General Yuzuru Chat

[Sabrina]

has this one been shared yet? 

[roller96]

3 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

I've always thought it would be cool if, instead of throwing plushies or flowers on the ice, fans could make instant online donations to the skater's charity of choice instead. Basically showering them with cash, but without the actual cash. Could you imagine? The average Pooh is what? 10 - 20 bucks? Imagine a 'Pooh rain' of cash going to the Tohoku rebuilding efforts on Yuzu's behalf every time he finishes a program. 

LOVE the idea of donating to Yuzu's charity of choice instead of "Pooh rain" on the ice, granted most of the bears are donated however it takes a lot more than pooh bears to rebuild homes and communities.  Anyone know what Yuzu's charity of choice is?  I had the privilege of visiting Yuzu's home rink in Sendai last year.  Standing in the middle of the rink, reflecting and imagining how terrifying it must have been for Yuzu and others when the earthquake hit (I too have experienced earthquakes many times in my life), I felt a strong sense of power and hope seeing how the rink has rebuilt and how kids/future generations can now carry on that same fighting spirit to achieve their dreams of becoming Olympic champions. It was truly an experience I will treasure forever.  The only regret I have is not buying a suitcase full of Irene gloves....but rest assured......this mission will be accomplished

[Pammi]

The posts on this thread regarding fan behaviour have been really interesting to read.  The joy Yuzuru brings to us starts with the buzz and sense of excitement in the stadium where he is about to appear, it's tangible! I have been at events with and without Yuzu (eg. Milan 2018 for the latter) and there is a big difference! He really is the current megastar of mens figure skating, and by a mile. Even when you love other skaters, and are excited to see them, it is not quite the same as the feeling of awe and anticipation that Yuzuru elicits.   I'd hate that "buzz" to change, it's electric!!  This is a really positive thing for fans and for Yuzuru too I am sure, and doesnt affect the other skaters adversely I wouldnt think. Some of them probably feel a bit startstruck to be on the same ice as him!

With regard to appropriate cheering/screaming/shouting his name, I think about how Yuzuru is as a person - he is so very courteous, and so concerned with others' wellbeing and comfort.  He always impresses me with the way he treats other skaters - watch him on any podium, he gives such attention to his fellow medallists, always watching them being presented with their awards and clapping just for them, I feel he treats others with real dignity. He models this to us all.  If we really see ourselves as part of his team, Team Hanyu, we will also behave in a similar manner I believe.  That is what happens in teams! We admire him for more than his skating, he is inspirational on many levels, and behaviour is a biggy for him so I am positive he is acutely aware of how his fans behave and will have expectations (or at least a strong point of view!) on how we conduct ourselves.  He'd hate us to feel bad though, so would rarely be openly critical of us.  The thing is, as well as being fun, exciting, amazing, beautiful, and emotional, the figure skating we are talking about is a competitive sport - all the athletes have trained hard through many challenges maybe including, pain, injury, money worries, loneliness if away from home when very young, difficult relationships with coaches or other training mates, and each competition, each element they perform, is really really important to them. (the youtube video posted yesterday on this thread with PJKwong and Elvis Stojko is an excellent interview - just listen to what Elvis says about the Warrior and Performer, skaters need to be able to mentally get into the correct zone to skate at their best, we dont want to hinder them in that pursuit!). 

We are all different to each other, but thinking of others, being respectful and thoughtful, are always positive things, and if we do that we wont go far wrong when we attend figure skating competitions, or anything else we do in life too!

To all those going to watch Yuzuru and all the other brilliant and hardworking skaters live in competitions this season, have a wonderful experience!! If you are at home watching on livestream, shout and scream as much as you like, whenever you like, throw Poohs at the screen, cry, laugh, hug the cat, curse even!!  As long as noone in your household minds too much, it's cool

[Lunna]

As much as charity donation is great idea, I feel like throwing flowers and toys is a long-time tradition of appreciating a skater right after the performance. If an athlete/artist has it's own charity foundation I think there's a way to help, if not there must be some organizer and I don't think it's that easy to make an international platform (only if it's not like send sms to the number and money will go to... during comps).

[Indiiea]

I love that it's hidden behind a "sensitive material" warning for me, haha.

 

If only not the costume...

[andchipzz]

1 minute ago, Indiiea said:

I love that it's hidden behind a "sensitive material" warning for me, haha.

 

If only not the costume...

Actually the one in which he hid his face. It is actually beautiful... you dont really notice the outfit then.

[Lunna]

6 минут назад, Pammi сказал:

We are all different to each other, but thinking of others, being respectful and thoughtful, are always positive things, and if we do that we wont go far wrong when we attend figure skating competitions, or anything else we do in life too!

All in all I find FS comps very positive and with good atmosphere, of course some screaming in not the right moment can happen but it's not like it happens a lot. And I find myself when I'm watching at the arena I want everybody to perform good, when on TV it's not like I wish for somebody to do bad, more like feeling detached and mostly wishing best and watching carefully the ones I like. I think at the arena it feels more personal, like you see a person try their best in front of you and you wish him the best. At least it feels like it for me.

[Lunna]

3 минуты назад, Indiiea сказал:

I love that it's hidden behind a "sensitive material" warning for me, haha.

 

If only not the costume...

At least face and hair are decent here and looks less photoshopped, but still why this costume 

[Figure_Frenzy]

5 hours ago, andchipzz said:

Do you all remember the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and Earthquake? It affected so many countries and killed 300.000 people, but for me it is almost forgotten. My country is one of the most affected nation with half of the death tolls come from here. But I only seem to be able to connect with it only peripherally, even if one of my aunt lost her baby there. My mother went to that province once this year (2019), and she said that it does not feel like much development happen, and no public figure has risen to the occasion to remind people of it, and especially of the very real potential of such a catastrophic event to happen at any time!

 

My middle school biology teacher lost all of her extended family in that tsunami in 2004. Even with all the aftermath photos published in the media it is sometimes still hard to register just how intensely the disaster had impacted the region.

 

To my knowledge, the areas that did get rebuilt, they got rebuilt without even considering the disaster risk (ie. built as if the area wouldn't ever have another earthquake or tsunami), which definitely is not the wisest way to go about it. People like to think that the island of Sumatra is the island most often frazzled by the earthquake but frankly, all islands in Indonesia are at the risk of earthquake ...except maybe Borneo, but even that is a big maybe (and I am not a geophysicist so don't quote me on that!). I'd like to think that we are now somewhat better at doing what to do when earthquake or tsunami happened, if only marginally (eg. get to the safest open place whenever possible, take cover under tables/at the corner of rooms/under the door frame etc.), but this is a thing that takes continuous effort to do (not just a one-off PSA, but rather continuous learning in classes and meetings, etc.). And I haven't even talked about how to build an earthquake-proof building and all other things related to that...

 

To tie it back to Yuzu's role in the recovery, I think a person analogous to Yuzu's role would be someone who is 1. Famous enough, at least at a national level (imo doesn't need to be an athlete, but it helps being an athlete), 2. Has a considerable financial worth (ties in to the capability to help the region in monetary terms), and 3. Is consciously community-minded. The one person closest to this role And this was actually stretching it was Martunis, the boy who survived the tsunami on a floating bed and ended up meeting Cristiano Ronaldo (because CR was his football idol and he was found wearing CR jersey by the SAR team). The last I heard of him, he went to a football school CMIIW , and I haven't heard from him again since.

 

Of course, the presence of this one figure doesn't magically translate into immediate recovery of the region from the disaster (there are definitely other aspects to be considered as well), but as the case of Yuzu's role has pointed out, sometimes it takes an ambassador to point out that 1. Recovery from a disaster can take a long time, and 2. It helps to have an ambassador (of sorts) to keep raising awareness of this said recovery.

 

Just my thoughts...

[Pammi]

7 minutes ago, Indiiea said:

 

 It looks like LGC/Origin hairdo is now the official go to hairdo for Yuzuru, for ads at least!! (and why not? Most of us adore this look!) Um... the costume...not so much

[Figure_Frenzy]

11 minutes ago, Pammi said:

 It looks like LGC/Origin hairdo is now the official go to hairdo for Yuzuru, for ads at least!! (and why not? Most of us adore this look!)

 

It's a foolproof cool hairdo for Yuzu, we all can be sure of that now!

 

(And yes....that means that just because the advertising agency gets to do Yuzu's hair the LGC way, doesn't mean that any clothes he is going to wear along with his cool hairdo going to look effortlessly cool!)

[sweetwater]

Key visual for NHK Trophy 2019

[CaroSkate]

2小時前, andchipzz說:

Actually the one in which he hid his face. It is actually beautiful... you dont really notice the outfit then.

 

2小時前, Indiiea說:

I love that it's hidden behind a "sensitive material" warning for me, haha.

 

If only not the costume...

 

The one he hid his face is good because he hid the most horrible part of that costume

 

[holina]

2 hours ago, Indiiea said:

I love that it's hidden behind a "sensitive material" warning for me, haha.

 

If only not the costume...

Masquerade hands! 

His fingers are so long and his hands so elegant!

[rockstaryuzu]

3 hours ago, Lunna said:

As much as charity donation is great idea, I feel like throwing flowers and toys is a long-time tradition of appreciating a skater right after the performance. If an athlete/artist has it's own charity foundation I think there's a way to help, if not there must be some organizer and I don't think it's that easy to make an international platform (only if it's not like send sms to the number and money will go to... during comps).

Of course it would be an organizational nightmare, but on the other hand Finlandia Trophy has already organized a way for people to send virtual flowers via SMS this weekend. I'm sure sooner or later someone will try it with charitable donations. Maybe not for an ISU competition but perhaps things like Japan Open.