2 hours ago, Geo1 said:

2019 SKATE CANADA INTERNATIONAL IN KELOWNA

 

2019 Skate Canada International was the fourth and final competition that we attended. I am sure that all of the satellites and Fanyus who attended 2019 SCI in Kelowna have fond memories of Yuzu’s magnificent short, free and exhibition programs. It was a dream event for Yuzu fans. It was one of those special international competitions where Yuzu skated both the short and long programs clean. The time that we spent with fellow satellites was priceless.

 

Yuzuru Hanyu's participation in 2019 Skate Canada International and the resulting Hanyuconomy had a huge economic impact on Kelowna and British Columbia.

 

https://www.tourismkelowna.com/industry/industry-news-centre/post/thousands-of-international-visitors-attend-2019-skate-canada-international-in-kelowna/

 

https://www.tourismkelowna.com/industry/industry-news-centre/post/strong-international-visitation-and-economic-impact-from-2019-skate-canada-international-in-kelowna/

 

Westjet flight crews were heard to say that the three days of SCI and the days leading up to it were the busiest they had seen at Kelowna International Airport.

 

One of the highlights of the 2019 SCI was Yuzu’s Otonal practice.

 

 

This is the TSN coverage of the SP plus fluff with Tracy Wilson and Rod Black.

 

 

This is the TSN coverage of the FS plus fluff with Tracy Wilson and Rod Black.

 

 

This is the official coverage of the Victory Ceremony.

 

 

This is the TSN coverage of the Gala exhibition PW with Tracy Wilson and Rod Black.

 

 

This is Yuzu’s PW practice during the Gala rehearsal captured by On Ice Perspectives. (We did not see this live. I understand that this was a private practice on Sunday morning. You can see that the arena was empty.)

 

 

 

GIFTS FOR YUZU

 

In preparation for SCI, we bought gifts for Yuzu, his mother, Ghislain, Brian and Tracy. I will just mention the gifts that we got for Yuzu and his mother. I have posted about these gifts previously, but I repeat them for the sake of completeness of this story and for the sake of new fans who may not have seen the earlier post.

 

Goat Plushy with a Gold Medal around His Neck: We found a goat plushy on Amazon.ca and ordered from a local trophy store a gold medal with a blue ribbon on which I had printed:

 

Yuzuru Hanyu

Greatest of All Time

GOAT

Shijo Saiko

 

Shijo Saiko means “Best in History” (Greatest of All Time) in Japanese.

 

The blue ribbon was clipped together behind the plush goat’s neck so that it fit, but when unclipped, it is long enough for Yuzu to hang around his neck.

 

I like to imagine that, in private, Yuzu has hung this medal around his neck. LOL!

 

 

 

Two Pairs of “Axel Arigato” Running Shoes: We ordered two pairs of handmade leather sneakers from a Swedish company called “Axel Arigato”– one white pair and one black pair.

 

https://axelarigato.com/

 

A Gold-Toned Citizen Eco-Drive Watch: We found a Citizen Eco-Drive watch that was completely gold-toned stainless steel – the case, the dial, the hour indices, the letters on the face, the watch hands and watchband. It was not an expensive watch, but it was the only watch that was completely gold-toned. We knew that Yuzu would probably not wear it because he is not a watch-wearer and it was not his style, but we felt that it was appropriate as a good luck charm because it was all gold-toned. (My wife, Emiko, got one for herself.)

 

Purdy’s Chocolates: We bought two extra-large boxes of Purdy’s mixed (milk and dark) chocolates for Yuzu and his mother. Purdy’s is a premium line of chocolates produced locally in Vancouver since 1907.

 

Vancouver Calendars and Tourist Books: We bought a number of Vancouver calendars and tourist books hoping to tempt Yuzu and his family to visit Vancouver.

 

I wrote a letter to Yuzu in English explaining the significance of each of these gifts and why we chose them. We also invited him and his family to visit us in Vancouver. I said that we would do whatever we could to make the visit memorable. I then had this letter translated into Japanese by one of my former professional court-certified translators. She had since moved to Tokyo, so I emailed it to her and she provided me with a certified translation.

 

PS: Yuzu did not respond to my letter.

 

DINNER WITH GHISLAIN AND BRIAN

 

Several days before Skate Canada International in Kelowna, I emailed Ghislain and asked him whether he would have time to go for dinner when we were in Kelowna. I also advised him that we had gifts for him, Brian, Tracy, Yuzu and Yuzu’s mother and suggested that we drop them off at their hotel in advance of the competition so that we would not have to take everything to the SCI venue.

 

Ghislain replied that he was available for dinner on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 and agreed that it would make sense to drop off any gifts at the hotel on that date. He asked me to send him an email when we arrived in Kelowna.

 

After we arrived in Kelowna and settled into our hotel, I emailed Ghislain and he said that we could come by anytime we were ready. After organizing everything, we drove to the Capri Hotel where Ghislain and all of the coaches and skaters were staying. He had asked me to give him a call on his cell phone when we arrived in the lobby. When I called him from the lobby, he came down promptly. In the meantime, Jason, who drove us in our van from Vancouver to Kelowna had gone out to get the gifts. He had to use a large hotel luggage trolley to load up all the gifts for Yuzu, his mother, Ghislain, Brian and Tracy. While Jason brought in the gifts, Ghislain and I chatted in the lobby of the hotel. Ghislain opened his gifts in the lobby. After Ghislain had finished opening his gifts, we showed him the gifts that we had bought for Yuzu. Ghislain looked at the goat plushy with the gold medal around his neck and said, “Yuzu is going to love this!”

 

Ghislain then pushed the luggage trolley with all of the gifts into the elevator saying that he would take them to his room for now and distribute them to Yuzu, Brian and Tracy later.

 

Ghislain returned to the lobby in a few minutes and asked whether we were all ready to go for dinner. I said that we were and that we had made a reservation at one of the Keg steak restaurants. He then pulled out his cell phone and said, “Let me text Brian because he was interested in joining us.”

 

Brian replied immediately and he joined us in the lobby in a couple of minutes. As we were leaving the lobby, some Japanese media people who were standing close to us said to Emiko, in Japanese, “Oh you know Coach Orser!” and “Are you going for dinner with Hanyu-senshu’s coaches?” Emiko smiled, said “hai” softly, and bowed politely as we left.

 

As Jason was securing my wheelchair to the front passenger seat area of our van, I called out to Brian, Ghislain and Emiko who were waiting on the sidewalk, “I need a martini!” Brian replied, “I’ll follow your lead and have one too!”

 

When we were seated at the restaurant and while we were waiting for the server, Brian asked me, “George, how do you like your martini? With gin or vodka?”

 

I replied, “I like mine with gin Brian. What about you?”

 

Brian said, “I like mine with vodka. Do you like yours straight up or on the rocks?”

 

I replied, “I like mine straight up. What about you, Brian?”

 

Brian said, “I like mine straight up as well. Do you like yours with olives or a lemon twist?”

 

I replied, “I like mine with olives, Brian. What about you?”

 

Brian said, “I like mine with a twist of lemon… George, do you like yours ‘dirty’?*

 

My unexpected reply to this last question caused Brian and Ghislain to exchange glances as if they were each thinking, “Did George really say what I thought he said?” before realizing that I had and bursting out laughing. My off-color reply may have been crude, but it definitely served to break the ice.

 

*For those of you not familiar with the term ‘dirty’ martini, it is a martini with an olive garnish into which is poured some of the olive brine from a jar of cocktail olives. This gives the martini a more salty, olive-y taste. It also gives the drink a murky, cloudy, swamp water appearance – hence ‘dirty’.

 

We had a wonderful, relaxed dinner with great conversation. I lost track of time, but we were there for hours.

 

We had a picture of us taken by the server.

 

 

WE MEET SHIZUKA ARAKAWA

 

On the way out of the restaurant, I asked Jason to take a picture of me and Emiko with Brian and Ghislain in the reception area. As we were lining up for the photo, Brian said to me, “George, Shizuka Arakawa is sitting over there. Would you like her to join us in the picture?” “Yes, of course,” I replied. The next thing I knew, Shizuka Arakawa was kneeling or squatting in front of me and introducing herself. I introduced myself and Emiko and asked Emiko to give Shizuka one of our cards. Shizuka lined up behind me between Emiko and Brian. She laughingly said to Emiko (in Japanese), “I’m not properly made up for a picture,” to which Emiko replied, truthfully, “You’re beautiful as you are.” Jason took a few pictures of us. This is one of them.

 

 

The only regret that I have is I think Nobunari Oda and Shuzo Matsuoka were with Shizuka Arakawa at the restaurant and I did not have the presence of mind to ask her whether they were with her. If I had asked and they were there, I would have asked them to join us for a picture as well as ask them out for dinner the following evening or an evening that they were free during the competition. I would have enjoyed the opportunity to get to know and joke with them. I have a feeling that Nobu in particular would have appreciated the ‘dirty’ martini story.

 

AUTOGRAPHED PICTURES

 

I had the three pictures of us with Ghislain, Yuzu and Tracy that I posted earlier enlarged to 8 x 10 inches. I took extra copies of these enlargements for Yuzu, Ghislain and Tracy and included them with the gift bags that I gave to Ghislain in Kelowna.

 

After giving those enlargements to Ghislain, Yuzu and Tracy, we still had three enlargements of one picture and two enlargements each of the other two pictures for a total of seven enlargements. When we presented the gifts to Ghislain at his hotel prior to dinner, I handed these seven enlargements to him along with a gold metallic ink fine point permanent marker and asked him whether it might be possible to get at least one of the pictures autographed by Yuzu.

 

On the day following our dinner, during open practice, Ghislain came up to where we were sitting in the wheelchair section above where Tracy Wilson and Rod Black were broadcasting to see how we were doing. “Brian is wondering how you are feeling today,” Ghislain said laughing, implying that I may be feeling a little under the weather from the previous evening’s activities.

 

Ghislain came up and visited us again just before the free skate to let us know that he would be leaving for Toronto on Sunday, but that the pictures would be ready for pickup at the hotel registration desk Sunday morning, before the Gala. On Sunday morning, as we were getting ready to go to the Gala, I received an email from Ghislain confirming that the pictures were ready for pickup at the hotel. He also hoped that we enjoyed Yuzu’s long program and said that watching Yuzu’s free skate had been “a great moment to live.” He thanked us for the gifts and dinner.

 

I also received an email from Brian thanking us for the gifts and saying that “dinner was a blast as well”. He hoped that we enjoyed Yuzu’s free skate performance and added, “It sure was exciting.”

 

When we went by the hotel, the pictures were at the front desk in a plastic laundry bag with my name on it. When Jason brought it back to the van and we looked at the pictures. Yuzu had autographed all seven of the enlargements in gold ink. He even returned the gold metallic fine point permanent marker! With his fingerprints and DNA on it, that marker is also a treasured keepsake! We also kept the plastic laundry bag! LOL!

 

We arranged for three of the enlarged autographed group pictures to be framed and we also framed enlargements of the picture with Brian outside the restaurant in Montréal in 2017, the picture of us at our table in the Keg in Kelowna and the group picture with Shizuka.

 

This is a picture of Yuzu’s autographs on the four unframed group pictures.

 

 

I emailed the pictures that were taken at the Kelowna Keg to Brian and Ghislain and Brian replied:

 

“Nice pics! Let's do this again sometime.

Stay in touch.  B”

 

I have stayed in touch with both Brian and Ghislain through email. I exchanged emails with both of them before, during and following 2019 NHK Trophy, 2019 Torino GPF, 2020 Four Continents Championships, 2021 World Championships and 2022 Beijing Olympics. Ghislain sends me updates on his activities. He kindly sent me a couple of sets each of the two (old and new) versions of the Cricket Club’s black Covid-19 masks. The pandemic and other circumstances beyond our control have prevented me from getting together with either Ghislain or Brian. The last time I was in contact with Brian was on his birthday, December 18, when I sent him happy birthday greetings. He replied back to thank me and to say that he was leaving for Japan the next day with Rika Kihira. He expressed the hope that we will be able to get together for dinner in the New Year. The last time I was in contact with Ghislain was when he emailed me with pictures from Japan at the conclusion of JNats.

 

Yuzu and his mother left Toronto for Japan for the last time in March, 2020. I understand that he left Old Man Pooh in Toronto with the intention at that time of returning the following season. He has not returned to retrieve Pooh since then. If the pandemic had not occurred, we had been looking forward to seeing Yuzu, Brian, Ghislain and Tracy again at the 2020 ACI in Oakville…

 

Ghislain and Brian are both really great guys and I feel very fortunate to have got to know them, even a little.

 

 

Thank you @Geo1for sharing your precious memories with us.

Maybe one day Yuzu will pick up Pooh-san from Toronto again.

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Perelandra said:

Dear Geo1,

Your recollections are wonderful and charming to read. The goat plushy is so pretty, iirc you mentioned at the time when you purchased that you bought one to keep for yourself, hope that you still have it and that it evokes strong and happy memories like a Patronus charm. The medal that you had made for Yuzu is far nicer than the 'coaster' and should quite frankly been on display at the meeting with Kohei ( I also like to think that it lives in one of the clean sports socks and that he had it in his pocket to show Kohei "This is from a lovely fan who gave me a GOAT" he would have murmured fondly )

Dear Geo1 and Emiko, you both are truly amazing fanyus who constantly show loyal support to Yuzu...not that we are not over here😜

I only got to know Yuzu early 2019! My 3 citizen (collaborated with Yuzu ) watches are still in China.Hopefully, with China reopening atm..I finally can see my babies soon 🙏

Totally not opposed to the idea of SharePractice. Do you think he’ll be too busy for one? It would be a great advertisement for GIFT & NS. All the boards peppered with respective sponsors… 

Hi everyone!

 

I want to share this news here too:

2 hours ago, Henni147 said:

Hi everyone!

 

I want to share this news here too:

  and thank you very much for your continuous effort!

The twitter account of the Turkish sports TV has again posted clip of Yuzu:  "Let's go Grazy"

[NEWS]

42 minutes ago, Anni said:

The Turkish Sports TV twitter account again posted a clip of Yuzu: "Let's Go Grazy"

[NEWS]

 

Yuzu is known all over the world, yes "let's be crazy"   and some time ago, you posted a link? where Yuzu appears in cut on the year-end show and I just found a YT that also contains it and at the beginning the young Yuzu of 2015 

 

 

 

I take this opportunity to thank GEO1 for its 2019 story   and congratulate HENNI 

12 minutes ago, Yuzuwinnie said:

 

Yuzu is known all over the world, yes "let's be crazy"   and some time ago, you posted a link? where Yuzu appears in cut on the year-end show and I just found a YT that also contains it and at the beginning the young Yuzu of 2015 

 

 

 

I take this opportunity to thank GEO1 for its 2019 story   and congratulate HENNI 

Lovely Yuzu compilation.

Just thinking about the light sticks at the Kohaku Uta Gassen, they look like small light sabres. It will be incredible at Tokyo Dome when fans will be waving 50 000 light sabres. Yuzu on the ice will appear as if he is at the heart of a galaxy skating amongst a sea of stars. 

17 hours ago, Yuzurella said:

Google Translate:

"GIFT LAWSON TICKET 2nd lottery result. The probability of winning is only 4.5%. Only the first-choice seat will be won. 74.4% of the winners will be seat A. HMV Premium is profitable."

 

This seems to be the result of a poll on winning tickets for Gift in the second lottery. The probability is even considerably smaller than the first round. No wonder they started to sell seats with obstructed view and booked 83 cinemas to show Gift live. 

 

What's the winning probability if first choice is A-seat?

4 hours ago, JennyYang said:

 

What's the winning probability if first choice is A-seat?

 

I think OP didn't mention that. They only said that 74.4% of the winners won tickets in category A. Perhaps that's because the majority of people chose category SS or S. Thus, the competition in these categories was much greater.

When people think of ice, they think of Yuzu.

I hope everybody stays save and warm in the cold wave.

 

New video, about his experience of 3.11

 

Translation thread (still being generated at time of posting):

 

Another translation:

 

 

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

4 hours ago, cereus said:

New video, about his experience of 3.11

 

Translation thread (still being generated at time of posting):

 

Another translation:

 

 

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

 

 

Yuzu has such a big heart, he  never stopped supporting his hometown.

 

 

By the way my look at the calendar this morning told me, still 1 month until "GIFT". I hope his preparations are going smoothly.

 

 

Trusova about Yuzu

(excerpt from the article)

[NEWS]