General Yuzuru Chat

[Perelandra]

9 minutes ago, YuDai said:

Do you have a link to the interview? I don't think I've come across this one

Sorry no, but the phrase about the foot pain when landing badly really stuck out. Yuzu also spoke about not being able to land the 4A first in comp and that his attempt would not be ratified now that he has left the comp circuit. Seemed as if Yuzu was preparing to manage people's expectations about the future of the 4A. Sorry if this is too speculative.

Many tweeters have removed 4A from their twitter names since that interview in case it causes a burden for Yuzu to live up to

[LiaRy]

I'd like to suggest something - sort of important for the video archive:

 

On 7th December, there will be a broadcast of Yuzu's Japan Nationals performances through the years, that includes his appearances at the senior Nationals in 2008 and 2009. I no longer have access to YoiTV nor Japan TV (the subscription apps) and cannot record them, but please, someone, please, record them. They will be broadcast on Fuji TV TWO.

 

Those 2008 and 2009 videos are, I believe, truly important because there is no good quality video freely available on the internet at this moment. So, for the Planet's Archive, and for the future, I think it'd be great to have them in as good quality as possible!

 

Thank you

[Ulrinis]

On 11/23/2022 at 12:51 AM, Geo1 said:

2017 AUTUMN CLASSIC INTERNATIONAL IN MONTRÉAL

 

Since there has been a definite end of an era for Yuzu with his announcement in July and the start of a new era with his first professional one-man ice show “Prologue” recently, I thought that it was time to share some of my personal memories of seeing Yuzu live during his competitive career.

 

I fully support Yuzu in his decision to quit the farce of the ISU competitions and completely understand his reasons for doing so, but I cannot help but miss the sense of anticipation and excitement that I felt when he was competing, particularly when we attended his live competitions.

 

As I have said before, I started down the rabbit hole of Yuzuru Hanyu when I serendipitously happened upon “Parisienne Walkways” while channel surfing during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. It wasn’t until September 2017, however, that we attended our first live Yuzu competition at the ACI in Montréal, Québec.

 

A MEDICAL EMERGENCY ON THE PLANE

 

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We had a medical emergency on the flight from Vancouver to Montréal. I am not sure exactly what happened, but it occurred in the middle section of the aircraft to my immediate left. A fellow travelling with his wife and two kids passed out and a call went out for a doctor. Luckily for this man, there were a couple of doctors on board as well as nurses. Our friend, Greg, who was helping us on this trip happened to be sitting right behind this fellow who was in distress and Greg volunteered to hold the oxygen tank while the doctors and nurses worked on him. For a while, it looked very serious and there was talk of the plane having to land in Manitoba so that this fellow could be taken to a hospital. I have to admit that I was very uncharitable and selfish. My only concern was, “I hope our flight is not delayed because I don’t want to miss any Yuzu!” Fortunately for all concerned, the fellow recovered and we managed to make it to Montréal without delay.

 

FIRST “YUZU EXPERIENCE” AT MONTRÉAL AIRPORT

 

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The first “Yuzu experience” we had on this trip was at the airport in Montréal. My wife and I were waiting in the terminal while Greg went to get our rental van when a large group of Japanese ladies led by tour guides stopped and sat down next to us. There were three ladies who were sitting right next to my wife and we started chatting with them. We asked them why they were in Montréal and they replied that they were there for an autumnal tour of the Laurentian Mountains as well as to watch figure skating. I asked the ladies whether they were there to see Yuzuru Hanyu and their eyes immediately lit up and they became very animated. They all started talking at once, very excited and happy to be speaking about their favourite subject. They showed us the Pooh bears that they had brought along as well as other gifts. One of the ladies pulled out a new Yuzu magazine and showed us pictures. We sat with these ladies for several minutes until their tour guides came to collect them to board buses to take them to their hotel.

 

MEETING PLANET HANYU SATELLITES FOR THE FIRST TIME

 

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A highlight of the event was getting together with a group of satellites from the Planet in the cafeteria of the venue. We all introduced ourselves to each other and @Hydroblade was in the process of sorting out her collection of swans when a rumour started that Yuzu was entering the building. I have never seen so many people move so fast! Alas, it was a false rumour. Yuzu had already used his ninja skills to sneak in the building with his entourage.

 

NO TICKETS FOR THE SHORT PROGRAM

 

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Although I had the chance to buy tickets to all of the events when I went online, I delayed because one of our friends, Jason, was unsure as to whether he wanted to go. By the time he decided not to, the only tickets available were the practice and free skate tickets. As a result, we did not see Yuzu’s record-breaking short program live at the arena. We did see it on livestream from our AirBnB condo. A bonus was being able to have an impromptu picnic on Mont Royal with Montréal smoked meat sandwiches, Portuguese roast chicken, French fries, crusty biscuits and beer overlooking the vista of Montréal before heading back to the AirBnB to livestream the short program.

 

RECORD-BREAKING SHORT PROGRAM

 

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BEFRIENDING A NICE LADY FROM SKATE CANADA

 

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A very nice lady named Lisa helped us to the wheelchair seating area and repositioned any banners that interfered with our view of the rink. We thought that she was a volunteer for Skate Canada. When we saw her again on the day of the free skate, it turned out that she was a manager with Skate Canada in charge of ticket sales. When we told her that we missed the short program because we did not have tickets, she said that she would have been able to get us in had we told her before because there was plenty of space in the wheelchair areas. The great thing is that we befriended her and she gave us her business card which came in handy for future events.

 

YUZU SMILED AND WAVED AT US

 

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Another highlight of the event was during the practice day. The four of us were sitting in a disabled wheelchair seating area which was in the far corner of the arena. Our seating area almost overhung the rink corner. Yuzu would come very close whenever he skated around the corner and on one occasion, I called out to him very loudly, “HEY, YUZU!” Possibly because he wasn’t used to having English yelled at him from the audience, he looked our way just as my wife was waving to him. He gave her a REALLY BIG SMILE and a wave of his hand which made her day.

 

YUZU AND HIS 2 SAME-SIDED GLOVES

 

Another memorable moment that we witnessed was YUZU AND HIS 2 SAME-SIDED GLOVES.

 

 

WE MEET BRIAN ORSER

 

On the evening before the practice day, six of us had dinner at a restaurant in Montréal. Four of us were from Vancouver and I had arranged to meet with a lady Fanyu and her husband from Montréal. We were probably the last group to leave the restaurant and upon exiting it, I noticed Brian Orser and a blonde lady (probably Tracy Wilson) standing on the sidewalk apparently waiting for a taxi. Without any hesitation, I called, “HEY BRIAN!” Brian immediately looked at me and walked over. Brian was very friendly and accommodating and we chatted for a couple of minutes. I asked him whether there was any chance that we would be able to take him out for dinner during the competition. He implied that it might be possible and as a result, I kept looking for excuses to run into him at the venue. This is difficult to do surreptitiously because I am in a wheelchair with my friend pushing me! By the third or fourth attempt, I was afraid that poor Brian was going to call security on me for stalking him! LOL!

 

In any event, we did not go for dinner with Brian Orser at the 2017 ACI, but we did get this picture of the group of us outside the restaurant.

 

Wow, so many impressive stories! Yes, life as a fanyu brings unexpected situations and opportunities, once-in-a-lifetime encounters, new friends and so much to tell one’s grandchildren. Thank you for sharing! 😊

[Ulrinis]

On 11/23/2022 at 10:38 PM, Geo1 said:

2018 AUTUMN CLASSIC INTERNATIONAL IN OAKVILLE

 

The second time that we saw Yuzu compete live was at the 2018 Autumn Classic International in Oakville, Ontario. My wife and I attended this with Jason. This is the same Jason who could not make up his mind whether he wanted to join us the previous year in Montréal. He had declined even though he knew that we would be paying all of his expenses including airfare, accommodations and food. This is how disinterested he was in figure skating. Between the 2017 ACI and the 2018 ACI, we showed him videos of Yuzu and although Jason had no previous interest in figure skating, he immediately became a Yuzu fan.

 

WALKING KILLER

 

I love this video. The only connection this video has with 2018 ACI Oakville is the opening scene where Yuzu gets out of the van and enters the skaters-athletes entrance of 16 Mile Sports Complex with his bodyguard behind him. I am familiar with this entrance because we made the mistake of using it when we first arrived at the venue. We parked in the lower level parking lot not knowing that the main parking lot was at the front of the building because we approached it from behind. Luckily, we ran straight into Lisa, the Skate Canada manager in charge of ticket sales whom we had met the year before and she kindly escorted us upstairs and to a prime wheelchair section across from the Kiss and Cry.

 

 

 

WE MEET GHISLAIN BRIAND

 

The major highlight of the 2018 ACI was becoming acquainted with Ghislain Briand. We noticed Ghislain making himself available to fans in the public seating area. Since other fans, particularly Japanese fans, were going up to him to have their pictures taken with him, we also looked for an opportunity and approached him. After having pictures taken with him, we gave Ghislain one of our cards and told him that if he was ever in Vancouver, we would be happy to take him out for dinner and show him around town. He replied by saying that they would likely be in Vancouver in December for the Grand Prix Final. I said that we would look forward to seeing him at that time.

 

Little did we know that Yuzu would suffer a serious right ankle injury at the 2018 Rostelecom Cup and that he would not compete at the GPF in Vancouver.

 

I had the opportunity to speak to Ghislain two more times at the 2018 ACI. On the last of these occasions, it was after the free skate practice and before Ghislain had to go down to join Yuzu and Brian for the free skate. After chatting for a few minutes, I asked him whether Yuzu was all right since he had taken a hard fall during the free skate practice and fans were speculating as to whether or not he had left the practice early because he was hurt. Ghislain reassured me that Yuzu was all right and that the only reason he left the practice early was because he felt he had done enough. “Besides,” said Ghislain with a wry smile, “if Yuzu did not fall once in a while, I would not have a job.” I looked at him and said with mock seriousness, “Are you sure that when Yuzu falls, it’s always an accident and not something you caused?” Ghislain replied with a laugh, “Not that I would ever admit to!”

 

ORIGIN 1.0 COSTUME REVEAL

 

A highlight of the 2018 ACI was the Black Origin 1.0 costume reveal and the audience reaction.

 

We were seated in the wheelchair section directly across from the Kiss and Cry and where the skaters entered the rink so we had a view of Yuzu’s iconic “I don’t care who is watching, standing around me or listening” manic lip-synching before the 6-minute warm-up.

 

I love Yuzu’s nonchalant attitude during his costume reveals while the crowd goes wild.

 

Check out the quad toeloop-triple Axel that Yuzu lands in the corner of the rink.

 

 

 

 

The 2018 costume reveal was something special for me, too: It was my first time ever trying out a livestream link (I hadn’t been active on the internet at all, never watched YouTube videos etc. before discovering Yuzu at PC Olympics). All I could say was “Wow...!“ 

[tsubasanoyume]

11 часов назад, ccy сказал:

the video message

 

 

edit: Lae (@axelsandwich) will do a proper translation later.

 

I was crying while translating these words into russian. I have a really tough moment on my skating practice and his words just... cheered me up, encouraged me. Yesterday I had my first bad and very hurt fall on ice and today all I felt was panic... I was frustrated after practice and tried to cheer myself up but without any success. And these words helped me. I'm really grateful for this. I won't give up even if on my competition on 7th of December I will be the last again I will do my best.

[Perelandra]

48 minutes ago, tsubasanoyume said:

 

I was crying while translating these words into russian. I have a really tough moment on my skating practice and his words just... cheered me up, encouraged me. Yesterday I had my first bad and very hurt fall on ice and today all I felt was panic... I was frustrated after practice and tried to cheer myself up but without any success. And these words helped me. I'm really grateful for this. I won't give up even if on my competition on 7th of December I will be the last again I will do my best.

Wishing you well for your comp. Hope that you can channel Yuzu's sentiments "I am doing my best forever". 

Whatever your result on the day, truly wishing that you will enjoy yourself and feel happy about participating. 

Sending healing thoughts for your bruises. 

[DancingFeather]

from Bangkok

 

 

[Anni]

Wow ... Huge Yuzu poster 

 

 

 

 

Here a clip 

 

 

[NEWS]

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

[DancingFeather]

Edit:

 

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

[Anni]

2 hours ago, DancingFeather said:

from Bangkok

 

 

This is a wonderful idea. Thank you Thailand-Fanyus.

[Tae Grane]

(I wasnt sure if this is a related place to share this, if it's irrelevant for this chat pls feel free to remove it)
 

Hello, I am one of the admins of Yuzuru Hanyu Turkey fansite. We launched a donation campaign to The Foundation of Children with Leukemia (LOSEV) for Yuzuru's birthday! Since it is a special year for Yuzuru turned pro athlete, we want to prepare a special and meaningful gift for him.
 

There is no interests or such things, all the money goes to the Children with Leukemia Foundation directly. The campaign is going to end at 07.12.2022

You can donate any amount you want by clicking the link. Thank you so much for in advance. If you have further questions, you can always contact me.
 

The donation link:
https://www.losev.org.tr/bagis/bagisozelgun.html?id=106671
 

[Ulrinis]

On 12/2/2022 at 10:13 AM, Pammi said:

https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2259149/full/

 

The 70th Kikuchi Kan Prize presentation ceremony was held at a hotel in Tokyo in early December, which is given to individuals and groups that have made creative achievements in cultural activities such as literature, movies/theater, newspapers, and broadcasting. Award winner Yuzuru Hanyu (27) posted a video message and looked back on his skating life so far.
 

Yuzuru Hanyu (C) ORICON NewS inc.

View photo page

[Photo] See other photos

　In a video message, Hanyu shared his joy and confessed, "Most of my life has been on the road to my dreams. It's been a series of hopes and despairs."
 

 

　In my daily practice, I had a succession of successes and failures, and I think I had more failure days. In the quadruple jump, there was a period when I was successful or unsuccessful once a month.

　He continued, “I achieved my dream of winning back-to-back Olympic titles, but I couldn’t achieve my dream of jumping a quadruple and a half jump at the Olympics. I thought that the days of my efforts up until now were in vain," he confessed frankly.

　Hanyu, who has made brilliant achievements, said, "Dreams don't come true. Effort doesn't come true. Only a limited number of people can achieve their dreams even if they work hard. I think there are times when people give up due to social unreasonableness." "My life has been a series of many choices. I don't know if all of those choices were correct. Now that I've made the choice, I don't know if it's correct or wrong." Definitely.

　However, "I just want all my choices to have meaning. Even if I fail or get injured due to my choices, I want them to have meaning. Even if you think it doesn't make sense at the time, when you look back, it does." I want to live as if it happened.The challenge continues.I will continue.I think I will be worried about the choices I make in the future, but I will think that there is a future because I made this choice. I will continue to choose," he insisted.

　The award was established in 1952 to commemorate the achievements of novelist and founder of Bungeishunju, Kan Kikuchi, in various fields of Japanese culture. The award is given to individuals and groups that have made creative achievements in cultural activities such as literature, movies/theater, newspapers, and broadcasting. This time, in addition to Hanyu, Miyuki Miyabe ,Koki Mitani and others received the award.

 

(Google translate)

 

Yuzuru knows in life we make many decisions, and never know if they are the right or wrong ones, they are just decisions. I am sure I was older than 27 when I realised this truth!! (Actually I was the type then to "go with the flow" and maybe was rather impulsive too and didn't give that much thought to the decisions I was making...I wish I had been more thorough and thoughtful as a decision maker in my 20s! I'd certainly have chosen a different career to the one I "chose" in my go-with-the-flow attitude lol!)

 

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

So wise again. Sets many of us considering our own decisions again, right? My decision to follow him in 2018 and step into the unfamiliar grounds of internet, social media, ticket fight and tight travel schedules for my family has been quite costly but by no means would I ever regret this decision. Looking back, these adventures were the absolute highlights in our lives during the last quad. 😊

[Ulrinis]

On 12/2/2022 at 10:55 AM, EisElle said:

I was so busy thinking about Zu bday project that Prologue sneaked on me all of a sudden...how is it already on?

Waiting for updates, I hope he's having fun first and foremost (and healthy!)

 

I love this interview and his attitude is..deep. In a way disenchanted, not the 9yo fearless boy who dreamed big and boldly, but he is still one who will keep dreaming, even knowing sometimes things just don't go your way.

"I just want all my choices to have meaning" if I think of his choices as I've been following him these past years -competing in COR18 on freshly sprained ankle, insisting on 4A even in spite of everything, making his skating more complex while ISU rewarded the opposite...all choices that from the outside may have not looked "sensible", heck, he has got so much criticism over it, as if he were some clueless dude unable to think about his own good...but he was thinking about his own good, just it wasn't the kind of "good" that aligned with other people's idea. Every single time, he has been choosing what he wanted to pursue and dealing with the outcome, with his eyes and heart wide open. Of course I wish he only ever had everything going his way, because genuinely good people deserve good things, but reality can be a bitch, and I guess what matters is how to deal with it, not letting bitterness and heartbreak paralyze you 

Agree. When life gets tough for any of my family members, we always take Yuzu as an example for dealing with tough situations and this really helps.

[Perelandra]

Neko Masamune is channeling the spirit of TofYu

 

 

[Yuzuwinnie]

3 hours ago, Ulrinis said:

Accept. When life gets tough for one of my family members, we always look to Yuzu as an example to deal with difficult situations and that really helps.

 

 

I am in the same case with a person who is very close to me and I read (by having translated into French) the wise and precious words of Yuzu and I even thought that for a moment he was going to have tears in the eyes and it's true that it helps me a lot  and for quite some time for myself too and it really brings me strength and courage