General Yuzuru Chat

[river]

One of my coworkers fell down the Yuzu-watching rabbit hole until midnight last night - now she keeps popping into my office to show me pictures she likes so I can tell her what my favorite version of that program is to watch. She keeps going "but the way he moves...." So far over lunch we've watched 4CC Ballade, GPF LGC, and Worlds R&J 1.0. This is easily the most fun I've had at work in a while.

 

(She also framed a picture of Etude and put it on my desk to find this morning... I think the bug bit her hard.)

[Crow]

I also would like to know about Han. I want to think there is a mistake and he will be added to the list later?

[rockstaryuzu]

  On 2/26/2020 at 5:33 PM, Crow said:

I also would like to know about Han. I want to think there is a mistake and he will be added to the list later?

Expand  

I hope so.

 

@river Out of the blue my nutty co-worker asked me about Yuzu and I've just spent the last two hours giving her what could only be called  the Yuzu 101 seminar. Had to show her Nathan and Han Yan, too, just so she could understand all the different flavours. She does flamenco as a hobby, so has an eye for dance, and her reactions were interesting...she called Nathan's arms 'dead' and pointed out that Yuzu is using his arms down to the very fingertips. She also told me she thought Han was better than Nathan...well it's hard to disagree as long as you're not talking about quads...

[Crow]

  On 2/26/2020 at 9:34 PM, rockstaryuzu said:

I hope so.

 

@river Out of the blue my nutty co-worker asked me about Yuzu and I've just spent the last two hours giving her what could only be called  the Yuzu 101 seminar. Had to show her Nathan and Han Yan, too, just so she could understand all the different flavours. She does flamenco as a hobby, so has an eye for dance, and her reactions were interesting...she called Nathan's arms 'dead' and pointed out that Yuzu is using his arms down to the very fingertips. She also told me she thought Han was better than Nathan...well it's hard to disagree as long as you're not talking about quads...

Expand  

I can imagine she wasn't impressed with the chicken dances 

[rockstaryuzu]

  On 2/26/2020 at 9:46 PM, Crow said:

I can imagine she wasn't impressed with the chicken dances 

Expand  

That was actually the only part she liked because she said she could finally see a bit of his personality show through. 

[Paskud]

  On 2/26/2020 at 4:14 PM, monchan said:

Well just happy it's not his skating costume. Imagine he skates to Aladdin OST in this 

 

Expand  

That's actually his ex program for worlds.

A whole new juuuuuuuuuuuuuuump...

[Umebachi]

Recently, there was a twitter storm in Japan over inappropriate comments made by a DJ "personality" on Kamakura FM radio.  I hesitated to mention it here because it involves an infamous Japanese anti-fanyu, but I thought I should share that there was a positive resolution to this, with leaders of Kamakura city council finally coming to their senses and banishing this "personality" from the station .  A hopeful sign that social decency and resilience is still alive and well in some corners of Japan and capable of vanquishing hate.  More details under the spoiler. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

It is well-known among the Japanese fanyus that a DJ on Kamakura FM who often spouted anti-fanyu sentiments.  This personality stepped over the line recently when he made comments on Twitter that went viral, which went along the lines of equating Hanyu-senshu with a certain German autocrat from WW2 - the ultimate mother of all slanders.  The background to this hateful talk is that this DJ disliked Yuzu for showing patriotism by singing Kimigayo and showing reverence to the flag, which reminded him of the ultra-right wing nationalists (yes, we have them, too).  But it's not just the ultra-nationalists, but the left-wing groups in Japan also feel a bit uncomfortable about our flag.  

  

For those who are not familiar with this aspect of our recent history:  among the more liberal wing of Japanese political sphere during the post-war Showa era, there is a strong distrust toward flag waving and reverence for the national anthem.  The Japanese Teacher's Union is famous for being a strong proponent of this anti-flag sentiment and has clashed with the conservatives on these issues.  I must admit I share this mixed feeling about our flag,  which requires some explanation.  My father was born in the Taisho era (b.1913) at the height of the "liberal" era (he was a typical "Mo-Bo" = modern boy of the era) and he studied economics, English, Spanish and French, and served as a young Japanese diplomat in Washington DC just before the war (1937-1938).  As a junior diplomat, he was mentored by Ambassador Saito, who is well-known to have been close to President Roosevelt, and had worked hard to avert war - literally worked himself to death and expired on the job (he had throat cancer but exhaustion played a big part).  In honour of the Ambassador,  Roosevelt sent back his body on a US naval frigate with full honours (from Norfolk VA), and my father was one of the pallbearers (NHK filmed the body being carried onto the frigate, and my grandmother later saw her son on the news reel and shed many tears, according to my aunties.)    

As you well know,  war happened despite their efforts.  My father fortunately survived, or I wouldn't be here on the Planet!  Having lived through the worst effects of ultra-nationalism-gone-beserk and having had to serve under that military regime (where anyone speaking enemy languages was suspect), my father has instilled in us a strong anti-war sentiment. His stories from that time made me strongly distrust flag-worshipping and singing of kimigayo, even though as a nation we have undergone democratic transformation (sort of) and the flag does not mean imperialism anymore. It's hard to undo the feelings that I inherited from my father, but in recent years my feelings have somewhat mellowed although I still disdain the ultra-nationalists who still go around waving the flag and blasting war songs around town.  So perhaps you will forgive me if I admit to having a mixed feeling when I watch Hanyu-senshu singing kimigayo and treating our flag with reverence, not because of his own actions which are pure and honourable, but because it reminds me how much this would be pleasing to those ultra-nationalists.  Yet I could never have imagined this would end up in the opposite direction in the crazy world of anti-fanyus, with this imbecile DJ talking trash about Hanyu-senshu and equating him to those horrific ultra-nationalists!

Anyway, the good news is that the head of the Kamakura City Council stepped in (on twitter) to express his deep distress toward the disrespect shown toward a certain remarkable athlete from Tohoku, and how much he admired this athlete who is giving hope  to people suffering from all kinds of terrible experiences.  This was followed up by an official apology from the head of Kamakura FM, announcing the dismissal of the DJ and how a municipal FM (supported by local taxes) must remain open to feedback from its community and not spread toxic messages.   So for now, this story has a happy ending.

   

[Crow]

I had seen this on twitter and also chosen not to mention it, although I was glad to see this character was dismissed. It is a bit bittersweet that people can come together to right a wrong by putting pressure on the radio station to act but also a bit shameful that it was needed for this to happen to stop a person from being hateful on a community radio. It also makes you think, because in this case a good thing was achieved but also many times some more dubious things happen as a result of social media pressure. Its a bit of a mix-bag of feelings for me. 

[zootown]

  On 2/26/2020 at 10:29 PM, Umebachi said:

Recently, there was a twitter storm in Japan over inappropriate comments made by a DJ "personality" on Kamakura FM radio.  I hesitated to mention it here because it involves an infamous Japanese anti-fanyu, but I thought I should share that there was a positive resolution to this, with leaders of Kamakura city council finally coming to their senses and banishing this "personality" from the station .  A hopeful sign that social decency and resilience is still alive and well in some corners of Japan and capable of vanquishing hate.  More details under the spoiler. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

It is well-known among the Japanese fanyus that a DJ on Kamakura FM who often spouted anti-fanyu sentiments.  This personality stepped over the line recently when he made comments on Twitter that went viral, which went along the lines of equating Hanyu-senshu with a certain German autocrat from WW2 - the ultimate mother of all slanders.  The background to this hateful talk is that this DJ disliked Yuzu for showing patriotism by singing Kimigayo and showing reverence to the flag, which reminded him of the ultra-right wing nationalists (yes, we have them, too).  But it's not just the ultra-nationalists, but the left-wing groups in Japan also feel a bit uncomfortable about our flag.  

  

For those who are not familiar with this aspect of our recent history:  among the more liberal wing of Japanese political sphere during the post-war Showa era, there is a strong distrust toward flag waving and reverence for the national anthem.  The Japanese Teacher's Union is famous for being a strong proponent of this anti-flag sentiment and has clashed with the conservatives on these issues.  I must admit I share this mixed feeling about our flag,  which requires some explanation.  My father was born in the Taisho era (b.1913) at the height of the "liberal" era (he was a typical "Mo-Bo" = modern boy of the era) and he studied economics, English, Spanish and French, and served as a young Japanese diplomat in Washington DC just before the war (1937-1938).  As a junior diplomat, he was mentored by Ambassador Saito, who is well-known to have been close to President Roosevelt, and had worked hard to avert war - literally worked himself to death and expired on the job (he had throat cancer but exhaustion played a big part).  In honour of the Ambassador,  Roosevelt sent back his body on a US naval frigate with full honours (from Norfolk VA), and my father was one of the pallbearers (NHK filmed the body being carried onto the frigate, and my grandmother later saw her son on the news reel and shed many tears, according to my aunties.)    

As you well know,  war happened despite their efforts.  My father fortunately survived, or I wouldn't be here on the Planet!  Having lived through the worst effects of ultra-nationalism-gone-beserk and having had to serve under that military regime (where anyone speaking enemy languages was suspect), my father has instilled in us a strong anti-war sentiment. His stories from that time made me strongly distrust flag-worshipping and singing of kimigayo, even though as a nation we have undergone democratic transformation (sort of) and the flag does not mean imperialism anymore. It's hard to undo the feelings that I inherited from my father, but in recent years my feelings have somewhat mellowed although I still disdain the ultra-nationalists who still go around waving the flag and blasting war songs around town.  So perhaps you will forgive me if I admit to having a mixed feeling when I watch Hanyu-senshu singing kimigayo and treating our flag with reverence, not because of his own actions which are pure and honourable, but because it reminds me how much this would be pleasing to those ultra-nationalists.  Yet I could never have imagined this would end up in the opposite direction in the crazy world of anti-fanyus, with this imbecile DJ talking trash about Hanyu-senshu and equating him to those horrific ultra-nationalists!

Anyway, the good news is that the head of the Kamakura City Council stepped in (on twitter) to express his deep distress toward the disrespect shown toward a certain remarkable athlete from Tohoku, and how much he admired this athlete who is giving hope  to people suffering from all kinds of terrible experiences.  This was followed up by an official apology from the head of Kamakura FM, announcing the dismissal of the DJ and how a municipal FM (supported by local taxes) must remain open to feedback from its community and not spread toxic messages.   So for now, this story has a happy ending.

Expand  

thank you so much this is so interesting and I love history! Regarding the topic, it makes no sense to me to insult someone because the show respect. As an athlete Yuzuru is sent to international competition to represent Japan how insulting would that look if he did not respect his own country? If I remember correctly didn't Johnny Weir get a a lot of grief from the media because he sported a sweatshirt that said "Russia" on the front during the Olympics in which he was competing???

[rockstaryuzu]

  On 2/26/2020 at 10:29 PM, Umebachi said:

Recently, there was a twitter storm in Japan over inappropriate comments made by a DJ "personality" on Kamakura FM radio.  I hesitated to mention it here because it involves an infamous Japanese anti-fanyu, but I thought I should share that there was a positive resolution to this, with leaders of Kamakura city council finally coming to their senses and banishing this "personality" from the station .  A hopeful sign that social decency and resilience is still alive and well in some corners of Japan and capable of vanquishing hate.  More details under the spoiler. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

It is well-known among the Japanese fanyus that a DJ on Kamakura FM who often spouted anti-fanyu sentiments.  This personality stepped over the line recently when he made comments on Twitter that went viral, which went along the lines of equating Hanyu-senshu with a certain German autocrat from WW2 - the ultimate mother of all slanders.  The background to this hateful talk is that this DJ disliked Yuzu for showing patriotism by singing Kimigayo and showing reverence to the flag, which reminded him of the ultra-right wing nationalists (yes, we have them, too).  But it's not just the ultra-nationalists, but the left-wing groups in Japan also feel a bit uncomfortable about our flag.  

  

For those who are not familiar with this aspect of our recent history:  among the more liberal wing of Japanese political sphere during the post-war Showa era, there is a strong distrust toward flag waving and reverence for the national anthem.  The Japanese Teacher's Union is famous for being a strong proponent of this anti-flag sentiment and has clashed with the conservatives on these issues.  I must admit I share this mixed feeling about our flag,  which requires some explanation.  My father was born in the Taisho era (b.1913) at the height of the "liberal" era (he was a typical "Mo-Bo" = modern boy of the era) and he studied economics, English, Spanish and French, and served as a young Japanese diplomat in Washington DC just before the war (1937-1938).  As a junior diplomat, he was mentored by Ambassador Saito, who is well-known to have been close to President Roosevelt, and had worked hard to avert war - literally worked himself to death and expired on the job (he had throat cancer but exhaustion played a big part).  In honour of the Ambassador,  Roosevelt sent back his body on a US naval frigate with full honours (from Norfolk VA), and my father was one of the pallbearers (NHK filmed the body being carried onto the frigate, and my grandmother later saw her son on the news reel and shed many tears, according to my aunties.)    

As you well know,  war happened despite their efforts.  My father fortunately survived, or I wouldn't be here on the Planet!  Having lived through the worst effects of ultra-nationalism-gone-beserk and having had to serve under that military regime (where anyone speaking enemy languages was suspect), my father has instilled in us a strong anti-war sentiment. His stories from that time made me strongly distrust flag-worshipping and singing of kimigayo, even though as a nation we have undergone democratic transformation (sort of) and the flag does not mean imperialism anymore. It's hard to undo the feelings that I inherited from my father, but in recent years my feelings have somewhat mellowed although I still disdain the ultra-nationalists who still go around waving the flag and blasting war songs around town.  So perhaps you will forgive me if I admit to having a mixed feeling when I watch Hanyu-senshu singing kimigayo and treating our flag with reverence, not because of his own actions which are pure and honourable, but because it reminds me how much this would be pleasing to those ultra-nationalists.  Yet I could never have imagined this would end up in the opposite direction in the crazy world of anti-fanyus, with this imbecile DJ talking trash about Hanyu-senshu and equating him to those horrific ultra-nationalists!

Anyway, the good news is that the head of the Kamakura City Council stepped in (on twitter) to express his deep distress toward the disrespect shown toward a certain remarkable athlete from Tohoku, and how much he admired this athlete who is giving hope  to people suffering from all kinds of terrible experiences.  This was followed up by an official apology from the head of Kamakura FM, announcing the dismissal of the DJ and how a municipal FM (supported by local taxes) must remain open to feedback from its community and not spread toxic messages.   So for now, this story has a happy ending.

   

Expand  

Wow, that's a far more complicated situation than I had originally thought. I saw the Twitstorm over it but didn't have all the details.

 

Anyway

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I have seen the ultranationalists of which you speak, came across them quite by accident as I emerged from Hama-Rikyu at lunchtime and tried to find my way over to Ginza on foot. The one and only time I was in Tokyo (so far). I had no idea what they were saying but it was quite a shock to see them. 

 

I know that all national flags can evoke varying political sentiment, but it never once occurred to me that Yuzu's respect for his country's flag could be in anyway construed as ultranationalist. And isn't a kind of situation where Yuzu is between a rock and a hard place? He's been away from Japan so long, that if he didn't show enough respect for the flag, people would criticise him as having turned his back on Japan, no? Sorry if that sounds a little cynical, but that's the impression I get. 

 

Anyway, as time goes on, new generations that haven't directly experienced that imperial past will put their own meaning on the flag and on shows of patriotism. Maybe Yuzu's a sign of a new way forward in that regard. 

 

Thanks for sharing that history about your dad with us. That is really interesting. I find diplomats to be fascinating in general, because of the nature of the work. They're at the forefront of history really

 

[monchan]

Great thread:

 

2019 SC SP. Max GOE. So much work in this:

fancam

[MeowZu]

I will never understand how people, especially his own countrymen, can hate Yuzu. He has always been so kind, even to those who are nasty to him. My heart breaks for him. 

[yude]

For the record, I'd also like to share the flow of Kamakura FM incident. Please delete this if it is not appropriate, I wrote it very straightforwardly. 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

[Very short summary and not literal translation]  

 

The woman host tweeted about Yuzuru, "his behaviors are often problems and acts as if he has mental disease."

 

Yuzuru's fans reacted to it.

 

The man host interrupted saying, "You (the woman) did nothing wrong, don't care about these creepy Hanyu fans, we don't get any hurt on our radio programs! (etc)"

 

The man continued slandering Yuzuru using anti's theory, and called the fans again, "stupid", "rotten", "scum".

 

The fans decided to report the behaviors of these two to the account of Kamakura FM.

 

Kamakura FM blocked the fans.

 

The fans started saying "we were blocked", and then Kamakura FM unblocked them (lol).

 

The fans started to reach Kamakura city because it is major stockholder of Kamakura FM.

 

(The man host continued retweeting Yuzuru's anti's tweets on his private account, apparently he didn't have any regret for what he had done.)

 

Kamakura FM made announcement on this matter, "we checked and listened to the recording of their radio shows, but we didn't find any slandering against Yuzuru Hanyu" The fans noticed that they ignored the real situation.

 

Former chairperson of Kamakura city council said on his twitter account that he would not allow the hosts' behaviors and take the actions on it.

 

Current member of Kamakura city council also said on his twitter that he would make sure what had happened.

 

(the members of the council talked with the president of Kamakura FM)

 

Kamakura FM made announcement, "We apologize for the listeners and citizens...", "It was decided that two hosts resigned from their shows and the shows are also going to be cancelled."

 

All of these happened in like three days. I have to say I was surprised and amazed at how fast these city council members moved and worked. I wish JSF took notes from them (last year, they said they would do something about SNS problems but they haven't done anything yet...and probably they will never do).

 

 

[rubyblue]

  On 2/27/2020 at 8:50 AM, yude said:

For the record, I'd also like to share the flow of Kamakura FM incident. Please delete this if it is not appropriate, I wrote it very straightforwardly. 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

[Very short summary and not literal translation]  

 

The woman host tweeted about Yuzuru, "his behaviors are often problems and acts as if he has mental disease."

 

Yuzuru's fans reacted to it.

 

The man host interrupted saying, "You (the woman) did nothing wrong, don't care about these creepy Hanyu fans, we don't get any hurt on our radio programs! (etc)"

 

The man continued slandering Yuzuru using anti's theory, and called the fans again, "stupid", "rotten", "scum".

 

The fans decided to report the behaviors of these two to the account of Kamakura FM.

 

Kamakura FM blocked the fans.

 

The fans started saying "we were blocked", and then Kamakura FM unblocked them (lol).

 

The fans started to reach Kamakura city because it is major stockholder of Kamakura FM.

 

(The man host continued retweeting Yuzuru's anti's tweets on his private account, apparently he didn't have any regret for what he had done.)

 

Kamakura FM made announcement on this matter, "we checked and listened to the recording of their radio shows, but we didn't find any slandering against Yuzuru Hanyu" The fans noticed that they ignored the real situation.

 

Former chairperson of Kamakura city council said on his twitter account that he would not allow the hosts' behaviors and take the actions on it.

 

Current member of Kamakura city council also said on his twitter that he would make sure what had happened.

 

(the members of the council talked with the president of Kamakura FM)

 

Kamakura FM made announcement, "We apologize for the listeners and citizens...", "It was decided that two hosts resigned from their shows and the shows are also going to be cancelled."

---

All of these happened in like three days. I have to say I was surprised and amazed at how fast these city council members moved and worked. I wish JSF took note from them (last year, they said they would do something about SNS problems but they haven't done anything yet...and probably they will never do).

 

 

Expand  

Oh dear, this is crazy and ridicolous. I regret that I read it. What is that Kamakura FM? Is this a serious medium? Doesn't sound like that. I hope Yuzu is just calmly training in Canada with TCC good team vibes and doesn't give a freckle about that. Not worthy to bother his perfect skin with this kind of tr*sh.

[yude]

  On 2/27/2020 at 9:08 AM, rubyblue said:

Oh dear, this is crazy and ridicolous. I regret that I read it. What is that Kamakura FM? Is this a serious medium? Doesn't sound like that. I hope Yuzu is just calmly training in Canada with TCC good team vibes and doesn't give a freckle about that. Not worthy to bother his perfect skin with this kind of tr*sh.

Expand  

 

Kamakura FM is a local radio station representing Kamakura city, but it is a very small company with 6 members and some volunteers. Local radio station is necessary for the citizens in case of state of emergency such as natural disasters, but they also apologized for blocking the fans temporally. Kamakura city is one of the beautiful historic cities of Japan, and many people from foreign countries also visit.