General Yuzuru Chat

[sallycinnamon]

12 hours ago, EisElle said:

 

I wish I had been a fan then, must have felt crazy and delirious and magical!

two weeks that marked skating history

I can't think of other similar "records" in the past few years (as in, breaking score records) that felt that much historical, in FS circles too (tho was also the start of ISU running to take control back)

There have been many broken records, but not many feeling as if sport was entering a new era (I guess maybe women's FS records with quads? becase other increases happenend a lot more gradually. And 100, 200 300 threshold always had a certain special "flavour")

 

 

 

The end of 2015 was a very exciting time and I still remember the euphoria I felt. After NHK I went to work on Monday and the first thing to do was that I showed Chopin and Seimei to my coworkers This was something I didn't really do before that  I was planning to go the GPF but my friend had a lot of work and we decided not to go in the end. I regretted it after that (but I can't complain now because I saw Yuzu at so many competitions after that).

[Anni]

Cover photos for the calendars

[NEWS]

[Figure_Frenzy]

Ah yes, swan-necked Yuzu for my birthday month , thanks Kose! 

 

(also ik this thread is for all things Yuzu (especially for the happiness we get from him), so forgive me for responding to this↓ but I do need to vent a bit here 🙈)

 

13 hours ago, EisElle said:

 

18 hours ago, Madita said:

That would be something for the salt mine thread.

Nobu has sunk a lot in my esteem. Apparently, he is also an opportunist who twists his flag in the wind. All of a sudden he finds Uno and Kagyiama are his role models with their cheated jumps, no more word from Yuzu. 
 

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/52f3439f908f5b72d8c1e912847bee962387491d

 

Translation via deeply in spoiler

 

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The "Lord on Ice", who once retired, has returned to the competition for the first time in nine years.  Nobunari Oda (35) (Osaka Skating Club), who finished 7th in figure skating at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, returned to active duty at the Osaka Prefectural National Athletic Meet selection event held on the 12th.  He scored 146.05 points in the high-difficulty free composition and won the adult men's event.  What was it that drove the skater, who is also active as a commentator and talent, to return to the silver plate?

 [Photo] Nobunari Oda poses after finishing his performance in his comeback match for the first time in nine years

 ■ Smile without crying

 This is the first time he has participated in a competition since December 2013, when he was a free skater at the All Japan Championships.  Dressed in dark blue and purple costumes, Oda gave an emotional performance to the song of the movie "Princess Mononoke".

 He fell down on the opening quadruple toe loop, saying, "I went too cautiously," but succeeded in the following triple axel (three-and-a-half jump) - triple toe loop.  He landed 6 of 7 shots and got GOE on 5.

 When he finished his performance, he made a self-assessment, saying, "Is it possible to do as I practiced? But it doesn't compare to the current top players and players who are active in the world."  Still, he said, "I was able to enjoy skating. I'm glad I took on the challenge."

 ■ Become a valuable skater

 After his retirement, he has worked extensively as a professional skater, commentator, and talent.  He was once a director at his alma mater, Kansai University.  The reason for his return to active duty was the decline as a skater who was keenly aware of the new coronavirus.

 Ice shows are canceled one after another.  In May of this year, before the full-scale ice show was held for the first time in three years, perhaps because of the surgery on his left knee in February last year, he was stunned that he could not move his body at all during practice.  To the fans who gave him warm applause even when he showed an unsatisfactory performance, he said, "They pay money to come see us. I have to become a worthy skater to match that."  He decided to return to active duty in mid-August.

 For his comeback he chose a song from the movie "Princess Mononoke".  "It may be considered presumptuous, and the fans of the main character Ashitaka may get angry, but I hope I can express that feeling by overlapping my own life with the figure I'm looking for."

 His operated left knee has not fully regained strength.  I just started quadruple jump practice about two months ago.  ``I managed to bring it to a level where I could challenge the competition, but I didn't have much experience of succeeding with the song,'' he says, but it was a performance that raised expectations for the future.

 ■ Busy days

 Even so, he seems to be leading a busy life.  On the 13th, the day after his comeback match, Oda immediately delivered a video of the screening day on his YouTube channel.  He revealed that he was competing on a tight schedule.

 According to the video, he woke up at a hotel in Tokyo after 3:00 am on the 12th.  Until around 6:00 a.m., he gave commentary on the fourth round of the Grand Prix (GP) series, the British Tournament, on a TV station.  He hurried back to Osaka and went straight to the venue in Osaka city.  After participating in the official practice in the morning, he rested his body until the evening when the adult men's competition was held, and then went to the actual event.  After that, he goes to Tokyo again for work.

 When he returned, he practiced alone without a coach.  He also choreographs performances and edits music.  He has already completed the choreography for the short program (SP) in anticipation of the Winter National Sports Festival (Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture) in January next year.  By the way, I was surprised to learn that he also edits YouTube videos himself.

 ■ A new quadruple rotation is also in sight

 Participation in the Winter National Sports Festival will be decided at the board meeting of the Osaka Prefectural Skating Federation scheduled in December.  He said, “I want to add another quadruple jump if it is decided (for the national team),” and revealed that he is practicing quadruple loops.

 His role model is the Japanese juniors who stood on the podium at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February.  He laughed, saying, ``I repeatedly watched videos of athletes such as Shoma Uno and Yuma Kagiyama, who are good jumpers, and implied that they could do it even at the age of 35.'' I'm serious.

 The theme is "always challenge".  ``I think it would be amazing if I could do a new quad jump here.  He added, "(If I can participate in the national polity), if I want to challenge higher or work harder after finishing, I would like to discuss work balances and people around me and try various things. I will not lose to people of my generation. I want to do my best," looking ahead.

 ■ Ale from my beloved son

 I wonder if I can participate in the All Japan Championship.  At a press conference, when the press turned him down, he said with a smile, "I'm happy to hear that. With those words as encouragement, I'll do my best if I can compete in the national polity. I hope I can contribute to my hometown of Osaka, even if just a little."

 Recently, when I gave my 6th grade son a smartphone, he received the following message on the free communication app LINE.

 "Dad, do your best in the game"

 The dad who received it said, "I was so happy. I read it for about 10 seconds and immediately returned it with a lot of heart marks saying 'thank you'" with a big smile.  The 35-year-old challenge has just begun.  (Chikako Shimada)

 

Expand  

Meh 😑😒

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mostly

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Honestly I still have no idea why Nobu got back to comps, if it's truly only to "improve his form" so he can skate well at shows... it feels a bit convoluted to me, especially knowing he could rareley express the "best" self in comps and he certainly doens't strike me as someone loving competition for the sake of competition.

 

My guess: he is doing this to skate in shows, because he needs to keep getting invited. And competing again andsay to both JSF&audience "hey, I'm still here!" is a legit strategy. Maybe it's a way to remind JSF&co he is still a valuable resource in that field. And maybe that means he wants to be in JSF good graces. And what better way to align with what JSF supports?

It makes me  to see SU called a good jumper (since, truth be told, majority of his jumps sucks, especially in their "quad" version), but hey, it isn't the first time I see it, won't be the last (Yuma happen to have much better jumps, and he's new gen, so mentioning him would definitely make sense, instead). And tbh the only thing Nobu could learn from the jumps SU "has" and he hasn't landed in comp yet -- 4loop,sal(?or did he?), flip -- is how to cheat them (which in ISU economy & Anyway, the only thing Nobu could learn from the jumps SU "has" and he doesn't yet (4loop, sal, flip) is how to cheat both takeoff and landing (which in current FS &with the right push is still a potentially valuable skill, I guess). But I don't think that's something that Nobu could easily learn it.

 

tbh, in the last year or so I've been ambivalent about Nobu because I did read some discontent about him here and there, but also: sometimes people jump too soon on the most uncharitable interpretation...and also, I do want to think the best of Nobu. If any, because it would really really sadden me if he actually weren't the (mostly)good person I believed him to be (and I'd need something more egregious than this kind of somewhat predictable PR to drop Nobu like I dropped Javi).

Let's say, I wanna think Nobu is just "acting" in his own best interests, BUT wouldn't entirely backstab Zu. I don't like the Zu erasure (cuz hey, WTF, is Beijing the only comp happened all these years??? is "merely" podiuming THE most inspiring things you can think about? Because both talking about comp Results and about things Beyond medals, there are more inspiring things. Heck, doesn't even have to be about Zu, like, I could understand if Nobu had said he was inspired by his former pal DaisukeT, who is about his age and came back to comp before him). But if I try to look at it in the most charitable way, maybe he merely mentioned the athletes that are actively competing.

 

 

 

 

(nvm this↓, it's just a vent)

Spoiler

So, for the first one (Marina Zoueva and her comments on top JP men's skater) — apparently she has a history of making questionable and delusional comments LMAO  — other than this one iirc ice dancies over on twt said that she had made questionable comments on ice dance teams too . Her (extreme) lack of self-awareness is pretty well known to ice dancies, and every now and then it is known to other FS audiences as well  (in this case single skater watchers).

 

(also unrelated, but it could further demonstrate her extreme lack of self-awareness — lately she has been politicking for KanaDai (by puffing them up in interviews and such) by calling them the best ice dance team ever, which is just laughable when you consider that Marina once coached Virtue/Moir, which was like... The Best Ice Dance Team of the IJS Era™ (there's a reason why the Golden FS quartet are Yuna, Yuzu, Sui/Han and Virtue/Moir(!!!)). I mean sure, KanaDai got potential I guess, but as great as V/M??? Come on...)

 

 

As for Nobu, agree with @EisElle here. It takes something way deeper, way more fundamental for me to finally see him in an unfavourable light, yet at this moment I still don't feel like his behavior warrants it (it shows Nobu as a flim-flam man, yeah, but that's about it). I am still broadly favorable on him also because people I follow on twt still view him favorably as well. I am not gonna sway anyone who mistrusts him, but again...it seems overblown to me atm...

 

[Yuzu_legend]

Do not miss this opportunity! We are gifting a complete set of Prologue clear files! 💙

[Beatrice]

12 hours ago, Anni said:

 

I like this photo. 

 

I already got into raptures over this in the "Fanart" thread, so please forgive me for repeating myself ...

 

This photo is exquisitely beautiful !  *O*M*G* !!!      

[Sombreuil]

Catching up…..

 

@Geo1 it’s very kind of you to share your experiences with us and is especially appreciated by those of us who have never seen him live, much less met him personally.

@Fay welcome back - I missed you.

 

Lot of nastiness on social media atm- the delusions of Zoueva, Nobu folding himself back into the JSF flock, and some unpleasant postings about recruitment of Japanese media users to be paid to puff Uno, Kagiyama, and rouse the Takahashi/Asada fandom to trash Hanyu.  JSF were supposed to be investigating?   But nothing has been done - shocker.

I’m reading translations which as we know are often imperfect but it’s very distasteful stuff if it’s even half true.  Hopefully Prologue at Hachinhoe will take the taste away…

[Anabel]

On 11/29/2022 at 11:01 PM, 野生の花 Yasei no hana said:

OMG 

 

https://youtu.be/ES-Rz8nip80

 

https://twitter.com/UNIVERSAL_CLS/status/1597668290842984448?t=TpA9eRL65mgPpk_MWBE7ew&s=19

Thanks for sharing, I love this version of Rondo. It would have been wonderful if Yuzu had participated in the recording of the MV 

 

12 hours ago, Anni said:

There will be another voice message on Yuzu's birthday 🤗

 

[NEWS]

 

I like this photo. 

 

40 minutes ago, Beatrice said:

 

I already got into raptures over this in the "Fanart" thread, so please forgive me for repeating myself ...

 

This photo is exquisitely beautiful !  *O*M*G* !!!      

There are no words for this photo... 

 

8 hours ago, Figure_Frenzy said:

Ah yes, swan-necked Yuzu for my birthday month , thanks Kose! 

 

(also ik this thread is for all things Yuzu (especially for the happiness we get from him), so forgive me for responding to this↓ but I do need to vent a bit here 🙈)

 

 

(nvm this↓, it's just a vent)

  Hide contents

So, for the first one (Marina Zoueva and her comments on top JP men's skater) — apparently she has a history of making questionable and delusional comments LMAO  — other than this one iirc ice dancies over on twt said that she had made questionable comments on ice dance teams too . Her (extreme) lack of self-awareness is pretty well known to ice dancies, and every now and then it is known to other FS audiences as well  (in this case single skater watchers).

 

(also unrelated, but it could further demonstrate her extreme lack of self-awareness — lately she has been politicking for KanaDai (by puffing them up in interviews and such) by calling them the best ice dance team ever, which is just laughable when you consider that Marina once coached Virtue/Moir, which was like... The Best Ice Dance Team of the IJS Era™ (there's a reason why the Golden FS quartet are Yuna, Yuzu, Sui/Han and Virtue/Moir(!!!)). I mean sure, KanaDai got potential I guess, but as great as V/M??? Come on...)

 

 

As for Nobu, agree with @EisElle here. It takes something way deeper, way more fundamental for me to finally see him in an unfavourable light, yet at this moment I still don't feel like his behavior warrants it (it shows Nobu as a flim-flam man, yeah, but that's about it). I am still broadly favorable on him also because people I follow on twt still view him favorably as well. I am not gonna sway anyone who mistrusts him, but again...it seems overblown to me atm...

 

I don't know if I should feel alluded to lol

I don't put Nobu on Javi's level either. I get that he's looking out for himself, but Yuzu's blatant omission in his comments and mentioning SU as an example of a good jumper makes me feel uncomfortable. Of course, from there to reneging him there is still a long way to go lol

 

[Perelandra]

Dear Satellites,

There are so many lovely art works, poems, musical compositions and academic works all inspired by the Muse that is Yuzu it is like the cornucopia of plenty having it's contents bestowed upon us. Not only these offerings but also new publications on their way, photo books the Wiki Featured article and of course Prologue Hachinohe

 

For those fortunate few fans who will be attending the live performances in Hachinohe, have a superb time seeing Yuzu and please tell us about your experiences, if you have not transcended to a higher plane of existence. You may have good wifi so please do not forgot those of us left in the mortal realm, who will look forward to any reports of the show with the greatest anticipation.

 

As for the press and the sour interviews and articles, forget about these naysayers and leave them to wallow. Only a small proportion of divisive minded people really care about what they say, it is pathetic.

 

Yuzu's success is bound to head to ever greater heights and hopefully the massive outpourings of admiration and support from well wishers will be of huge comfort and reassurance.

Many fan groups will be showing birthday messages, as is our own dear haven Planet H. These are all certain to be filled with more gorgeous dedications, about which hopefully someone will inform Yuzu or he may even see them himself.

 

Sending warm thoughts and fortifying hugs.

Pxx

[Yuzurella]

On 11/26/2022 at 8:18 AM, Geo1 said:

2019 AUTUMN CLASSIC INTERNATIONAL IN OAKVILLE

 

Our third live competition with Yuzu was the 2019 Autumn Classic International in Oakville, Ontario.

 

First, I would like to say that we really enjoyed meeting other satellites from the Planet and having a couple of dinners with them.

 

REUNITING WITH GHISLAIN

 

We attended the 2019 ACI with Jason. On the Thursday practice day, we saw Ghislain and went to speak with him.

 

 

 

On the following day, Ghislain came over with his youngest son to where we were sitting and chatted with us.

 

On Saturday, as we were approaching the free skate, I spoke to Ghislain again. As our conversation was drawing to a close, I told him that we were going to go shopping in Toronto on Monday and wondered whether we could visit him at the Cricket Club. Ghislain agreed and gave me his business card with the Cricket Club contact information on one side and his personal contact information on the other. He asked me to email him to work out the details.

 

ORIGIN 2.0 COSTUME REVEAL

 

Again, a major highlight was the purple Origin 2.0 costume reveal and the audience reaction.

 

Again, as in the previous year, we were in the wheelchair section directly across from the Kiss and Cry and the area where the skaters entered and exited the rink. We were in the perfect position to watch Yuzu’s manic lip-synching routine before the 6-minute warm-up.

  

 

 

WE VISIT THE CRICKET CLUB

 

On Monday morning, I sent an email to Ghislain to confirm the visit. He replied almost immediately. He said that the best time to visit was around 12:30 PM because he had a break between 12:45 PM and 1:15 PM. To our delight, he added, “Yuzu will be in for a short practice at 2 PM.”

 

We arrived at the TCC at 12:30 PM and entered the front doors. When we arrived, the security person at the front desk told us that we were expected and that we could go directly to the rink which was straight down the hall. He showed us the wheelchair ramp which was located beside him. We went down the ramp into the hallway which had displays of trophies and other memorabilia. The Cricket Club seemed almost familiar as we went down this hallway towards the rink probably because we had seen it so many times in videos. At the end of the hall, there is a door leading to the rink with an “EXIT” sign beside it. Immediately to the right is the lounge with the large windows looking onto the ice rink. My wife opened the door and Jason pushed me into the ice rink area. Ghislain and Brian were standing right there close to the exit door. I called to Ghislain and he smiled and waved, saying, “Hi George!” Brian looked our way with a nod of acknowledgment. Ghislain ushered us back through the door that we had just come in and set us up in the lounge in the booth closest to the door. We had a great view of the area where the coaches and choreographers were standing as well as the ice rink. After making sure that we were well settled, Ghislain asked us to sit and enjoy the practice until he was finished with the class. He said that he would join us in a few minutes time.

 

WE SEE JAVIER FERNANDEZ, EVGENIA MEDVEDEVA, JUNHWAN CHA AND JOSEPH PHAN PRACTICING AS WELL AS CHOREOGRAPHERS DAVID WILSON AND JEFFREY BUTTLE

 

When I looked on the ice, I immediately noticed Javier Fernandez. Apparently, it was his first day back at the TCC since PyeongChang and he was there to practice his free skate for the Japan Open with his choreographer, David Wilson. I also saw Evgenia Medvedeva and Junhwan Cha going through their paces. Jeffrey Buttle was on the sidelines looking intently onto the ice. During breaks, I saw Javi come into the lounge and sit with a friend a couple of booths away from us. Whenever Evgenia took a break, she would come into the lounge and sit with her mother and her mother’s female companion. Joseph Phan was also practicing. He had recently started at the TCC to be coached by Brian.

 

A SHORT TOUR OF THE CLUB

 

At around 12:45 PM, the practice ended and the skaters cleared the ice. Shortly afterwards, Ghislain came into the lounge and took us on a short tour of the club’s facilities, including a view of the cricket field, swimming pool, weight training room and the dance room where we have seen a young 17-year-old Yuzu doing hip-hop with an even younger Nam in the NHK documentary, “Spirits of the Athletes”.

 

WE MEET BRIAN AGAIN

 

Following the conclusion of the brief tour, I told Ghislain that we had gifts and he took us back to the lounge where we sat down at our former place. Jason went out to the vehicle to retrieve the gifts. After we had given Ghislain his gifts, I told him that we had gifts for Brian, Tracy and Erin d’Eon, the skating coordinator, as well. He said, “Let’s go down to see Brian,” and led us down the hall to the small “Skating Office” that Brian shares with Tracy. Ghislain popped his head into the office and asked Brian to step out. Ghislain introduced us and Brian asked whether this was the first time we had been to the Cricket Club. I laughed and said that this was the first time we had been inside the Cricket Club. I told him that we had been to the Cricket Club the year before, but we had only seen it from the outside. I said that the only souvenir we had from last year’s visit to the Cricket Club was my wife, Emiko, getting stung by one of the wasps in the garden! I also reminded Brian that we had met previously at the 2017 ACI in Montréal outside the restaurant and because he had implied his availability for dinner, I had followed him around at the competition venue to the point that by the third or fourth encounter, I was afraid that he was going to call security on me! Both Brian and Ghislain had a good laugh.

 

Tracy had not arrived so Brian said that he would accept the gift on her behalf and keep it for her in the office that they shared.

 

Ghislain then took us down the hall to introduce us to Erin d’Eon with whom I had exchanged a number of emails in the past. We gave her a gift and chatted briefly.

 

PICTURES WITH GHISLAIN

 

Ghislain then took us back to our original booth in the lounge where we had some pictures taken with him. This is one of them.

 

 

 

Ghislain then asked us to relax and enjoy the practices of the other skaters until Yuzu arrived at 2 PM. He then went back to the rink for the next practice session which included Javi, Evgenia and Jun.

 

YUZU ARRIVES AND WE WATCH HIM PRACTICE

 

At 2 PM, Yuzu walked in wearing a cap and dressed all in black pulling his gold hard-shell carry-on case. He walked past beside us and into the bench area behind the rink where we could not see him from the lounge. He reappeared a few minutes later greeting Brian and Ghislain by the rink. We had the honour and privilege of watching Yuzu practice for an hour, all from the comfort of a warm lounge. Almost all of his jumps and jump combinations were started from the other end of the rink so that they were landed right in front of us, just several feet away. It was all very breathtaking. As Brian Orson has said, "I have no words."

 

At some point, Tracy Wilson joined Brian and Ghislain on the sidelines. I noticed her speaking with Ghislain and Ghislain pointing in our direction. I surmised that Tracy had asked Ghislain about the gift that we had left for her in the office that she shared with Brian and that Ghislain was explaining to her that it was from us.

 

After the practice was over, Yuzu hugged Brian and Ghislain and bowed to Tracy Sailor Moon style. Ghislain came into the lounge and sat down with us. He told us that Yuzu would join us shortly. While I chatted with Ghislain, Jason noticed that Yuzu removed his Under Armour top revealing his bare back to anyone who might have been watching from the lounge as he changed into his street clothes.

 

WE MEET AND CHAT WITH YUZU

 

After a few minutes, Yuzu joined us. He was not wearing his cap. He was very slim and looked like the teenaged boy next door. He presented a totally different image from the superstar that we are used to seeing in the rink. Ghislain smiled as Yuzu and I greeted each other in Japanese, “hajimemashita” (pleased to meet you). I introduced myself, my wife and Jason. I asked my wife to give Yuzu one of our cards. I asked him in Japanese whether it was all right to call him “Yuzu” and he replied, “Hai yoroshidesu”. I am relatively fluent in spoken Japanese as I am a third-generation Japanese-Canadian born in Japan and raised in Canada since I was two and half years old. Furthermore, my wife is Japanese and the language we use at home is mostly Japanese. In fact, my Japanese improved 1000% after I married her! Unfortunately, Emiko’s English has not had the same degree of improvement because I accommodated her by speaking Japanese.

 

Emiko shook hands with Yuzu and she later said that his hand was very soft and smooth. Since he could see that I was paralyzed and unable to use my arms and hands, Yuzu bowed to me and I bowed back with my head. In retrospect, I should have asked Yuzu for a hug! I am sure that he would have obliged.

 

I have heard Yuzu’s voice countless times in videos, but I have never heard him speak as softly as he did when he spoke to us that day. It was as if I was hearing a totally different person. And, he was ever so humble, polite and respectful. Since I was in a wheelchair, he immediately got down on one or both knees beside my chair to my left so that we were side-by-side, facing the same direction, just inches apart, with him being at a lower level than me.

 

We chatted for several minutes in Japanese. I asked him how his right ankle was doing and he smiled and replied, “daijobudesu”. We had gone shopping for gifts on Sunday and one set of gifts we had bought were two of the largest boxes of chocolates available at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store for Yuzu and his mother. I showed Yuzu the gift wrapped boxes, explained that they were chocolates, and pointed out that my wife had labeled his “Precious Son” (in Japanese) and his mother’s “Precious Mother”.

 

I explained to Yuzu that we had chosen chocolates for him because we had seen his Lotte Ghana chocolate commercials and knew that he really did like chocolates. I said that we had noticed in the “making of” videos, he was always taking bites out of the chocolate bars in between and after takes. I said I noticed that when the director told him that the commercial was finished, he expressed disappointment because he was not going to be able to eat any more chocolate. When I told him this, I was rewarded with a Yuzu scrunchy-face smile-laugh.

 

We also gave him and his mother chocolate balls that had been decorated to look like various kitten faces. When my wife produced these chocolates, Yuzu’s eyes widened and he unabashedly exclaimed “Kawaiii!!!” – (So) cute!!! – in the most adorable voice.

 

PICTURES WITH YUZU

 

After chatting, I asked Yuzu whether it was okay to get a picture with him. Of course, he said. As the four of us – Ghislain, my wife, Yuzu and I – were lining up for the picture, Tracy came running up to me and said with a big smile, “Thank you very much for the lovely gift!” Realizing that we were in the midst of taking a picture, she immediately started to back away. I called out to her and said, “Tracy, come back and get in the picture!” She joined us and Jason took multiple shots of the five of us.

 

After the pictures were taken, we thanked Yuzu in English and Japanese with bows and he left to go home. We thanked Ghislain and he gave Emiko a hug. Since I am unable to shake hands, Ghislain gave me a pat on my shoulder. I said, “Ghislain, give me a hug, man!” Ghislain laughed, leaned over and gave me a big hug. We said our goodbyes to Ghislain and said that we would see him at Skate Canada in Kelowna. On the way out, Tracy saw us and called out, “See you at Skate Canada!”

 

When I checked my watch, it was past 3:30 PM. We had been at the TCC for over three hours and had spent an hour and a half watching Yuzu practice, chatting and taking pictures with him.

 

Jason took multiple shots and each one is slightly different from the others. These are three different sizes of one of the pictures. Yuzu looks like the boy next door.

 

 

 

 

 

PS: Emiko obviously did not get the memo regarding the colour of footwear. Everyone except her is wearing black and white footwear. Even Ghislain has white blade covers with his black skating boots. LOL!

 

Although this took place over three years ago, except for close friends and a handful of satellites, I have not spoken of or posted about our visit to the TCC and meeting Yuzu. I have never posted the pictures that appear here before. I have chosen to do so now because Yuzu is no longer competing, Brian, Tracy and Ghislain are no longer his coaches and Yuzu is no longer associated with the Cricket Club.

 

I wish to emphasize that I have not disclosed any confidential information.

 

PS: I want to give credit to @yuzuangel for figuring out why I was unable to upload the picture of us with Ghislain and the pictures of us with Ghislain, Yuzu and Tracy using Imgur. @yuzuangel deleted the “#” from the title of the picture and Imgur allowed uploading. Apparently Imgur doesn’t like the “#” in the titles of images being uploaded! I have not tested it, but Imgur may not permit the uploading of images with titles including special characters of any kind.

 

I finally had the time to read and savor your posts about your visits to ACI competitions and the TCC. Thank you so much for telling us about your wonderful experiences and sharing your precious memories and pics with us.

It must've been amazing to meet so many people at TCC, watch Yuzu's practice, and even meet him in real life! Truly a dream come true. I hope you and your wife will be able to attend Yuzu's ice shows one day.

[Yuzurella]

A new special Yuzu edition magazine!

 

[NEWS]

 

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

[nekodearu]

2 hours ago, Sombreuil said:

some unpleasant postings about recruitment of Japanese media users to be paid to puff Uno, Kagiyama, and rouse the Takahashi/Asada fandom to trash Hanyu.  

Sooo... they have to mobilise four major fandoms in order to somehow counteract the influence of one little Yuzu? 

[SaluYuzu]

3 hours ago, nekodearu said:

Sooo... they have to mobilise four major fandoms in order to somehow counteract the influence of one little Yuzu? 

Curious to know who are actually paying the antis? PR agencies?  

[SaluYuzu]

Has Mao Asada ever come out to quell her crazy anti-Yuzu fans? I'd like to think she is a nicer person than Takahashi but I really don't know anything about her. I almost like Mao's skating better than that of Yuna Kim whom I find icy and unemotional notwithstanding her utter physical beauty. Sorry this is off topic. These days I only have time and interest to watch Yuzu. 

[Yuzurella]

Aaah! Clean versions of the fantastic new Sekkisei Yuzu pic! He is so gorgeous!

[Anni]

Yuzuru Hanyu Clear file book 🤗

 

Mini photo book (8 pages) & 2 A4 clear files

Release date: 22th December

Photos by Sunao Noto

 

🙏

[NEWS]

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