[2025.01.04] KHB Exclusive Interview - Making Miyagi even hotter with the power of sports!

[yuzurujenn]

*machine translation, inaccuracies exist*

 

 

2025.01.04

 

Source: https://www.khb-tv.co.jp/news/15566669

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20250104075319/https://www.khb-tv.co.jp/news/15566669
Info: https://www.khb-tv.co.jp/sp/sportsnochikara2025/ 

 

 

KHB Exclusive Interview : Professional figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu turns 30 - his past and future

 

On January 4, 2025, an exclusive interview with professional figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu was aired on KHB Tohoku Broadcasting during the show "Making Miyagi even hotter with the power of sports! Exclusive! Yuzuru Hanyu’s 30th Birthday Resolution." Hanyu spoke about his past and future. The interviewer was Shintaro Ejiri, a former professional baseball player and fellow Sendai native.

 

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▼ An Unexpected Connection with Shintaro Ejiri, Hailing from the Same City

Hanyu: Excuse me, hello. Nice to meet you, I’m Yuzuru Hanyu.
Ejiri: I’m Shintaro Ejiri. Nice to meet you today. I used to be a professional baseball player.
Hanyu: You’re quite tall. (jumping a little)
Ejiri: Please don’t jump like that. Don’t jump yet. I’ve seen you jump plenty already.
Ejiri: Nice to meet you again. We just had a fun conversation about Sendai.
Hanyu: It feels like home, yes.
Ejiri: Can I have a little highlight here? I heard you were using me in Power Pro earlier (*a baseball video game)
Hanyu: Yes, I was using you in Power Pro.
Ejiri: Don’t use me in Power Pro! My throws will get hit!
Hanyu: That’s not true. In Power Pro, it all depends on the player’s skill.
Ejiri: You’re so kind. (laughs)

 

▼ Yuzuru Hanyu Turns 30 - December 7, 2024

Ejiri: You turned 30 on December 7. Congratulations!
Hanyu: Thank you.
Ejiri: You said, “I used to think 30 was old, but now that I’m here, it’s completely different.”
Hanyu: I said in an interview once that when I was younger, I thought 30 would feel old, but now that I’ve reached it, I feel completely different. My body moves just fine, and it’s like a baseball player thinking, “I can still increase my pitching speed.”
Ejiri: Why are you comparing it to baseball right from the opening talk…? (laughs)
Hanyu: I love baseball! (laughs)

Ejiri: Where do you feel the gap between your expectations and reality of turning 30?

Hanyu: In figure skating, the typical career span of an athlete is about 25 years at most. The peak is usually around 21 or 22. For female athletes, it can even be earlier, with some reaching their peak at just 16. It’s a sport with a really short career span. When I imagined myself at 30, I never thought I’d still be performing at such a high level, technically speaking. I never imagined that I’d still be finding room to grow and be able to reach for that potential.

 

▼ Three Years into His Professional Career - Increasing Curiosity

Ejiri: By turning professional, did your perspective on your career change? Did you realize there was more growth potential than you thought?
Hanyu: In pursuing figure skating, I’ve been almost self-taught when it comes to ballet and dance. Some figure skaters study ballet, but I didn’t. I just followed the choreography given to me by the choreographers. Recently, I’ve started to realize how important the basics are. If I had learned the fundamentals of dance and expression from the ground up, I’d probably have developed differently. I feel there’s potential for growth in that area. Regarding training methods, muscle strength, and the athletic side of things, figure skating, while there are many who know about it in Japan, is still a relatively niche sport in terms of participation numbers. That’s undeniable. For example, in baseball, you can measure things like the spin rate of a fastball, the angle of the axis, and the optimal arm angle for a proper overhand throw. You can collect all that data. But in figure skating, we can’t really do that. Due to the nature of the sport, where you move freely across a rink that’s 30 meters by 60 meters, collecting data is very difficult. Although we can’t gather data in the same way, the reality of figure skating is that the training methods from the Showa era (1926-1989) and the early Heisei era (1989-2019) haven’t really changed much. As a minor sport that isn’t scientifically proven, figure skating is in a position where I feel if I take the initiative, I can develop more training methods and realize there are many ways to improve. These last three years have made me realize that.
Ejiri: Wow... you're going deeper than I expected today!

 

▼ On His Latest Solo Performance, “Echoes of Life”

Hanyu: When I was in university, I took a course on bioethics, and that made me start to think philosophy was fascinating. Throughout my life, there was the experience of the earthquake and the ever-changing global situation, I realized that I wanted to communicate the philosophy of how to think about life and how to face it. That's what made me want to express those themes.

Ejiri: Is it like another version of Hanyu? It’s like talking to a person who seems like Hanyu, having a conversation, asking questions about the meaning of life. Rather than providing answers, it turns the question back to you, and It makes you think again. That process really drew me in.

Hanyu: I think that's something I shouldn't give away explicitly. If I were to tell the audience exactly what the protagonist of the story is thinking, they would likely become constrained by that. So, I went back to the foundations of philosophy and made sure not to give everything away. Instead, I wanted to create time for the audience to think, by drawing from their experiences, the past, and through the music of figure skating and my performance. It became entertainment that encourages reflection.

 

▼ Two and a Half Hours of Solo Performance Requires Intense Training

Ejiri: The training you’re doing now is even harder than for the Olympics, right? Have you changed the way you’ve built your body?
Hanyu: To get very technical, I have to aim for a hybrid of the muscles of a sprinter and a marathon runner, which is quite difficult.
Ejiri: Can your body handle this training?
Hanyu: No, it can't! I actually cramped up during the performance (laughs).
Ejiri: I thought so. I was amazed you were still standing at the end of the performance. I felt how hard it was.
Hanyu: But after all, it's like putting my life on the line, and it's because I approach it with that kind of spirit that the emotion and expression come across. I believe that’s not just the emotion of art, but the unique inspiration from the combination of art and sports.

 

▼ Challenging the Olympic Short Program "Ballade No. 1" with No Breaks for 30 Minutes

Ejiri: During the Saitama performance, you made a few mistakes during “Ballade No. 1” on the first and second days.
Hanyu: It wasn’t just a small mistake. If that had happened in the Olympics, I would’ve lost.
Ejiri: Your commitment to constantly challenging yourself is incredibly impressive. You must have been disappointed.
Hanyu: It was really frustrating, but being frustrated there means I was really going all in, and that's why I felt frustrated. Then I immediately start analyzing, the reflection session begins, and I realized about what went wrong here, what happened there. And in the end, by the last day, I was able to do it without any mistakes. That performance was structured to win at the Olympics. In a competition, I would only do that 2 minutes 50 seconds once (the duration of Ballad No. 1), but now, I’m skating for about 30 minutes before performing it. Of course, it’s tough!
Ejiri: That’s true.
Hanyu: It’s like I have to maintain the quality of a closer while being a starting pitcher. 
Ejiri: That’s... incredible... and you compare everything to baseball! (laughs)
Hanyu: It’s like pitching at full strength as a starter with just one day rest (the Saitama performance had three shows with one day in between). It’s tough, right? It’s tough! (laughs) It’s like being the closer in the Japan Series. Because it’s the Olympic short program, you know. Of course, it’s tough! But while thinking that, I keep challenging myself to push beyond those limits, and that’s where the emotion and inspiration are born. There’s no doubt about that.

 

▼ The Power of Sports as Experienced by Yuzuru Hanyu

Ejiri: The program title is "Using the Power of Sports to Make Miyagi Hotter," but what kind of power do you think sports has? If you had to sum it up in one sentence.

Hanyu: It’s the feeling of putting your life on the line. It’s like a life-or-death battle. Whether you win or lose, succeed or fail, in sports, the outcome is always clearly defined. How much effort you’ve put in shows in that one moment, and I think that’s what makes sports unique. And it’s through that process, or the human qualities required to seize that result, that we find ourselves moved and inspired.

Ejiri: It's amazing what you’ve been giving to others, and also how much you yourself have received from the power of sports.

Hanyu: But back in 2011, the Rakuten and Vegalta teams at that time were truly soul-stirring. I still haven’t forgotten it. During the earthquake, we were given tremendous strength. That’s the kind of presence I want to continue to embody, and it’s something that’s always at the core of who I am.

 

▼ Facing the Future: Taking on New Challenges in His 30s

Ejiri: Now that you’re 30, what kind of path do you want to take?
Hanyu: There are still so many things I can do, and so many things I haven’t done yet. I’m stepping into the unknown world right now, and there’s a lot of excitement about it. Of course, in the process of creating or showing my performance to others, there is pressure, but as long as people continue to expect that from me, I want to keep giving my life-risking performances, and I feel that’s what I want to keep doing, always.

 

[Wintek]

*machine translation, inaccuracies exist*

2025.01.04

 

Source: https://www.khb-tv.co.jp/news/15566669

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20250104075319/https://www.khb-tv.co.jp/news/15566669
Note: Transcript of interview conducted in the context of the program "Making Miyagi Even Hotter with the Power of Sports" published by KHB.
 

[Exclusive] Professional Figure Skater Yuzuru Hanyu at 30: Looking Back and Ahead

On January 4, 2025 (Saturday), Yuzuru Hanyu, a professional figure skater, spoke about his journey so far and his aspirations for the future in the program "Making Miyagi Even Hotter with the Power of Sports: Exclusive! Yuzuru Hanyu’s Pledge at 30", aired on KHB East Japan Broadcasting. The interviewer was Shintaro Ejiri, a former professional baseball player and fellow native of Sendai City.
 

  Reveal hidden contents

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An Unexpected Connection with Shintaro Ejiri, Another Sendai Native

Hanyu: Excuse me. Hello. Nice to meet you. My name is Yuzuru Hanyu.

Ejiri: I’m Shintaro Ejiri. It’s great to meet you today. I used to be a professional baseball player.

Hanyu: You’re so tall! (He says this while doing a small jump.)

Ejiri: Once again, thank you for joining me. We were just getting excited talking about Sendai.

Hanyu: It really feels like home.

Ejiri: Can I start with something for myself? You said earlier that you used me in Power Pro (a baseball video game)?

Hanyu: Yes, I used to play as you in Power Pro!

Ejiri: Don’t use me in Power Pro! I’ll get hit too much!

Hanyu: That’s not true. In Power Pro, it’s all about the player’s skills.

Ejiri: You’re too kind.

On Turning 30 (December 7, 2024)

Ejiri: You turned 30 on December 7. Congratulations!

Hanyu: Thank you very much.

Ejiri: You mentioned something like, “I used to think 30 was old, but now that I’ve reached it, it feels completely different.”

Hanyu: Yeah, in some interview, I said, “When I turn 30, I’ll be an old man.” But now that I’m actually 30, I realize I can still move my body just fine. In baseball terms, it’s like thinking, “I can still increase my pitch speed.”

Ejiri: Why are we using a baseball analogy right from the start? (laughs)

Hanyu: I love baseball! (laughs)

Ejiri:  (laughs)

Hanyu: You see, the career lifespan of figure skaters is typically short—around 25 years old, even for those who skate for a long time. The real peak for most is around 21 or 22. For female skaters, it’s even earlier; some athletes reach their peak as early as 16 and are done competing by then. It’s truly a sport with a very short career span.

Third Year as a Professional Skater: A Growing Spirit of Exploration

Ejiri: Since turning professional, have you noticed a shift in how you view yourself? Perhaps you've discovered unexpected areas of growth?

Hanyu: As I’ve continued in figure skating, I’ve realized that ballet and dance are disciplines I’ve mostly taught myself. Some figure skaters do take ballet lessons, but I never did. I simply followed the instructions given to me by my choreographers. I am starting to realize “the basics are so important.'' I feel that if I learn things like dance and expression from the ground up, it would open up new possibilities for me. On the other hand, when it comes to training methods, physical strength, and the athlete side of things, figure skating is, without a doubt, a minor sport in terms of participation numbers. While it’s well-known in Japan, the actual number of athletes involved in the sport is quite small. 

For example, in baseball, you can measure the spin rate of a fastball, the angle of its axis, and determine the optimal arm angle or flexibility for an overhand throw. You can produce that kind of data, right? In figure skating, that’s just not the case. Due to the nature of the sport, where you skate across expansive ice surfaces, moving freely in every direction, collecting such data is exceedingly difficult.

That said, even though precise data might be hard to obtain, many aspects of figure skating training remain unchanged, rooted in the methods of the Showa or early Heisei eras. This has been the state of the sport, largely because it’s not yet scientifically validated as a discipline. Precisely because figure skating is a niche sport, I’ve realized in the past three years that I can take the initiative to innovate. There are countless ways to refine training methods and improve performance, and I’ve come to see those possibilities more clearly.

Ejiri: Wow… That’s far deeper than I expected when I asked the question.

On His Latest Solo Show, Echoes of Life

Hanyu: When I was in university, I took a course in bioethics, which sparked my interest in philosophy. In my life, I’ve experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake, and I’ve observed the ever-changing global landscape. These experiences made me want to explore themes like philosophical perspectives on life and how we face it. That’s where the idea for this show came from.

Ejiri: It felt as if there were another “Yuzuru Hanyu” on the ice—someone who resembled you but also questioned you, conversed with you. The show drew me in, especially the way it kept asking questions without providing answers, leaving me to think deeply about them.

Hanyu: I intentionally avoided giving concrete answers in the story. If I handed the audience a definitive perspective on what the protagonist is thinking, it might restrict their interpretations. I wanted to return to the foundation of philosophy, leaving some things untold.

Through the music, my skating, and the overall performance, I aimed to create an experience where the audience could reflect on their own lives, pasts, and emotions. I wanted to give them time to think—time to immerse themselves in a form of entertainment that also provokes introspection.

Performing a Solo Show Over Two and a Half Hours Requires Intense Training

Ejiri: I imagine you’ve been undergoing even more intense training than during the Olympics. Have there been significant changes in how you’ve built your body?

Hanyu: If we’re getting into some really detailed stuff, I’ve been aiming for a hybrid of the muscles that sprinters and marathon runners have. That balance is tough to achieve.

Ejiri: Can your body handle this level of training?

Hanyu: No, it can’t! I was cramping during the actual performance! (laughs)

Ejiri: I thought so. At the end of the show, just standing there, I felt, “Wow, he’s really pushing himself this hard.”

Hanyu: But still, it’s like putting your life on the line. That level of commitment is what creates the emotional impact and the depth of expression that comes through. It’s not just art—it’s art combined with sports. That’s where the unique kind of emotion comes from, I think.

Tackling "Ballade No. 1" After Skating Nonstop for 30 Minutes

Ejiri: On the first and second days of the Saitama performances, there were some moments during "Ballade No. 1" where you made small errors.

Hanyu: Those weren’t small errors. You can’t call them that. If I had done that at the Olympics, I would’ve lost.

Ejiri: What left a strong impression was how clearly you were still challenging yourself. It must have been frustrating.

Hanyu: It was really frustrating. But that frustration only happens because I’m fully committed. Right after that, I started analyzing it—reflecting on what went wrong, figuring out what needed to change. Eventually, I managed to skate flawlessly on the final day. That program is designed to win at the Olympics.

Back then, in competition, I only needed to skate "Ballade No. 1" once a day, for 2 minutes and 50 seconds. But now, I’m skating for about 30 minutes before that. Of course, it’s exhausting!

Ejiri: It really is.

Hanyu: It’s like being a relief pitcher while also starting the game.

Ejiri: That’s incredible, but you keep making baseball comparisons! (laughs)

Hanyu: It’s like pitching on short rest, giving it your all as a starter (referring to Saitama’s three performances over four days). It’s exhausting, right? It really is! (laughs) It’s like being a closer during the Japan Series. After all, this is the Olympic short program.

And yet, despite how exhausting it is, I keep challenging myself to push beyond my limits. That’s what creates the kind of emotion that resonates with people—I’m sure of it.

The Power of Sports That Hanyu Has Felt

Ejiri: The program’s title is "Making Miyagi More Passionate Through the Power of Sports." In a word, what do you think is the power of sports?

Hanyu: It feels like putting your life on the line—a battle where everything is at stake. In sports, there’s always a clear distinction between winning and losing, success and failure. I think what makes sports so unique is that everything you’ve worked so hard for becomes visible in that single moment.

And it’s in that journey, in the fight to seize that result, that a person’s humanity shines through. That’s what moves us, what gives us strength, I believe.

Ejiri: What you’ve continuously given to others, and also what you yourself have received from the power of sports—it’s profound.

Hanyu: In 2011, the Rakuten Eagles and Vegalta Sendai were truly like a source of soul for us. I’ll never forget that. During the earthquake, we received incredible strength from them. Carrying on as a presence like that, one that keeps fighting, is something I always hold at my core.

Continuing to Challenge Himself in His 30s

Ejiri: Now that you’ve entered your 30s, what kind of path do you want to take moving forward?

Hanyu: Honestly, there’s still so much I can do and so much I haven’t done yet. I feel a strong sense of excitement, like I’m stepping into an unknown world.

Of course, creating something and performing for others comes with pressure. But as long as people have expectations of me, I want to continue giving performances where I’m putting everything I have on the line—performances that are truly life-defining.

 

[Wintek]

Full interview (no subs available) here: