able to realize that again?

YH: Yes, that's right. It was because I didn't have a chance to skate in front of people, and I had a tough time with the quad Axel. At that time, my heart was in a mess, my head was in a mess, and I couldn't do anything. Normally, a little change of mood, such as playing a game, would have refreshed my mind and helped me get back into action, but I just couldn't do anything. Then, for some reason, I thought to myself, "I feel like I want to skate 'Haru yo koi' in my current mood". When I skated it, I felt so happy, and I thought, "Oh, this is what I loved about skating". If it wasn't for that moment, I probably wouldn't be so devoted to my skating right now.

 

Q: If it wasn't for the quad Axel, would you have retired?

YH: I think I would have quit for sure. After the PyeongChang Olympics, I didn't have as much motivation as before, so I think I would have considered retiring earlier.

 

Q: But the quad Axel was not a goal you were forced into, it was your own goal.

YH: Yes, that' s right. I remember when I was little, I said something about it (laughs). And also I love Axel jumps so much. So I'd like to leave something significant behind. Not for the future of figure skating, not for the Japanese skating world, but for my own satisfaction, like "I have pushed the limits".

 

Q: Compared to athletics, in the 100m, would you like to beat the world record of 9.58 seconds, like 9.4?

YH: I think it's like wanting to break 8 seconds in the 100m. It's like no one else in the world can do it. Nobody knows where the limits of human beings are. Scientifically, there are many things that can possibly be done, but it depends on the individual person. I'd like to make a jump that goes beyond the norm.

 

Q: What helped you heal and think about what to do next during this difficult time?

YH: I think being with my family was a big factor. I was in a lot of trouble, but my family was there for me and supported me in practice and everything. I had a lot of time to be just the youngest of the Hanyu family, rather than a skater, so that was very healing. I think it was very important for me to be able to say what I wanted and just be taken care of. I was able to be in a place where I could be myself, where I didn't feel any different to the person I was before I started skating.

 

Q: What do you think of the three competitions you did in the 2020-21 season after such an off-season?

YH: I was well prepared for the Japanese Nationals. But at the World Championships in March, I was kind of burnt out, because I felt like I had already done the best possible performance at Nationals. But I still wanted to jump the quad Axel. I was feeling much better, and I thought I could do it, so I tried until the end of February, but I couldn't do it. I thought about what I should do, and I decided to keep on practicing, even though I was already thinking about cancelling the competition. That's why I think the result of the competition was not surprising. But I also wanted to contribute to the team and do my best as a representative of Japan.

 

Q: Looking back on that, as a competitor, doesn't it give you a strong desire to break 8 seconds in the 100m?

YH: Yes, that's right. I think I've already won the titles that I wanted to win, to some extent, and if you ask me if I want to win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics like I did at the PyeongChang Olympics, I don't have that feeling, I just want to overcome my own wall, or the wall of common sense.

 

Q: How do you look back on such a year?

YH: I'm doing really well. The situation in the world is changing and I'm learning more about Corona and how to deal with it. There are more and more things I can do, like ice shows and competitions. I can feel the happiness of skating again, and I think that happiness is what gives me the chance to work hard again. Compared to last year, I'm very happy (laughs). I think I have learned a lot of different things, I've learned something very important, something big, that will be important for the rest of my life, or for the rest of my skating career.

 

(Some parts of this interview really made me cry. We should be careful with our expectations and the pressure we put on him.)

This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

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Oh Yuzu...........this brought me near tears and made me smile and sigh at the same time.

Most important: It sounds like he has found his happyness in skating again and that he feels like himself.

 

  On 10/29/2021 at 4:02 PM, yuzuangel said:

I agree! Those two and also this one are my favorites:

 

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Oh, thats a nice one.

I now have safed the new ANA add for happy Yuzu vibes, the hot chocolate add for cute Yuzu and the gum chewing one for "bad ass" vibes.