General Yuzuru Chat

[eagle]

4 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

I hope I won't offend anyone by responding to this but, yes, I can tell that Boyang has a Chinese face and Yuzuru does not. But I work with a lot of Chinese people who have immigrated to Canada and my eyes have become used to how they look.

 

However, there is something very interesting that I noticed when I went to ACI last year, I've been wondering about it all year, and I was afraid to mention it in case people take it the wrong way. But I must know if anyone else has experienced this: when I saw Yuzu in person, his face looked much more 'Japanese' to me, than it does in photos and videos. I don't know why that is. Is it just that I'm crazy, or is it that his real personality as a Japanese can shine through better when you see him in person? has this happened to anyone else? 

 

 

Japanese is more fair, Chinese skin a bit more yellow, face shape. But then, I'm from an Asian country so I can tell.

The difference between Koreans & Japanese are harder cos they are mostly equally fair, similar face shape. When they speak, then we know, from the language or accent. 

[quadaxelwin]

Does anyone have that old interview link where Yuzu said he once visited Notre Dame Cathedral whilst he was at idF back in 2013 season? I remember reading it around 2014, but I can't find the link. He said he felt the presence of something higher in that interview, and I always thought it was a special interview, because I never knew he believed in a higher power. 
If anyone finds the link to that interview, I would really appreciate it. 

[yuzuangel]

1 hour ago, eagle said:

Japanese is more fair, Chinese skin a bit more yellow, face shape. But then, I'm from an Asian country so I can tell.

The difference between Koreans & Japanese are harder cos they are mostly equally fair, similar face shape. When they speak, then we know, from the language or accent. 

That's interesting, I think Koreans are the most distinctive so easiest to tell apart due to being paler and higher cheekbones, and it's harder for me to tell Japanese and Chinese people apart because (especially with Chinese people) they are more diverse with more variation within the group so it's hard to tell. 

[Old Cat Lady]

10 hours ago, twitwi said:

so it is true western can't tell the different looking of Asian?

 

When I said that Yuzu and Boyang had a lot of similar features, I was referring to the cursory explanation for why he was considered attractive in China that I got from the WTT thread (height, slender, skin).  They're almost the same height, they both have really fair skin, and they're both almost the same weight.  I personally find Yuzu more attractive but like I said there, I'm never completely sure if I'm letting myself get carried away with my fangurling.  I was under the impression that teeth wasn't as big a thing outside the US.

 

However, to answer your question from personal experience, my brothers and I were adopted from S. Korea and grew up in S. Minnesota in an area that is mostly of Norwegian or German heritage and currently live in the Suburbs. This may be different in more metro areas where there are denser Asian communities, but it's very common for me to be mistaken for another Asian who looks nothing like me (at my old job, we even worked in different stores and customers would often ask both of us - "don't you work in that other store?" - she's at least 50 lbs heavier than I am, is significantly taller, has much darker skin, has a different shape face, etc. - literally nothing alike but the color of the hair) and no one bats an eye if someone were to say that "all Asians look alike".  One time a manager even said that to me at one of my jobs!  In spite of being Asian ourselves, my brothers and I can't tell the difference between Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc. But to be fair on this point, even most Asian immigrants tend to guess wrong - they tend to guess that I'm whatever they are 

 

9 hours ago, makebelieveup said:

I think China would actually agree Yuzu is the more good looking athlete while Boyang is rather average. 

 

But I think it is understandable for western people to not be able to distinguish facial anatomy as much as asian people tend to do. Many asian people I know, like myself, love to dissect a person's visual because this is one of the most common topic of discussions we see in celebrity news. Also, I think as a westerner @old cat lady was trying to ask for opinions from the eyes of asians. It's fair to say many Asians would also not be able to distinguish between what makes a celebrity attractive in American pop culture just by looking at a couple of different people.

 

Yes, I'm interested by beauty standards in different countries, especially Asian countries.  In part because in my school my brothers and I were considered "ugly", often being called "flat face" or "chink" (slur for Chinese - where I grew up, "Chink" and "Gook" were used interchangeably since all Asians were the same).  It was a bizarre experience the first time I went to a business that was all Asian immigrants - I was surrounded by a few women and they fawned over me.  Now that I understand more about Asian beauty standards, I get it more - I'm literally the palest Asian I know, which is funny because when I was growing up I often complained that I didn't get the "natural tan" that other minorities get but wasn't willing to damage my skin by tanning.

 

Sorry for the tangent above, but the primary reason I was interested in this particular instance, is because I'm utterly fascinated by Yuzu's popularity in China when China has their own skating stars.  In the US, I can't think of any foreign athlete being promoted above our own.  There are a few instances of foreign athletes gaining fame because of physical beauty and/or a sentimental story, but no matter how beautiful/intelligent/noble/etc., they would never get to the point of surpassing our own stars if we have any in that sport.  Had they skated in the same era, Yuna Kim would never become more popular than Michelle Kwan in spite of Kim's exceptional physical beauty, and the likelihood is that we'd be finding all sorts of excuses for why Kim's skating was terrible - N.A. fans even try to argue that Yuzu isn't the most famous active skater.  It seems like the Chinese are as much or even more crazed for Yuzu than Japan.  I thought there was political tension between JPN and China as well so that's why I'm curious as to why he's so popular in China but not S. Korea and I thought maybe it was, in part, because he's not considered as attractive in S. Korea but that doesn't seem to be the case.  I was curious about how his popularity compared to Kim's in China because of the whole "hope of Asia" thing, since they're both wildly successful Asians.  I think it's also interesting that they embraced Yuzu over ethnically Chinese skaters - why Yuzu but not Patrick Chan or Michelle Kwan who are both very successful and ethnically Chinese - is the lack of Olympic gold? they're regarded as N. American first and Asian second? But Michael Chang was popular in China for being ethnically Chinese, in spite being less successful than others and American.

 

These foreign beauty standards are also interesting because I don't think Yuzu is considered that attractive in America in spite of a much wider variety of beauty standards here.  White versions of his look are extremely popular (boy bands tend to be comprised of the "pretty" or "cute" type) but Asian men in general are not generally considered sex symbols around here and the few who break into mainstream stardom tend to be either comedic types or action stars and the "handsome" types have more of a Keiji look than a Yuzu look.  

[rockstaryuzu]

1 hour ago, Old Cat Lady said:

These foreign beauty standards are also interesting because I don't think Yuzu is considered that attractive in America in spite of a much wider variety of beauty standards here.  White versions of his look are extremely popular (boy bands tend to be comprised of the "pretty" or "cute" type) but Asian men in general are not generally considered sex symbols around here and the few who break into mainstream stardom tend to be either comedic types or action stars and the "handsome" types have more of a Keiji look than a Yuzu look.  

Huh. Isn't that interesting. If you go north of the border to Canada, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who wouldn't consider Yuzu attractive, Asian or not. In the words of my one of my senior-citizen Polish-Canadian friends, "he's adorable". And Yuzu aside, there's a lot of variety in what's considered  male attractiveness here...like, I don't think you could actually find a 'standard' for male beauty here. (Except for 'athletic', which is an attribute everyone seems to like). 

[yuzuangel]

 

[kaeryth]

The person who did the interview with Joseph Phan said that Yuzu read her blog!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Indiiea]

I wonder what else he has read  

[eagle]

7 hours ago, Old Cat Lady said:

 

 

Sorry for the tangent above, but the primary reason I was interested in this particular instance, is because I'm utterly fascinated by Yuzu's popularity in China when China has their own skating stars.  In the US, I can't think of any foreign athlete being promoted above our own.  There are a few instances of foreign athletes gaining fame because of physical beauty and/or a sentimental story, but no matter how beautiful/intelligent/noble/etc., they would never get to the point of surpassing our own stars if we have any in that sport.  Had they skated in the same era, Yuna Kim would never become more popular than Michelle Kwan in spite of Kim's exceptional physical beauty, and the likelihood is that we'd be finding all sorts of excuses for why Kim's skating was terrible - N.A. fans even try to argue that Yuzu isn't the most famous active skater.  It seems like the Chinese are as much or even more crazed for Yuzu than Japan.  I thought there was political tension between JPN and China as well so that's why I'm curious as to why he's so popular in China but not S. Korea and I thought maybe it was, in part, because he's not considered as attractive in S. Korea but that doesn't seem to be the case.  I was curious about how his popularity compared to Kim's in China because of the whole "hope of Asia" thing, since they're both wildly successful Asians.  I think it's also interesting that they embraced Yuzu over ethnically Chinese skaters - why Yuzu but not Patrick Chan or Michelle Kwan who are both very successful and ethnically Chinese - is the lack of Olympic gold? they're regarded as N. American first and Asian second? But Michael Chang was popular in China for being ethnically Chinese, in spite being less successful than others and American.

 

 

 

I would say that its cos Yuzuru is 2X Olympic champ. China has lots of OG gold medalists but the one who won it from figure skating has retired - Shen/Zhao. Plus figure skating isnt exactly a popular sport in Asia except Japan, all Winter sports are not.

Boyang is just a Worlds bronze medalist, not even Olympic medalist, so he wouldnt be that much in the China fans radar. He does seem to have a lot of fans on weibo. There are fans shouting "Jin Jin jia yu" before Boyang skates.

 

As for Michelle Kwan, Patrick Chan, now Nathan Chen & Vincent Zhou, I regard them by their nationality. Just as I would like to be known as from X country although being ethnic chinese. Country 1st.

 

Of course, Yuzuru's humble personality & handsone features helps make him even more popular. He's the ultimate good boy image -so polite, intelligent, very hardworking, has money, has looks, filial. Mothers would love to have him as son-in-law, the young ladies would love to have him as husband.

 

Of course, they overlook his perfectionism, OCDness, risk taking behaviour that can cause lost of hair. Hahaha.

 

 

[shanshani]

I think people exaggerate how easy it is to tell what Asian country someone is from. I've had plenty of people in Asian countries mistake me for Korean despite the fact that I am mixed Northern/Southern Chinese. Furthermore, I think hairstyles and fashion are more indicative than facial structure. Sometimes someone has a really distinctively x face (for instance, I think Boyang is very northern Chinese looking, though tbh I think there's also a lot of overlap between Korean and North Chinese), but for a lot of people I don't think you can really tell a lot of the time, at least if you're just looking at their facial structure. It's easy to say stuff like "so-and-so has a really Japanese nose, it's so easy to tell" when you know their ethnicity but I think a lot of that is confirmation bias.

 

As for Yuzu's popularity in China, I think nationality just doesn't matter as much to Chinese people as it does to, say, Koreans. It's pretty common for people to be fans of people from other countries--for instance, kpop fandoms are pretty big in China too, and even when there are Chinese members of a kpop group, they're not necessarily more popular than the Korean members. And honestly, if you literally engineered someone to fit Chinese cultural ideals, I'm not sure you could do better than Yuzu

[yuzuangel]

3 hours ago, kaeryth said:

The person who did the interview with Joseph Phan said that Yuzu read her blog!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm guessing he reads twitter quite often 

[Old Cat Lady]

3 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

Huh. Isn't that interesting. If you go north of the border to Canada, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who wouldn't consider Yuzu attractive, Asian or not. In the words of my one of my senior-citizen Polish-Canadian friends, "he's adorable". And Yuzu aside, there's a lot of variety in what's considered  male attractiveness here...like, I don't think you could actually find a 'standard' for male beauty here. (Except for 'athletic', which is an attribute everyone seems to like). 

 

In the US, it seems like tastes range to include most types of male beauty, but in studies from online dating sites, Asian men consistently are rated lowest for desirability(strangely Asian women are the highest).  Even Asian women's preferences are skewed toward white men over Asian men! And in main stream media, Asian men are almost never portrayed romantically, except possibly in comedy situations, and even then, it's extremely rare.  I can only think of a few situations currently where Asian men are one of the leads and have romantic relationships, but I think in 2 of those shows it is specifically geared toward the Asian audience, and one of them is actually a Canadian sitcom.  Pretty sure my brother is considered very handsome and he didn't have a girlfriend until after highschool.  He looks similar to the actor from Kim's Convenience, though with whiter skin and not quite as muscular 

 

I can't think of any Asian actor in an American show or movie that would be a Yuzu type.  The closest I can think of is Glenn from the walking Dead but he doesn't look anything like Yuzu.  It's just that I would consider him to be in the "pretty" category rather than "handsome".

 

12 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

It is a math thing. From the ancient Greeks, no less: Phidias, the man who designed the sculptures of the Parthenon. Plato and Euclid also described the concept in some detail. 

 It's universal, like gravity, and not specifically Japanese. 

 

Looked it up more.  

https://www.goldennumber.net/human-body/

https://www.canva.com/learn/what-is-the-golden-ratio/

I thought the 8 sections was a reference to Manga proportions but I guess Manga characters are designed with this golden ratio concept? 

[twitwi]

6 hours ago, Old Cat Lady said:

Sorry for the tangent above, but the primary reason I was interested in this particular instance, is because I'm utterly fascinated by Yuzu's popularity in China when China has their own skating stars.  In the US, I can't think of any foreign athlete being promoted above our own.  There are a few instances of foreign athletes gaining fame because of physical beauty and/or a sentimental story, but no matter how beautiful/intelligent/noble/etc., they would never get to the point of surpassing our own stars if we have any in that sport.  Had they skated in the same era, Yuna Kim would never become more popular than Michelle Kwan in spite of Kim's exceptional physical beauty, and the likelihood is that we'd be finding all sorts of excuses for why Kim's skating was terrible - N.A. fans even try to argue that Yuzu isn't the most famous active skater.  It seems like the Chinese are as much or even more crazed for Yuzu than Japan.  I thought there was political tension between JPN and China as well so that's why I'm curious as to why he's so popular in China but not S. Korea and I thought maybe it was, in part, because he's not considered as attractive in S. Korea but that doesn't seem to be the case.  I was curious about how his popularity compared to Kim's in China because of the whole "hope of Asia" thing, since they're both wildly successful Asians.  I think it's also interesting that they embraced Yuzu over ethnically Chinese skaters - why Yuzu but not Patrick Chan or Michelle Kwan who are both very successful and ethnically Chinese - is the lack of Olympic gold? they're regarded as N. American first and Asian second? But Michael Chang was popular in China for being ethnically Chinese, in spite being less successful than others and American.

 

Yuzu is phenomenon, actually I can write a very serious essay analyzing why he is so popular in China, but that would be too long to read.

try to make this short anyway: 

 

I don't think kim/kwan or any other  figure skaters had ever reached his popularity in China now, but it is not fair to compare, because the world is different, during the old times, we don't have social net work, we can't spread photos and video clips and let more ppl get to know them, even though he himself doesn't have a public account, ppl can easily get to know him from others sharing.  OGG is the reason why ppl want to know him, but considering there're really a lot of OGGs in other sport in China, i just take it as a bonus. He is more than OGGx2.

 

And from my experience, one photo/video clip get ppl to be curious who this guy is , and then search the web and they can see tons of his videos/photos and how great he is. After reading and watching that,  we may thought oh dear god how cute/charming/beautiful/dramatic/charismatic/incredible he is, and I do think Chinese share some basic fundemental aesthetic sense with Japan, the music/costume is easier for us to get, that is why there are so many MAD of him with the traditional china melody as BGM, he really suits that. And also once I present his performance to my mother, my mother just said the words in tears:  I can see the essence of Japan from him, he represents all good qualities from Japan".  Yes, there're history issues between two countries, but also maybe that is the reason chinese have more detailed images from Japan, good and bad, but he represents all the good sides, maybe this explains the "hope of asia" concept. Not only japan, but all these qualities, very asia side.  Actually I myself don't really honor some of them, but Yuzu make think oh, it can be done in a good and nature way  i am proud of that i will also follow him to do that.

[SparkleSalad]

The golden ratio and golden proportion are a bit different, I think. Iirc 1:8 head to body ratio is called “hattoushin” in Japanese? I remember reading about a famous Japanese beauty queen who was an “8 headed beauty” and getting all sorts of strange mental images.  I’m sure our Japanese members would be able to shed more light on it.

 

I had an American “how to draw comics” book as a kid that used te 1:8 ratio as well but I think with manga characters because the figure is more slender, the neck and limbs longer, it gives them a very different look despite using the same ratio.

[faeline]

12 minutes ago, SparkleSalad said:

The golden ratio and golden proportion are a bit different, I think. Iirc 1:8 head to body ratio is called “hattoushin” in Japanese? I remember reading about a famous Japanese beauty queen who was an “8 headed beauty” and getting all sorts of strange mental images.  I’m sure our Japanese members would be able to shed more light on it.

 

I had an American “how to draw comics” book as a kid that used te 1:8 ratio as well but I think with manga characters because the figure is more slender, the neck and limbs longer, it gives them a very different look despite using the same ratio.

I came across this article... this might shed some light I guess:

https://soranews24.com/2016/03/31/five-weird-and-bewildering-ways-beauty-is-measured-in-japan/

 

Yuzu he qualifies for:

1. Small face/Kogao ✔

2. The 1:8 head/body ratio/Hattoshin ✔

3. Soy Face/Sauce Face/Shoyu Gao/Soosu Gao -

Soy Face is used to describe a man with soft, delicate features and Sauce Face describes a man whose features are more “koi” or “strong”, for example a man with a prominent brow ridge and nose, thick eyebrows and a strong jawline.

In the article, it is said that a "Soy Face" is more popular with majority of Japanese ladies. ✔

4. Three Sizes/Surii Saizu ✔ coughcoughcough

5. “Tall” Nose/Hana ga Takai ✔