General Yuzuru Chat

[memae]

On 6/14/2019 at 10:56 AM, KatjaThera said:

You know, I use English every day, though as it's mostly in writing, I do feel a bit uncomfortable speaking it and rather often end up stammering or jumbling words. And I've been learning English for longer than Yuzu has been alive In Japanese, I also feel uncomfortable speaking it with Japanese people I know, who I feel have expectations of me, but I'm quite ok speaking to strangers and even though there are embarrassing moments, I want to keep challenging myself, so I look for all opportunities to speak Japanese. Whether it's with a fellow visitor at a touristic attraction, fellow fans at ice shows, the cashier at a shop or a museum worker. And as a consequence, after a week in Japan, I was able to have a proper conversation in Japanese with my former teacher for the first time. Even though she was my teacher for 3 or 4 years. This kind of immersion is necessary and Yuzu only does it to a minimum.

 

I get it, I really do. Whenever we have speaking exercises in Japanese class I want to run for the hills. So I get being uncomfortable. But I believe this is something where it's better to step out of your comfort zone. It will probably never happen, but one of my dreams would be a fluent Yuzu dazzling the Western media. And I think he could do it, if he really set his mind to it and really wanted it. But right now it would probably take time and effort better spent on skating. And of course, he might simply not want to do it, which is fair enough. He's a grown man who can make his own decisions. But I believe in this day and age, English skills are a minimum requirement.

 

That said, I'm sure his every day English, with people he's comfortable with is much better than we think. The interview with Cathy after the SP Worlds was proof of that, I think. But if he doesn't push himself in press conferences and such, too, he'll never improve in that kind of environment as well. So, for the unimportant things, if he really wants his English to be better, I hope he'll continue doing a bit of English here and there.

 

Language stuff is my area of expertise, and in my professional opinion his English is much better than it seems from what we see in interviews. There's a lot of other performance and register demands, etc, during those kinds of interviews, particularly in the context he is usually doing them in. He clearly understands what's being said around him (you can tell by the listening cues he uses while he listens to other skaters respond in-depth during panel interviews)  and he knows when he needs to switch to Japanese because the nuance of meaning is important enough to him that he doesn't want it to get lost in the gaps of his second language. He's also got a good personality for language-learning - he likes being successful and he likes attention and he seems to enjoy being a bit of a goofball who can laugh at himself when little things go wrong. 

[PoohandYuzu]

14 hours ago, Anki said:

Maybe they have realised he is suitable for cosmetics before already, but no way Hanyu would advertise for SK2...I mean it has the number 2 in it.

You are so right!!!  How can I miss that :p

[micaelis]

9 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

  18 hours ago, Yuzurella said:

 

LOL!

If that's the case then Brian must've also been practicing meditation, Tai Chi or something. He seems to be more chill than he used to be. I think the poor man's just resigned to his fate. After all these years as Yuzu's coach, there's probably nothing that can still faze Brian. 

I don't think that Brian, back in 2012, had any idea of the sheer overwhelming phenomenon Yuzu would become.  He knew he would be training a very highly talented skater but to see Yuzu go from a promising young skater to the sheer cultural phenomenon he's become in Japan, I don't think any coach could have seen that.  I'm not even certain Yuzu saw that (probably not since with his humility he would not have thought it possible even if he wanted it).  I think many in the Western press do not yet get what Yuzu is in Japan.  They're distracted by the Poohbursts after every Yuzu skate and they're left in wonderment by the way the Japanese media cover him but to them Yuzu is still just a skater.  In Japan he is a cultural icon, reflecting not only skating, not only athleticism, not only Japanese ideals, but HUMAN perfection.  If this were a thousand years ago Yuzu would be well on his way to being perceived as a god on earth.

[honeytea]

Seems like there was 6 magnitude earthquake before minutes at Japan... Hope it's  not serious and everyone ok.

 

Edit. It's not Tokyo but Nigata

[Anki]

A tsunami warning has been issued for Yamagata...That is like near Sendai! Where is Yuzu right now?

[Sabrina]

1 minute ago, Anki said:

A tsunami warning has been issued for Yamagata...That is like near Sendai! Where is Yuzu right now?

He might be in Japan because there’s the sekkisei talkshow on Saturday 

Hopefully everyone’s alright and I hope for everyone that there won’t be a tsunami 

[rockstaryuzu]

18 minutes ago, Sabrina said:

Hopefully everyone’s alright and I hope for everyone that there won’t be a tsunami 

I hope so too! Poor Japan!

[4Nessie]

56 minutes ago, honeytea said:

Seems like there was 6 magnitude earthquake before minutes at Japan... Hope it's  not serious and everyone ok.

 

Edit. It's not Tokyo but Nigata

 

47 minutes ago, Anki said:

A tsunami warning has been issued for Yamagata...That is like near Sendai! Where is Yuzu right now?

 

44 minutes ago, Sabrina said:

He might be in Japan because there’s the sekkisei talkshow on Saturday 

Hopefully everyone’s alright and I hope for everyone that there won’t be a tsunami 

 

24 minutes ago, rockstaryuzu said:

I hope so too! Poor Japan!

This article is somewhat helpful. Nice map and tsunami estimates. It seems the epicenter was on the west coast this time, so Sendai should be safe. Still... 

 

https://earthquake-report.com/2019/06/18/very-strong-earthquake-near-west-coast-of-honshu-japan-june-18-2019/3

[4Nessie]

Also @KatjaThera, hope you are safe and okay.

 

[Ashley2162018]

From the news I have see everyone is safe. The nuclear powerplants too see intact. But people are being advise to evacuate to.higher ground.

About the insta luve does it mean we just need to follow the official IG account?

[faeline]

Hoping for no casualties and everyone is safe! Japan is a prepared country to minimise casualties. There is like 1m tsunami, so people are still at their evacuation zones waiting for it to pass. @KatjaThera hope you're safe - there are also warnings of the residual earthquakes (??) so remove any hanging items in case it drops in your sleep.

[yuzuangel]

Hoping everyone (including @KatjaThera and Yuzu of course) stays safe 

[yuzuangel]

 

[SuperMin]

14 minutes ago, yuzuangel said:

 

[micaelis]

About the earthquake, I wouldn't worry too much.  For one, it was off the west coast of Japan.  Sendai and Tokyo are both on the east coast.  Secondly, it was in the mid-sixes in terms of strength.  That's like comparing a conventional bomb to 2011's thermonuclear bomb.  There is, of course, a danger from tsunamis but they won't be anything like 3/11 and the Japanese seawalls there should handle things.  The problem in 2011 was that there had been a miscalculation about how strong an earthquake Japan could have from the subduction zone there.  The strongest they thought could occur was an 8.5.  Thus the seawalls had been constructed to handle the tsunami from an 8.5.  Instead they had a 9.0 or 9.1 and thus the tsunamis went right over the seawalls.   All in all I don't think anyone need worry.  Things got a bit shaken up but there's probably little damage (considering Japan's very rigorous building codes).  We have to remember that earthquakes are a part of the routine of living in Japan, just as tornadoes are for those living where I do.  As such the Japanese start really taking notice only when the quakes are stronger than a Richter 7.0.